Watch Your Tickers, Sports Fans
An article in the Chicago Tribune links viewing high stress sporting events to an increase in the rate of heart attacks. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine notes that for Bavarian men there were 3 times as many heart attacks on days when the German National soccer team played as there were during other periods.
The doctors recorded 43 heart events per day on average during the World Cup period, compared with slightly fewer than 15 per day during normal times. The heart troubles patients experienced included full cardiac arrest, prolonged chest pain, abnormal heart beat and discharge of implantable defibrillators as a result of unusual heart rhythms.
Men suffered more game-day events than women, and people with a known history of heart disease were hit especially hard. Those high-risk patients sustained heart attacks on game days at a rate four times higher than usual.
The stress from watching your team’s epic playoff collapse, combined with the usual overindulgences in alcohol and food increases the risk even further. Buffalo fans, whose teams are prone to heartbreaking/infuriating losses, should be extra careful to try and relax. Your health may depend on it!
Miller Stones Panthers for Second Shutout
Jan 31, 2008 NHL
Ryan Miller stopped all 32 shots last night as the Sabres beat the Florida Panthers 1-0. Thomas Vanek scored the lone goal on the power play, the Sabres’ first in 40 (!) chances on the road. Tomas Vokoun made 40 stops in the losing effort.
I LOVE that the Sabres were able to win a 1-0 game like this…they carved up the trap all night, never seeming to get stood up. They made the Panthers play their game, and the goalies traded amazing save for amazing save. It was fairly entertaining to watch, with a late flurry by Florida with the goalie pulled making things just a bit interesting.
Drew Stafford went out with an anke injury, which looked pretty darn serious in the replays. I haven’t heard any updates on him yet but I would doubt his availability for Friday’s game with the Thrashers.
I mean I’ve had 20 of those (scoring chances) already this year and that’s the first one I got in. So, it was nice but, like I said, I’m more worried about winning. That’s three in a row and we’ll go for four in Atlanta.
Right on, TV.
Tags: B-Lo Sports, florida, Hockey, injury, Miller, NHL, panthers, sabres, stafford, vanek, vokoun
Gameday - Sabres at Panthers
Jan 30, 2008 NHL
The Buffalo Sabres finish up in Florida tonight with a 7:30pm tilt against the Panthers. Florida has struggled at home lately, going 1-4-3 in their barn in the last 8 games. I look for the Sabres to bring some of the energy and hard work that pushed the Lightning back in their seats. As far as I’m aware, no lineup changes for tonight.
Sabres Build Early Lead to Beat Lightning
Jan 30, 2008 NHL
Ryan Miller weathered an early barrage from the Tampa Bay Lightning, then MacArthur, Hecht and Pominville took over from there to lead Buffalo to the 4-2 win. Pominville made a nice pass on the break to MacArthur for his 6th goal of the year, and Clarke returned the favor later in the first to build the 2-0 lead. Halfway through the second, Lydman shot from the point, the puck ricocheted off Stafford in front for the third goal. Roy followed that with a rebound score that Holmqvist really needed to stop to make it 4-0.
Penalties gave the Lightning a shot to come back late in the second, with Brad Richards scoring on a 5-3 opportunity, and tradebait Vinny Prospal scored in the third. Still, I liked a lot of what I saw in the game, it seemed to me that the Sabres were working extremely hard, and got the bounces to go their way because of it. One scary moment when Vanek went down awkwardly after a hit, but after a bit of wincing for the camera, he came back out and looked none the worse for it.
The Sabres continue on to play the Panthers tonight at 7:30pm. They are 4 points out of a playoff spot heading into this game.
Tags: B-Lo Sports, hecht, Hockey, holmqvist, lightning, lydman, macarthur, Miller, NHL, pominville, prospal, richards, roy, sabres, stafford, tampa bay, vanek
Gameday - Sabres at Lightning
Jan 29, 2008 NHL
The Sabres’ first game back from the All-Star break is in Tampa against the Lightning. Max and Tim are still on the mend, although Afinogenov is ‘days away’ while Connolly will need a few more practices before Lindy will bring him back. Connolly also has a bone spur in his hip that will require off-season surgery. He can play with it but it’s going to hurt. Michael Ryan should be back after recovering from the eye injury he sustained in the rout against Atlanta. It was a lot worse than I though, he had problems with his sight for a few days, and will be wearing a visor now (possibly permanently). Even with Ryan back, MacArthur and Kaleta are both travelling with the team to Florida.
Mike Harrington at the News has an article on Vanek, detailing the forward’s struggles this season. It does show that Vanek is working hard, and they may have figured out the main problem:
“I look at myself and I blame myself,” Vanek said after the team’s 85-minute practice Monday afternoon in the Amherst Pepsi Center. “I’ve got to be a lot better. I’m trying to be every day in practice, believe me. I’m not trying to slack off. There’s certain areas I need to work on. I’m trying to get better.”
Vanek is notoriously hard on himself and has been upfront about his struggles all season. One thing he needs to do is keep shooting more; he has four shots on goal in three of the last four games and it’s no coincidence he’s totaled a goal and five assists in that span.
The Roy/Vanek/Stafford line was awesome pre-break, so hopefully (me being the official blogosphere Sabres Optimist™) this game will be a continuation of that offensive prowess.
Tags: afinogenov, B-Lo Sports, connolly, Hockey, injury, kaleta, lightning, macarthur, NHL, roy, ryan, sabres, stafford, tampa bay, vanek
Roy Nets 2 to Beat the Stars
Jan 25, 2008 NHL
So THAT’S what a close win feels like. I’d almost forgotten with all the losses and the shootouts and the hurting. Derek Roy scored both Buffalo goals (with able assistance from Stafford and Vanek) to beat the Dallas Stars last night. Stu Barnes had the only Dallas goal, thanks in part to Soupy. Miller made 25 saves in another solid efford, but was bailed out on the last play of the game by Jochen Hecht. Hecht swept the puck away from the wide open side of the net with 10 seconds to go.
The Sabres have some winnable games coming up after the ASG, they need their strong play from last night to continue on into Florida.
Tags: B-Lo Sports, dallas, hecht, Miller, roy, sabres, stafford, stars, vanek
It started so well…
Jan 23, 2008 NHL
It’s been a few days since I’ve posted about the Sabres, partly because I haven’t gotten to watch much of the games. I DID see the awesome beatdown of the Thrashers, and was all set for that to be the beginning of a dominant stretch.
Never mind.
I was unable to listen to the rest of the last game against the Coyotes, thanks to Kevin Sylvester calling a bunch of soft goals. My thought was the Sabres would win one of these two before the break, and break off some wins on some weaker teams afer. They can still do that, but Dallas is a tougher nut to crack than Phoenix, Bryzgalov or no Bryzgalov.
Tags: atlanta, B-Lo Sports, bryzgalov, coyotes, dallas, phoenix, sabres, stars, thrashers
Spam
Jan 22, 2008 Boring site stuff
Recent Wordpress Spam:
The Lazy:
‘Payday Loan’ and ‘Faxless Payday Loans’
The almost Celebrity named:
Allison Hannigan, yeah, I don’t think so.
pwnz0red by teh englihs:
Bill…
Good up the good work….
Thanks to akismet for stopping over 100 spams, but still letting me see them for the comedic value.
Gameday - Thrashers at Sabres
Jan 18, 2008 NHL
The Atlanta Thrashers come to Buffalo tonight for a 7:30pm game at the Arena. The Sabres are ‘winless’ in 10 straight, and may get Derek Roy back in the lineup. However, I have yet to hear for sure if Clarke MacArthur is playing. Sabres.com pointed out that Atlanta is the only team during the slide that beat the Sabres by more than 2 goals. It’s too much to hope that the Sabres get on track tonight, right?
Tags: atlanta, B-Lo Sports, Hockey, injury, macarthur, NHL, roy, sabres, thrashers
