It’s Finally Here!
Oct 9, 2008 NHL
The ‘North American portion’ of the NHL schedule gets underway tonight, with four games. Your only 7pm option is the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Detroit Red Wings, a game which will be seen on Versus or CBC depending on where you are. The Wings are raising their Stanley Cup banner, but I doubt Versus viewers will see it, as there is a special 3 hour Sidney Crosby interview they need to get through (I kid, I kid!). The schedule is rounded out with three late games: Boston at Colorado (VS), Calgary at Vancouver (CBC) and Anaheim at San Jose (local coverage as far as I can tell). I wish all teams a good season, and may no superstars get Tom Brady’d on the opening weekend, unless it’s Sean Avery.
Tags: anaheim, avalanche, boston, bruins, calgary, canucks, colorado, crosby, detroit, ducks, flames, Hockey, maple leafs, NHL, red wings, san jose, sharks, stanley cup, toronto, vancouver
Catching Up
Sep 11, 2008 Life, Media, NFL, NHL
I haven’t been able to post much, but here are a few things I’m reading:
Saying Goodbye to the Aud at Sabres.com, I can see the process of dismantling the building beginning outside my window at work. The outer walls are being torn down as we speak. The article has a great history of the Aud if you are (like me) unfamiliar with it other than as the place the Sabres used to play.
Bills news, minus all the Brett Favre crap for week 1. Thanks to the Dukes of Awesome.
Dr. Z moved the Bills from 16 to 9 in his rankings. The out-of-date movie references are free.
Media Day trash talk involving Marcus Stroud and the Jags. Like they needed to get him more amped up for this game with their patchwork o-line. Good luck with that.
Some guy named Brady got hurt, leaving sports punditry all aflutter at the thought of busting out their ’storming the Cassel’ puns.
Basic Instructions - How to Cope When You’re Feeling Old
Richard Zednik’s return is covered by James Mirtle…hopefully his mind is alright after the injury. What a year for sports injuries in Buffalo.
Oh, and before there is too much complaining about Quinn being a minority owner, check out this bit on Henry Samueli of the Ducks. Hopefully it’s the only time sex caves, Ecstasy and the owner of a hockey club are mentioned in the same place.
Tags: anaheim, bills, buffalo, cassel, ducks, ecstasy, favre, football, henry samueli, Hockey, NFL, NHL, sabres, sex cave, stroud, Tom Brady
Road Trip!
Aug 12, 2008 NHL
Drew from Illegal Curve found out the sad truth of Carolina hockey, and it was at a Durham Bulls game:
I sauntered over to find, unmanned and unmonitored I remind you, a table filled with “Buy one ticket, get one ticket free coupons” for Carolina Hurricanes hockey games.
Normally, a little cross-promotion for some of those early season stinkers wouldn’t be so bad, except that’s not what this was:
via Getty Images
Limit 8 tickets per person.
The kicker: No one monitoring the table where these are being distributed. An individual could have picked up hundreds of these coupons.
…
The majority of the arena applies to this promo. Only exceptions are the “Champion’s Club”, “V.I.P. Ledge”, and “Upper Goal Zone”.
I’d worry about a “V.I.P. Ledge” to be honest, wouldn’t your drunker fans fall off? But seriously, as I mentioned, these tickets were for games against the Blue Jackets or Kings, with opponents including the Washington Ovechkins, Anaheim and New Jersey. I think I’m honored that none of the Sabres games were included. Guess they know what fans will REALLY fill the seats. H/T to Puck Daddy.
.
Tags: alexander ovechkin, anaheim, buffalo, capitals, Carolina, devils, ducks, Hockey, Hurricanes, new jersey, NHL, ovechkin, sabres, washington
Portland Pirates Coach
Jul 26, 2008 NHL
The Portland Press Herald has an extremely detailed report on the coaching situation for the Sabres’ AHL affiliate, the Portland Pirates. Since Randy Cunneyworth joined the Atlanta Thrashers staff, Buffalo has switched gears and is talking to Kevin Dineen, who coached the Pirates for the past three seasons. Dineen is also in the running to coach the Ducks’ new affiliate (the now-famous Iowa Chops) or become a scout with Anaheim. The Ducks were the parent club for Portland last year.
Tags: ahl, anaheim, atlanta, buffalo, cunneyworth, dineen, ducks, Hockey, NHL, pirates, portland, sabres, thrashers
Canadiens at Sabres for Home Opener
Jul 16, 2008 NHL
The Sabres report that their first regular season opponent will be the Montreal Canadiens on October 10th. Also mentioned are the three ‘at-large’ games, wherein Buffalo faces off against Detroit, Anaheim and Phoenix. And just to review:
This season, the NHL has revised its scheduling format. Each team will continue to play an 82-game schedule, but the breakdown of opponents has changed. Each team will play their divisional opponents six times (24 games in total), four games against each non-divisional conference opponent (40 games in total), one game against each of the 15 non-conference opponents and three “at large” games.
Rest of the sched tomorrow.
Tags: anaheim, buffalo, Canadiens, coyotes, detroit, ducks, Hockey, Montreal, NHL, phoenix, red wings, sabres, schedule
NHL Playoff Picture
Apr 21, 2008 NHL
A few more team advanced to the next round of the playoffs over the weekend, but not the defending champs. The Dallas Stars took out the Ducks in 6 games, and join the Avalanche and the Red Wings coming out of the West. Kipper forced game 7 for Calgary as the Flames shut out the Sharks 2-0.
The Rangers took out the Devils in 5, joining the Pens in the next round. Boston has won 2 straight games to force game 7 up in Montreal, and Washington staved off elimination on Saturday but play in Philly tonight. No late game tonight, which sucks as that’s the one I’m more likely to see.
Tags: anaheim, avalanche, boston, bruins, calgary, Canadiens, colorado, dallas, detroit, devils, ducks, flames, Hockey, Montreal, new jersey, new york, NHL, playoffs, rangers, red wings, san jose, sharks, stars
Upon Further Review…(Pronger sits for 8)
Mar 15, 2008 NHL
The league flipped it’s decision to suspend Chris Pronger of the Ducks for his stomp on Ryan Kesler of the Canucks, after viewing some tape that had not been considered originally. Anaheim only has 9 games left so he will be out until the last game of the season on April 6th. Unfortunate coincidence for the league that they had to switch it up after this article.
Tags: anaheim, canucks, ducks, kesler, pronger, stomp, suspension, vancouver
A Few More Stragglers…
Feb 26, 2008 NHL
Nashville gets F Brandon Bochenski (is this guy traded every year or what?), and gives up the ever popular ‘Future Considerations’ (great on the half-wall, let me tell you).
Anaheim also traded for D Jay Leach for Tampa Bay F Brandon Segal and a 7th round pick. Both players are current minor leaguers.
Tags: anaheim, Brandon Bochenski, ducks, future considerations, Hockey, leach, lightning, nashville, NHL, predators, segal, tampa bay, trade, trade deadline
Parros Destroys Cote
Feb 3, 2008 NHL
Here’s another one for fight fans (check out the uppercut from the pornstached one, in slo-mo at the end):
From Hockeyfights, spotted at BfloBlog.
Tags: anaheim, cote, ducks, fight, flyers, Hockey, NHL, parros, philadelphia
Sabres Lose To Ducks In Rough-and-Tumble Game
Dec 6, 2007 NHL
The Buffalo Sabres looked horribly out of sync in losing to the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 last night. The first period was solid, with the Sabres scoring first again with Connolly sending Hecht and Pommers on a sweet 2-on-1 break. The Ducks tied it on a score from Andy McDonald, ending the first period tied.
The wheels fell off for the Sabres in the second, though. Spacek was whistled for two straight penalties, and the PK could only kill off the first. Bertuzzi scored later in the period to make it 3-1. Buffalo was outshot 16-3 in second frame and just couldn’t get the puck out of their zone to save their lives. The Ducks extended the lead to 4-1 in the third and that’s how it ended.
If you haven’t watched Anaheim much this year or last (which is understandable here, as they are rarely on TV in the east) you definitely noticed the hitting. Bodies were flying all over the place, and I noticed the Sabres hitting more later in the game as a result. Peters and Parros fought twice, I thought Peters handled himself admirably against another of the leagues heavyweights. Parros has the mustache of a titan though:
Gaustad fought with Bertuzzi, though not many punches were thrown. The teams also had to be seperated at the end of the game, with Pratt getting into it behind Miller after the horn. Pronger got a 10 minute misconduct then as well. After that, Drew and Ryan Miller met for a hug (and they were almost pushed apart by the nervous officials). It’s unfortunate they don’t play again as I’d like to see such a hard-fought game when the Sabres can actually have passes that connect with their targets. Oof.
Tags: anaheim, B-Lo Sports, brawl, connolly, ducks, fight, gaustad, hecht, Hockey, mcdonald, NHL, parros, peters, pominville, pratt, pronger, Ryan Miller, sabres, Spacek, Todd Bertuzzi
