MattPie

There's always a CHL. And for the most part, there's usually a team that's nearly as bad as Buffalo is this year. The Sabres haven't really been in it since the early 2000s, though save for the last two seasons.

Harry Pooter and the Sorcerer's Bone.

My gut says it's far enough away from UB that it won't be mobbed. Unless students have started to use the light rail to get places.

Well, they might have a few tips on what not to do during winter campaigns. :)

Don't let anyone here fool you, 4 ft of snow in 2 days almost anywhere in WNY is a big deal. Maybe not a state of emergency, but enough that people will be altering plans and travel. I know what it's like when people around here get snow, so I feel for you. Oh, that sucks. Nothing like breaking something on an "easy" job. My complaint: I don't do a ton of work on my cars, but I do the easy stuff like brakes. Somehow, despite seeing those two threaded holes in the rotors for the last 5-6 times I've done them, it never dawned on me that I could use those to pop the rotor off the hub when it's rusted on. I always figured they were for some puller tool that I didn't have, but find the right bolt and turn it in until the rotor pops off the hub. I've spent way too much time trying to pop rotors off. Last night it took me from 9:30 to 11 to do the left side, and only 45 minutes to do the other side and test drive the car. On the bright side, your beer doesn't get warm when you're working in the dark in your driveway and it's 38 out. :)

That seems unlikely, as more than half the people I know haven't gotten the flu. I might be reading that statistic wrong though. :)

Pittsburgh's lack of cups probably has more to do with Fluery than anything else.

La-La-La-La-La Fontaine is a great call, but I feel like there are some good calls for players lurking if the team is good again. - Weber really put the mustard on that one! (if Weber scored more goals) - Larsson just commited Larceny! (if Larsson played goal) - Benny put on the jets and blew by Chara! (yeah, I know, but there needs more non-tank content here)

You might want to chat with Hitler and Napoleon first.

This. The only equivalent to winning the cup is losing it, probably in a Game 7 OT situation (in Leafs-like implosion style). So close, so much emotion invested, just to have it taken away in an instant. Anything further out, like a game 6 loss or the ECF finals loss is close but no cigar. Not really. 15 games out you have the ability to initially hope that the team can pull together. They might even do it in the first few games. By time it's clear that the team isn't making the playoffs you can be totally numb to the situation and chalk it up to an injury and hope for next year. Maybe it's this parenthood thing that I've recently been thrust into (and am just starting to understand), but this season feels like watching your kid struggle with something. You (well, GMTM in the Sabres' case) could probably make it easier for them, but you hope that the struggle will make them a better person in the long run.

As the kids say: this. "I'm NOT going to move my family 50 miles away to LA. I'll retire first! ... What's that, Buffalo is interested? Make it happen!"

I've heard that song a ton lately, Pandora must really like it.

Just shut the up about that, or at least keep it in the other thread. ;)

It's marginally better than every GDT being about Ruff and Regier.

Hmm, has to be something Gen-Y, but not too new that there aren't a ton of clips around. Nevermind, I'm going with Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

If I'm out on the motorcycle, high seventies are ideal. Anything else a little cooler is better.

I'm 25% English, so 25% of me wants to oppress you all.

I'm not sure about messing with players long-term, but it seems like there are going to be centers that have an easier time on the wing than others. A center that's equal parts shooter, passer, and defender will have it easier on the wing than a center who's mostly a passer and defender. It seems like Reinhart is the latter, where McEichel collectively is the former.

Anyone want to chip in a short description of what the escalator is?

They're 4th in the draft order, I'm guessing that's the point and they figured they could sell off Kessel/Dion.

I was told to be proud to be a Republican when I was growing up. :bag: (I know this isn't the place for that joke, but I can't resist) I wish I could believe your version is what's going on, but none of the stuff I saw on FB last night lends to that. It was much more of a "we like the name and I don't think anyone is really offended by it it's just a bunch of PC nonsense" feel to the comments. You can be proud of you school and community without getting tied up in the name. Maybe it's me or the complete lack of success sports teams at the schools I've attended, but if the Iroquois Chiefs or UB Bulls suddenly had to change their names it wouldn't bother me in the least.

They've been taking best-player-available in the 1st every draft, which in their case has been a 1-way goal scoring forward. If they could parlay just one of those picks (or trade the resulting player) for 3-4 pieces (top-2 D, 2nd line 2-way center, pick, and prospect would seem reasonable) they'd be in a lot better shape. Instead, they have 3 (?) #1s and a few more top-5s filling out their top-6 forwards. Think of it like the Sabres 2007-12 "core" with more talent but with a much worse D and goal tending.

It's generally bad form to post Insider (or other paid-for) content here. Those are the things that gets SDS sued. If someone is nice they'll summarize.

There was a long time were speaking Gaelic was frowned upon as well. I read that too. British English got all posh in the late 1800s with schools for manners and whatnot. There's a reason Aussie and Canadian accents are more like American English than British English... The other part of it is "BBC" English is enforced on broadcast TV and radio. When you get outside London (and even inside too), you'll find a ton of accents that most certainly don't sound like the TV.