Eleven

If my math is right, he can just get on a plane, because that is exactly how many games Canada has left to play even if it goes to the final.

You two have no idea how hard I had to work to figure out you were discussing COLIN Miller, whose tenure I don't even remember even though it is very recent. Montour was a decent defenseman--he needed some polishing--but he was ok here. Miller, I still have no idea who we're talking about, even though I've now looked it up.

I don't love Tkachuk, but I do love his OT goal celebration of just finding the door and leaving the rink.

1. It's "Hochul." 2. Yes, he is, and he was a bigshot well before she was. 3. I don't like her and never did. I have personal experience with her, and there also are things in her public record that trouble me--well before she even was the Erie County Clerk. 4. That's not why. It has absolutely nothing to do with it.

No, because Delaware North's fare at the arena is considerably worse than that at similarly-aged, or even much older, facilities. Not to mention, I'm sure the kitchens at the stadium have been upgraded since 1973. The age of the building really shouldn't have much to do with it--Oliver's remains one of Buffalo's best restaurants, and it's been around for longer than the stadium has. My gut feeling is that DN just never had any competition in Buffalo. No reason to try to do better. It's the local company, so it's going to get the contracts, right? BTW you can go to any number of DN-owned restaurants in Buffalo...there's one at Fountain Plaza, there are two in the Westin, that I know of...they are able to do slightly better than what they do at the sports facilities and airport. They just don't bother.

Chris Simon? I think he got suspended for like half a season for it. Pronger, others...

That is garbage.

Maybe Canada should have started a better goalie.

Yessir but not for me. Too much to do tomorrow. Goodnight all!

Hmmmm on that goal. If only it were a Cup winning goal...

Right? It's weird. Now that Las Vegas is up in the third, maybe we'll see some urgency.

I don't think I ever have seen two teams skate more slowly and play with less urgency in a semi-final before. It's like they're both treating it like a game in November. Maybe the third will be different, but this is NOT NHL semi-final playoff hockey.

Yes but no one waxes nostalgic about McDonalds the way people do about Mighty Taco.

DIdn't they also deal w/ injuries during the regular season--in other words, they may have been seeded higher?

I've been saying it, too. For some reason, goaltending became fungible in a lot of fans' minds right before the Miller trade. Like it didn't matter anymore. Good playoff teams always have great goaltending. It might be a good goaltender who gets hot, or it might be the greatest of all time like Hasek, or a simply excellent one like Miller, but a good playoff team needs it. On the blueline, the Sabres are fortunate to need only a couple of pieces because there are two HOF possibilities back there already. GO GET THE D MEN AND G. As for Shanadubas, well, they didn't come up with anything on the back end that is meaningful except for an injured goaltender and a defenseman who can't spell his own last name correctly. And McCabe, whom I always will love.

Is it him, though? Or Shanahan? This is the problem when one adds unnecessary levels of management. Who does the buck stop with?

Steve, no offense, but a jazz festival hosted by the whitest people on the planet isn't, umm, inspiring me to international travel. There are other reasons to go to Scotland--and I'm thinking about northern England for August, which would put me just a short ride away--but jazz?

Why Pittsburgh? From what I see, he'd be a good GM if there wasn't a president overriding him.

Of course.

It should be wine or cocktails, not beer, for jazz.

I don't know what those are and I think I'm going to keep it that way.

Who does THAT?! I won't even hit the showers without wearing slides.

Not much of an issue now the TV audience sees virtual ads.

I'd have zero interest in watching Sabres players compete and get hurt in a meaningless mid-season tournament. The Olympics would be nice. That means something. Your idea, while creative, is not something in which I would want NHL players involved.

France, Norway, and every other country I mentioned above, have the opportunity to grow the game. They choose not to, because they prioritize other sports (France, soccer and rugby, and maybe even basketball, for example) and that's ok. They have regular tournaments where the winners ascend to the IIHF tournament, and where the losers play to move up the next time. It's not a question of opportunity. It is a question of how many.