Claude_Verret

Agreed. I hope that I'm wrong and he ends up being easy to replace as some seem to think he will be.

:thumbsup:

The tank is still on folks. The run to nowhere cannot happen this year with this roster, let alone the roster we will see come next week. It just can't.

We stayed in Rapid City as our home base for three days while we visited Mt. Rushmore, Deadwood, Sturgis and other places. It really did exceed my expectations. If anyone watches Full Throttle Saloon I had a pretty good "celebrity" encounter with Fajita Mike in Sturgis.

I was in Rapid City last summer on vacation, it's actually a pretty cool town....... in the middle of nowhere.

Yes, it was Tripp Tracy the Canes TV color commentator. As a former goaltender he should know better.. http://hurricanes.nh...ge.htm?id=45362

440 on Boston.

Ok. Major tool. Especially after the nonsense he put out last night in the post game show.. Could this have been the last game for Ryan Miller as a Buffalo Sabre? He's been a great, great player here for many years and probably the best....well some will say Hasek is the best goalie in Sabres history, but there are many who will say it's Ryan Miller...

It really is because of where I grew up in the southtowns. Bruce Smith lived probably a mile from me in a development off of McKinley Rd. My friends used to see Shane Conlan and Marv Levy all the time because they lived in their neighborhood. They walked among us. :P My brother used to get the ultimate encounter experience for two or three summers. His friend was a big local golfer so he would get my brother in to be a caddy for the Jim Kelly Pro Am. I think one year he was caddy for Bernie Kosar and the next year it was Mike Pagel. But he got to meet and get the autographs of all the big NFL stars of the late 80s.

Not good for the tank, but if they have to win its always good against the Canes.

Yes play by play.Tripp Tracey is the color guy and he's kind of a tool.

More from stalking /encounters department.... John Forslund's kids go to school with mine.

According to RJ , put it to bed its Se-CARE-uh Not the canes PR guys' mangled way

The tank plan involves next year most certainly. Even if they wanted to avoid it, there isn't much that can be done to avoid another terrible season next year.

Others stories keep jogging my memory. Went to a Bruce Springsteen concert in Greensboro a few years back and stood next to Brett Hedican and Kristi Yamaguchi, who had special seats near the soundboard. Sat behind Curtis Brown and his wife at a concert my wife dragged me to in Buffalo.

Actually looking back on all the encounters I mentioned, in all the ones where I actually interacted with any of them the only one that I initiated was with Peters. I was in the concourse and saw him as he was walking by and I just blurted out "Peters". So he stopped and talked to us for a minute, I think he thought that maybe he was supposed to know me from somewhere.

The Canes were notorious for that kind of bush league stuff for awhile. They had a fan base in Sabres fans that they deemed unruly and dangerous for the home fans, so what do they do? Antagonize those very same "unruly" fans at every chance they get. Brilliant. They have toned down that stuff in recent years though. And to keep on the encounter topic. Erik Cole lived down the street from me when I moved into my neighborhood about 10 years ago. However, he had moved by the 2006 playoffs or I would have put a Sabres flag in his lawn.

Not so sure about Ward. He's been injury prone, costs the same as Miller and isn't as good.

Saw Muckler three or so years ago at Wegmans on Transit. He was wearing a Senators eastern conference champs t-shirt.

Ok, more Sabres encounters are coming back to me The Ralph story reminded me of talking to to Andrew Peters at the Bills home opener a few years ago. I also talked to Barnaby at the mall once. My wife went to high school with his ex-wife, so when they ran into each other I got the intro. Another Bills encounter. I was golfing at the town of Hamburg course with my dad when it was only 9 holes, we were on the 7th tee when two guys asked if they could join us for the last three holes. One of them was former Bills center Will Grant. We played the last three holes with them and then Will and his friend played ahead of us on 9. I was about 100 yards from the green while they were putting out. Will waves me on to the green, so I hit a wedge to three feet of the pin. He yells out "awesome fecking shot kid" and walks to the parking lot. The next day I heard on the radio that Will Grant got busted for pot possession.

I suspect Miller is much like Vanek at this point. He's saying all the right things to the media, but he's been long gone for quite some time now. Unless they throw ridiculous money at him, which would be dumb, then there is 0% chance that he re-signs. Trade him for whatever the market is.

I believe that Kelly may have switched parishes later in his career, but during the late 80's he was at St. Bernadette's a lot. A couple more Bills encounters that came back to me... I was in line behind Rueben Brown getting a sub at Subway in OP. Saw Biscuit and Tasker at Kelly's bar downtown the night they lost to the Steelers in the playoffs. Biscuit stood there among a throng of people and I watched as person after person came right up to him to say something...and he just stood there with a blank stare, not even acknowledging their presence. Tasker took a leak at the urinal next to me...anywhere else I would have said something to him, but I had to honor the code of men's room etiquette.

Correct, it may get better next year, but likely worse depending on who we part with this week. Tank on my brothers and sisters.

I forgot that I played a round of miniature golf with Ric Seiling at a charity event. Nice guy. Growing up in the southtowns my most memorable encounters were with Bills players both obscure and of HOF caliber. Bruce Smith carrying two cases of Genny in the Tops parking lot at McKinley and Southwestern. Talking to Darryl Talley and rookie Bruce Smith at a gas station in the village of Hamburg while walking home from a street hockey game. Turning around at mass at St. Bernadette's in OP to offer the sign of peace to.... Jim Kelly. I saw him quite often at Saturday mass, but he usually cut out right after communion even though people pretty much left him alone. Driving down a deserted California road one morning and being passed by a speeding Ford Bronco (doing at least 80 mph) driven by Jim Kelly. One of my friends in grade school was neighbors with safety Len Walterscheid, he would sometimes toss the football around with us. When he left the Bills, TE Ulysses Norris moved into the house. Byron Franklin and Booker Moore came to my 5th grade gym class for a community appearance, Had multiple beers at a bar in Hamburg with Bills DC Ted Cottrell. It was during the preseason and the Bills had just brought in Ted Washington. Cottrell couldn't stop talking, in very colorful language, about TW and what he was going to bring to the defense, and he turned out to be right. Saw Bruce Smith many times at Pure Platinum in Ft. Erie. One notable time it was a few days before the season opener in 1998 and Bruce must have had six or seven of the hottest strippers all to himself at his table. He got up more than a few times to go for private lap dances in the back. Then he didn't play in the season opener that Sunday against SD even though the Bills doctors cleared his knee to play. In contrast to Bruce, I saw Phil Hansen a couple times at the Hamburg Public library surrounded by financial periodicals and reports. Steve Christie came into the place I bartended at in Amherst. When my parents lived in OP Marcellus Wiley was their neighbor. My dad would always gripe that he never mowed his lawn. Also talked to Jim Ritcher at a Canes Sabres game for an entire intermission. It was when the Bills had just brought Levy back as GM and he really thought Marv would be good bringing in "that gray beard experience"

I think most of the Canes die hards are actually very hockey savvy, they just tend to be bandwagoners / team swapping whores. To me being a casual but ignorant fan is no sin, but a team swapping ###### is the lowest of the low.