Go Sabres

[Best Coast]

Hi guys,

 

This may be a little strange, but I just wanted to take a moment out of my day to profess my love for the Buffalo Sabres and wish your team and fans an incredible season. I'm a diehard Canucks fan first and will probably remain till the day I die—hopefully with a Cup along the way :). Still, I have always had an irrational attraction towards the Sabres, from Gilbert Perreault to Pat Lafontaine to Dominik Hasek to Miroslav Satan to Ryan Miller to Tyler Myers... and maybe to Tyler Ennis? I know every fanbase has issues with their team's coaching and management but I also admire your organization's stability in an era of revolving doors.

 

This may be a one-sided love affair, but I do believe there exists some natural affinity between Vancouver and Buffalo. We joined the league in the same year, and have for the most part suffered forty years together since then without a Stanley Cup, both going to the Finals twice, and both losing in complete heartbreaking fashion in the 90s.

 

Here's praying for a Vancouver-Buffalo Stanley Cup series in the 2010-11 season, and honestly I don't think it's such a pipe dream!

[nobody]

Hi guys,

 

This may be a little strange, but I just wanted to take a moment out of my day to profess my love for the Buffalo Sabres and wish your team and fans an incredible season. I'm a diehard Canucks fan first and will probably remain till the day I die—hopefully with a Cup along the way :). Still, I have always had an irrational attraction towards the Sabres, from Gilbert Perreault to Pat Lafontaine to Dominik Hasek to Miroslav Satan to Ryan Miller to Tyler Myers... and maybe to Tyler Ennis? I know every fanbase has issues with their team's coaching and management but I also admire your organization's stability in an era of revolving doors.

 

This may be a one-sided love affair, but I do believe there exists some natural affinity between Vancouver and Buffalo. We joined the league in the same year, and have for the most part suffered forty years together since then without a Stanley Cup, both going to the Finals twice, and both losing in complete heartbreaking fashion in the 90s.

 

Here's praying for a Vancouver-Buffalo Stanley Cup series in the 2010-11 season, and honestly I don't think it's such a pipe dream!

 

 

That would be sweet! Of course with the Sabres winning it! ;)

[wonderbread]

That would be sweet! Of course with the Sabres winning it! ;)

 

 

Don't listen to him he's Nobody.

[thesportsbuff]

Great post. I agree that Vancouver vs Buffalo isn't that much of a longshot... not to use the old cliche` but anything can happen. Vancouver is set to make a run to the finals and all Buffalo needs is a hot Ryan Miller and a few lucky bounces here and there and we could find ourselves in the finals too.

[carpandean]

Here's praying for a Vancouver-Buffalo Stanley Cup series in the 2010-11 season, and honestly I don't think it's such a pipe dream!

I'd sign up for back-to-back finals appearances like Pittsburgh and Detroit had, where the teams each got a Cup. The only thing that I'd change would be that each would go to seven with the home team winning the Cup.

[Taro T]

Hi guys,

 

This may be a little strange, but I just wanted to take a moment out of my day to profess my love for the Buffalo Sabres and wish your team and fans an incredible season. I'm a diehard Canucks fan first and will probably remain till the day I die—hopefully with a Cup along the way :). Still, I have always had an irrational attraction towards the Sabres, from Gilbert Perreault to Pat Lafontaine to Dominik Hasek to Miroslav Satan to Ryan Miller to Tyler Myers... and maybe to Tyler Ennis? I know every fanbase has issues with their team's coaching and management but I also admire your organization's stability in an era of revolving doors.

 

This may be a one-sided love affair, but I do believe there exists some natural affinity between Vancouver and Buffalo. We joined the league in the same year, and have for the most part suffered forty years together since then without a Stanley Cup, both going to the Finals twice, and both losing in complete heartbreaking fashion in the 90s.

 

Here's praying for a Vancouver-Buffalo Stanley Cup series in the 2010-11 season, and honestly I don't think it's such a pipe dream!

Well, the 2 do seem to have a common thread to their history from coming in on the same day; having the 2 runs to the finals w/ the 1st being more or less a Cinderella season that ended badly against the defending champs and the 2nd ending in absolutely heartwrenching fashion; having 4 (or so) significantly different primary unis including 1 set that goes down in the 'that's the worst one yet' category; Captain Video; and Mogilny.

 

Welcome on board. If you stick around, you'll find that you aren't the only Van-city fan here. Rickshaw's from Kelowna and a few others here like the guys wearing a hockey rink.

 

I'd sign up for back-to-back finals appearances like Pittsburgh and Detroit had, where the teams each got a Cup. The only thing that I'd change would be that each would go to seven with the home team winning the Cup.

I'm good w/ that, provided the Swords win the 1st one. ;)

[wjag]

I'll take the Sabres and anyone... Welcome to the board.

[Best Coast]

Thanks for the replies guys.

 

I only got to see about a dozen or so Buffalo games last season (ones against Vancouver/ones on HNIC/ones online), but from what I saw, your team does play an exciting style. Ryan Miller is easily the best in the game at this point, Tyler Myers is already a gamebreaker, and role players like Grier, Hecht and Kaleta are key cogs I would take on the Canucks any day. To me though, your frontline forwards are a little enigmatic, i.e. Pominville used to be my absolute favourite player in the league in terms of playing style, but I haven't seen him at his best in awhile. Then you have Connolly and Vanek who have ridiculous talent but then their respective health is always a factor. I've always wanted to know more about these guys than I do.

 

Hopefully I get to see more this season.

[FogBat]

Thanks for the replies guys.

 

I only got to see about a dozen or so Buffalo games last season (ones against Vancouver/ones on HNIC/ones online), but from what I saw, your team does play an exciting style. Ryan Miller is easily the best in the game at this point, Tyler Myers is already a gamebreaker, and role players like Grier, Hecht and Kaleta are key cogs I would take on the Canucks any day. To me though, your frontline forwards are a little enigmatic, i.e. Pominville used to be my absolute favourite player in the league in terms of playing style, but I haven't seen him at his best in awhile. Then you have Connolly and Vanek who have ridiculous talent but then their respective health is always a factor. I've always wanted to know more about these guys than I do.

 

Hopefully I get to see more this season.

Pommers has times when he goes into vanishing mode like some Rogue characters on World of Warcraft.

[deluca67]

Pommers has times when he goes into vanishing mode like some Rogue characters on World of Warcraft.

World of Warcraft?

[FogBat]

World of Warcraft?

Are you being facetious, or have you never heard of that MMORPG?

 

At any rate, what I meant was that there's a character on there that is a rogue. They have a habit of going invisible and showing up when you least expect them. You know, kinda like some players on the team. :ph34r:

[Two or less]

Welcome to Sabrespace! Always great to have fans from all over the world come and say they support the Sabres. I wouldn't say I like Vancouver at all because that would be a lie, however, i love hockey and watch a ton of it on center ice and one of the teams i end up watching most besides Buffalo is Vancouver. One reason is their on at night where i can just crash and watch the late night game but i admire the way they run their team and their fans, and the Sedin's are very fun to watch.

[darksabre]

Welcome to Sabrespace! Always great to have fans from all over the world come and say they support the Sabres. I wouldn't say I like Vancouver at all because that would be a lie, however, i love hockey and watch a ton of it on center ice and one of the teams i end up watching most besides Buffalo is Vancouver. One reason is their on at night where i can just crash and watch the late night game but i admire the way they run their team and their fans, and the Sedin's are very fun to watch.

 

Agreed on the Sedins. They make for some great hockey. And that Luongo guy ain't bad either.

[cdexchange]

Welcome to SabreSpace...our little corner of CyberSpace. :beer:

[Supersabre]

I would love to see the Sabres win a cup!!!! But then again wouldn't all Sabres fans so obviously I'm already stating the obvious. I'll save the trouble of someone pointing that out for me. It's just nice to say it let alone type it. Welcome to the board btw.

[Corp000085]

Welcome to the board. I have not followed vancouver much, but I do have one opinion on them. I think that Roberto Luongo is a decent goalie, but I find him to be highly overrated. Your analysis of our forwards is spot on. Pominville looked ready to destroy the league a few years ago, but he is beginning to seem more and more like a one shot wonder. Vanek is very good when he's on, but he's streaky. Connolly is simply maddening. He's got all the talent to be a #1 center in a playmaker role, but for whatever reason, he can't put it all together at one time. As far as the injuries, vanek has had 2 freak injuries, one with the jaw (which should have put him out the year due to his loss of conditioning) and the ankle in the playoffs. I know that Connolly has missed like 2 full seasons, but one was a concussion very early in his Buffalo career and one was a misdiagnosed jaw injury that possibly could have been fixed WAY sooner than it was. Besides those two incidents, he's been relatively durable. I believe he even did like 2-3 seasons in a row without missing a game between the two big head injuries.

 

Again, it's nice to have you on board. You can give us your take on the Canucks throughout the season. Hopefully I offend you by saying this, but I do want the Canucks to play the Sabres in the finals... But I'd love nothing more than to see a 4-0 sweep with all 4 games being blowouts for the Buffalo Sabres... Although, since I'm on heart medication, I can handle the indescribable pressure of 4 OT victories for Buffalo though!

[Best Coast]

This might be a bit overly long but it is the off-season. It is a bit of a puff piece, so bear with me haters, but I am a Canucks fan. I can see why Vancouver wouldn't be one of the most loved teams in the league, but I do think they are the kind of team that if you get to know them, you really see most of them are good guys who just desperately want to win.

 

I think Luongo gets a bad rap around the league, but it's probably deserved given the way he presents himself and the absurd coin he brings in. He did have an awful regular season last year, letting in incredibly bad goals near a one per game clip. Nevertheless, it's weird, but I thought he had a better playoffs than regular season, even with the stats saying otherwise. He made some ridiculous game saving stops in both the Chicago and LA series, but our defence progressed from mediocre to mind-numbingly awful as the playoffs went on. To explain, Luongo saved our butts in Game 5 with an incredible performance, and was on his way to doing the same in Game 6 before Chicago scored the first goal. Then Kevin Bieksa happened (3:15 in this video):

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQEBc3musG4

 

And this was happening with all our defence, with guys like Alberts, Edler and Ehrhoff just ravaged by Chicago's forecheck.

 

Nobody in the league it seems likes Alex Burrows, but you guys would just love him if he played in Buffalo. Hear me out, haha. He does everything possible to help the team win, and yes, that does include diving and petty agitating... but his motives are always completely focused on helping the team win, unlike an Avery-type, who just wants to build his own ego. In a lot of ways Burrows is a throw-back to the old type of hockey players, the guys not focused on money or their own legacies or how they are seen through the media, but just getting their team a Stanley Cup and understanding how incredible it is that they get to play hockey for a career. He always speaks honestly to the fans, and that has gotten him in trouble with the media, but I'd take that any day over the canned responses of most players. The one exception to that honesty was when he forgot to mention he was playing with a serious shoulder injury through last season's playoffs, one that might keep him out till December. Whereas other players—even a hardcore guy like Kesler—bring up their injuries as excuses after the playoffs or even during the playoffs, Burrows never once mentioned his, but instead really put a whole lot of blame solely on himself for not producing in the Chicago series. Not to mention his career path is just remarkable, how he went undrafted, spent several seasons in the ECHL, then several in the AHL, and now is a 30-goalscorer in the NHL. It's a testament to his desire and love for the game that he has gotten so far off pure hard work and desire, and it is sadly an obscure story in an era where first round draft picks are often pandered to and treated almost as instant superstars.

 

And finally, in terms of the likability of Vancouver's squad, yes the Sedins may seem a little weird, but they have an incredible dual work ethic that sees them improve each and every season, no matter if that improvement turns up on the stat sheet. They also are remarkably humble guys and have hearts of gold, both having donated 1.5 million to Vancouver's children's hospital. Their fellow Swede Samuelsson is also like this: this off-season he has been raising money to support local hockey in his hometown in Sweden, offering up a prize package for donations that includes a week-stay at his house with home-cooked meals :lol:. I'm only mentioning these stories because I think they go under the radar in today's media, and really shouldn't. I'd love to hear similar stories about Buffalo Sabres players.

 

So all in all, I love my Canucks. Hopefully everyone in the league hates them next season though, haha.

[nfreeman]

This might be a bit overly long but it is the off-season. It is a bit of a puff piece, so bear with me haters, but I am a Canucks fan. I can see why Vancouver wouldn't be one of the most loved teams in the league, but I do think they are the kind of team that if you get to know them, you really see most of them are good guys who just desperately want to win.

 

I think Luongo gets a bad rap around the league, but it's probably deserved given the way he presents himself and the absurd coin he brings in. He did have an awful regular season last year, letting in incredibly bad goals near a one per game clip. Nevertheless, it's weird, but I thought he had a better playoffs than regular season, even with the stats saying otherwise. He made some ridiculous game saving stops in both the Chicago and LA series, but our defence progressed from mediocre to mind-numbingly awful as the playoffs went on. To explain, Luongo saved our butts in Game 5 with an incredible performance, and was on his way to doing the same in Game 6 before Chicago scored the first goal. Then Kevin Bieksa happened (3:15 in this video):

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQEBc3musG4

 

And this was happening with all our defence, with guys like Alberts, Edler and Ehrhoff just ravaged by Chicago's forecheck.

 

Nobody in the league it seems likes Alex Burrows, but you guys would just love him if he played in Buffalo. Hear me out, haha. He does everything possible to help the team win, and yes, that does include diving and petty agitating... but his motives are always completely focused on helping the team win, unlike an Avery-type, who just wants to build his own ego. In a lot of ways Burrows is a throw-back to the old type of hockey players, the guys not focused on money or their own legacies or how they are seen through the media, but just getting their team a Stanley Cup and understanding how incredible it is that they get to play hockey for a career. He always speaks honestly to the fans, and that has gotten him in trouble with the media, but I'd take that any day over the canned responses of most players. The one exception to that honesty was when he forgot to mention he was playing with a serious shoulder injury through last season's playoffs, one that might keep him out till December. Whereas other players—even a hardcore guy like Kesler—bring up their injuries as excuses after the playoffs or even during the playoffs, Burrows never once mentioned his, but instead really put a whole lot of blame solely on himself for not producing in the Chicago series. Not to mention his career path is just remarkable, how he went undrafted, spent several seasons in the ECHL, then several in the AHL, and now is a 30-goalscorer in the NHL. It's a testament to his desire and love for the game that he has gotten so far off pure hard work and desire, and it is sadly an obscure story in an era where first round draft picks are often pandered to and treated almost as instant superstars.

 

And finally, in terms of the likability of Vancouver's squad, yes the Sedins may seem a little weird, but they have an incredible dual work ethic that sees them improve each and every season, no matter if that improvement turns up on the stat sheet. They also are remarkably humble guys and have hearts of gold, both having donated 1.5 million to Vancouver's children's hospital. Their fellow Swede Samuelsson is also like this: this off-season he has been raising money to support local hockey in his hometown in Sweden, offering up a prize package for donations that includes a week-stay at his house with home-cooked meals :lol:. I'm only mentioning these stories because I think they go under the radar in today's media, and really shouldn't. I'd love to hear similar stories about Buffalo Sabres players.

 

So all in all, I love my Canucks. Hopefully everyone in the league hates them next season though, haha.

Welcome to the board. I like the Canucks as a team and as an organization. In particular, I liked the hiring of Mike Gillis as GM and the way they acquired and kept the Sedins. I do think they overpaid Luongo, but every team has contracts they wish they could do over.

 

I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on them letting Willie Mitchell go. From the outside, it seemed to me that they should've kept him. Teams hoping to make deep playoff runs generally need blood-and-guts veterans like that. I was kinda hoping the Sabres would pick him up.

 

I think Chicago is still better than Vancouver, but Chicago has definitely been weakened this summer. It's not impossible that Vancouver could beat Chicago in the playoffs this year.

 

I have also heard great things about the city of Vancouver and would really like to visit there someday.

 

 

Enjoy the season!

[Best Coast]

I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on them letting Willie Mitchell go. From the outside, it seemed to me that they should've kept him. Teams hoping to make deep playoff runs generally need blood-and-guts veterans like that. I was kinda hoping the Sabres would pick him up.

Mitchell is a very good defenceman, but losing to Chicago two seasons in a row has taught Vancouver the importance of speed and mobility from the backend. While Mitchell is among the best in defending, you don't win games, especially playoff games, by just defending. You win playoff games, and series, by pushing the pace of games and controlling the flow. Last year Chicago had just ridiculous time in the offensive zone versus time in the defensive zone stats.

 

Yes, Willie Mitchell is blood-and-guts, but that has also made his durability and issue, especially now with a lingering concussion issue. Most Vancouver fans would have loved to keep him at around 2 million for 1 year, but were blown away by the numbers Los Angeles gave him. To be honest, I've never been a huge fan of him though, and was glad to see him go, though happy for the time he gave us. Just too painful seeing the puck come to him at the point. He did also make an unbelievable mistake in Game 5 of the 2008-2009 Chicago series that allowed Chicago to tie the game up and win it in OT, and was just generally awful against Chicago's fast, balanced, two-way squad.

 

I look at Buffalo and don't think they need a guy like Mitchell. I do actually think your team is very close. I think they need another top pairing, two-way defenceman, to give them a one-two punch like last year's finalists Chicago (Keith and Seabrook) and Philadelphia (Pronger and Timonen). Also a two-way heart and soul second liner a la Patrick Sharp would be huge. Difficult assets to acquire though, and no team is perfect at the end of the day.

[CallawaySabres]

The only other gear I have besides Sabres is a Vancouver hat with just the stick logo on it. Sabres and Vancouver are my two favorite logos in all of sports so I have always had some affinity towards your team as well. They are ALWAYS the team I cheer for on the Western side of things.....

[SabreCutz]

Mitchell is a very good defenceman, but losing to Chicago two seasons in a row has taught Vancouver the importance of speed and mobility from the backend. While Mitchell is among the best in defending, you don't win games, especially playoff games, by just defending. You win playoff games, and series, by pushing the pace of games and controlling the flow. Last year Chicago had just ridiculous time in the offensive zone versus time in the defensive zone stats.

 

Yes, Willie Mitchell is blood-and-guts, but that has also made his durability and issue, especially now with a lingering concussion issue. Most Vancouver fans would have loved to keep him at around 2 million for 1 year, but were blown away by the numbers Los Angeles gave him. To be honest, I've never been a huge fan of him though, and was glad to see him go, though happy for the time he gave us. Just too painful seeing the puck come to him at the point. He did also make an unbelievable mistake in Game 5 of the 2008-2009 Chicago series that allowed Chicago to tie the game up and win it in OT, and was just generally awful against Chicago's fast, balanced, two-way squad.

 

I look at Buffalo and don't think they need a guy like Mitchell. I do actually think your team is very close. I think they need another top pairing, two-way defenceman, to give them a one-two punch like last year's finalists Chicago (Keith and Seabrook) and Philadelphia (Pronger and Timonen). Also a two-way heart and soul second liner a la Patrick Sharp would be huge. Difficult assets to acquire though, and no team is perfect at the end of the day.

 

Welcome, Canucklehead! I really thought Vancouver was going all the way last season. They looked like they had the skill and "edge" to take on anyone, especially afetr the first game against Chicago, but then seemed to fade as the series continued. Anyways, don't want to regurgitate bad memories for you. I think a Van-Buf finals would be awesome, but the travel would be a killer for the teams and us east coasters would lose a lot of sleep watching OT games until the wee hours!

[MattPie]

Huh, I must be the only one that remembers some pretty testy games between the Canucks and Sabres in the 90s. No worries, though, all is forgiven. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5QYZk0ROyM&feature=related

[spndnchz]

Huh, I must be the only one that remembers some pretty testy games between the Canucks and Sabres in the 90s. No worries, though, all is forgiven. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5QYZk0ROyM&feature=related

 

Or Brashear going after Peca? Or Shields and Burke fighting?

 

Damn I miss hockey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and testys.

[That Aud Smell]

one of the coolest off-season threads - thanks and welcome to best coast.

 

The only other gear I have besides Sabres is a Vancouver hat with just the stick logo on it. Sabres and Vancouver are my two favorite logos in all of sports so I have always had some affinity towards your team as well. They are ALWAYS the team I cheer for on the Western side of things.....

i second that - i don't have a canucks hat - but i have a tee with new/retro logo.

 

help me out: did the canucks that lose a playoff (SCF?) game where a bizarre own-goal was scored? i seem to recall feeling a heart-break for them as a result - might've been in the 80s when they played the islanders.

[Taro T]

one of the coolest off-season threads - thanks and welcome to best coast.

 

 

i second that - i don't have a canucks hat - but i have a tee with new/retro logo.

 

help me out: did the canucks that lost a playoff (SCF?) game where a bizarre own-goal was scored? i seem to recall feeling a heart-break for them as a result - might've been in the 80s when they played the islanders.

The team was leading LATE in Game 1 when Harold Snepsts had some sort of a mindfart in his own end that allowed the Isles to take it to OT. They lost that one and then never really competed the rest of the series.