Sabres 05-06 Playoffs coming to YouTube

[darksabre]

For your viewing pleasure during the pandemic

 

[darksabre]

My god I forgot how gritty this team was. 

Kalinen is a physical force. Briere is fearless. 

[Stoner]

Oh, lord. It's happening. I've always dreamt of some how, some way having a modern day GDT while we all watch playoff games from the past. I've looked into it. There's a way to stream YT videos live...

[darksabre]

1 minute ago, PASabreFan said:

Oh, lord. It's happening. I've always dreamt of some how, some way having a modern day GDT while we all watch playoff games from the past. I've looked into it. There's a way to stream YT videos live...

I think we could do it if we wanted. Everyone just hits play at 7:05pm using the World Clock https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/ 

[OverPowerYou]

Is this the Campbell hit game or the 13th shot of the night game? Man I miss those jerseys, pre HD television, and the OLN network. Simpler times...

[darksabre]

Just now, OverPowerYou said:

Is this the Campbell hit game or the 13th shot of the night game? Man I miss those jerseys, pre HD television, and the OLN network. Simpler times...

This is the double OT win. Next game is Esche melting down, can't wait for that one to get uploaded! 

[darksabre]

Oh this IS the Umberger hit game! 

Wow. It's just as brutal as I remember. It comes out of nowhere. The announcers just explode.

[PerreaultForever]

5 hours ago, darksabre said:

My god I forgot how gritty this team was. 

Kalinen is a physical force. Briere is fearless. 

Yup, it's all relative and with the softness we've been seeing over the last however long this seems even grittier.

[ubkev]

9 hours ago, darksabre said:

This is the double OT win. Next game is Esche melting down, can't wait for that one to get uploaded! 

I asked him about that game one night, had to be 07 or 08. He laughed and bought me a drink. Super awesome guy! 

[darksabre]

59 minutes ago, ubkev said:

I asked him about that game one night, had to be 07 or 08. He laughed and bought me a drink. Super awesome guy! 

It's funny because he plays such a good game in game 1, and then it just falls apart in game 2. Weird how that can go.

[ubkev]

9 minutes ago, darksabre said:

It's funny because he plays such a good game in game 1, and then it just falls apart in game 2. Weird how that can go.

Goalies, man.

[Slack_in_MA]

NHL Network currently showing game 6 of the ‘75 cup final vs Flyers. Great watching the French Connection, like I did when I was eight. This is what sports watching has come to, I guess. 

Edited March 16, 2020 by Slack_in_MA

[Stoner]

11 hours ago, darksabre said:

I think we could do it if we wanted. Everyone just hits play at 7:05pm using the World Clock https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/ 

We'd actually all be in synch much better than usual when some people are streaming and some are watching "live." Then there's Brawndo. He'd surely hit play 30 seconds early.

[DarthEbriate]

This makes me happy. I mean... when we get to the Ottawa series and Carolina and our team starts falling apart with injuries, I'll be sad. But what a run. Listen to that crowd when Gaustad touches a guy, or when Afinogenov carries the puck (in the first 5 minutes). It's louder than for Eichel. Maxim louder than Jack... think about how far we've fallen, and what we need to get back to that day. And build toward it.

Thank you for sharing this, @darksabre!

[Kruppstahl]

15 hours ago, OverPowerYou said:

Is this the Campbell hit game or the 13th shot of the night game? Man I miss those jerseys, pre HD television, and the OLN network. Simpler times...

I think you are the only other Sabres fan to ever say something so positive about the "other" uniforms.  They seem to be universally disliked.  I personally loved those things and find the classic white/gold/blue color scheme to be rather cheesy.

We looked tough as hell in those all blacks, and this team is, by far, the best team ever iced by the Buffalo Sabres franchise.   

[In The Buff]

Such a good idea releasing these games to watch now. I just wish it didnt end the way it did.

Maybe if i rewatch all of these, the ending will change? Here's to hoping for the best!

 

[Marvin]

The problem with the demonic goats from my POV (aside from the pyramids, the crest, the Adelphia colours, and the lack of connection to the great Sabres teams of my youth) is that I associate them with the Rigases, the Adelphia bankruptcy, and almost losing the team.

2 hours ago, Kruppstahl said:

I think you are the only other Sabres fan to ever say something so positive about the "other" uniforms.  They seem to be universally disliked.  I personally loved those things and find the classic white/gold/blue color scheme to be rather cheesy.

We looked tough as hell in those all blacks, and this team is, by far, the best team ever iced by the Buffalo Sabres franchise.   

Part of me thinks that people assume the early Sabres were softer than melted butter because they were so skilled, lost to the Flyers, could not get out of the 2nd round for years, could not beat the Islanders, and could not get past Boston for aeons.  The following are excuses or reasons, depending on how you view them.

The Sabres often had at least one fundamental flaw that held them back and seemed to hit unbelievably bad luck when they were the most complete.  Variously, coaching, goaltending, lack of forward depth, lack of defencive depth, or the GM's inability to move with league-wide officiating trends explain them.

Moreover, the first half of the Sabres' existence was an era of dynasties, where great teams could stay together for years and the league often bent the rules to help them.  From 1973-93, the only Cup winners were Calgary (1), Edmonton (5), Montreal (7), New York Islanders (4), Philadelphia (2), Pittsburgh (2).  In the early years, the New York Rangers and Chicago Black Hawks were contenders that the young Sabres displaced by 1975.  Boston and Philadelphia were perennial pretenders or better.  The only non-dynastic Cups in that run were 1973 (Montreal -- and even this is dubious), 1989 (Calgary), and 1993 (Montreal).

Even so, there was a statistical analysis done for all NHL teams in the expansion era through 1986 that had the Buffalo Sabres as the only non-Cup winners at the top of the statistics that correlated with Cup Winners.  ("Alone among the all the Cup Winners are the ever-close, but always-disappointing Sabres in 5th place.")  Similar stats were run in 2001 by eras of the NHL and, what do you know, the Sabres are the only non-Cup winner in each era at the top of these lists.  And, according to my old Sabres Yearbook in 2001, the list of teams that the Buffalo Sabres had played a statistically significant number of games against and had a losing record was the Edmonton Oilers and the Philadelphia Flyers.  At least it was fun, if not ultimately satisfying.

I understand that I look at those Sabres with mistier eyes than I should.  I look at the early teams through the prism of the Cold War, especially the Summit Series, the Arab Oil Embargo, the wage and price freeze, Watergate, Southeast Asia, the Super Series, stagflation, the Iran hostages, the invasion of Afghanistan, and our emotional needs to play the Nuclear War / Nuclear Escalation games: politics and sports were inextricably tied back then with the threat of nuclear holocaust greater than anyone's perceptions of the 2016 and 2020 elections could ever be -- which is what made The Miracle on Ice even sweeter.

The Sabres were gutsy enough to invite the CCCP Olympic team to a challenge at the Aud on 1 January 1974.  As the Courier-Express put it, "Soviets Said 'Nyet'".  That's the original Winter Classic and Challenge Cup rolled into one.  They were the first team to beat the Soviets.  They also beat CSKA in the Aud with a Soviet ref and as the "visitors" 6-1.  (The Flyers declined the same conditions.)  And people treat it as an accident because CSKA looked bad, as if the Sabres had nothing to do with it.  I don't care what a Dope with a Mike said to me on WGR - I am gamete-laden-biome-transfer-ing proud of those teams for, forgive my Cold War jargon, "killing the Commies" (quoting Punch Imlach).  I wanted those wins more than I wanted the Stanley Cup those years.  I can not explain how important they were not just for the fans, but for the US and Canada at the time.  The Flyers' goon show and the Miracle on Ice eclipsed them nationally, but not for me.

Edited March 16, 2020 by E4 ... Ke2

[DarthEbriate]

These colors bring back great memories of never-say-die hard-nosed teams. Plus, the colors are my jam: full black, lightsaber red.

But we look beautiful in these 50th anniversary duds. We just need new memories with next season's squad. And capes. We need capes.

[Stoner]

I've yet to see a shred of evidence that the black and red color scheme had anything to do with Adelphia.

[Marvin]

32 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

I've yet to see a shred of evidence that the black and red color scheme had anything to do with Adelphia.

It's my perception based on the evidence I accumulated when I had partial or full seasons from 1996-2004 and Adelphia cable from 1996 until it folded.

They wore the Sabres black uniforms with Adelphia "A's" on them instead of the Demonic Goat and the B-Sabre patch at the games.  They had variations for the red and white uniforms as well.  All the Adelphia propaganda papers were in Sabres colours -- even stuff that was outside WNY.

Thus, IMHO, the choice of colours was specifically for Adelphia's promotion.  ("Brand Synergy" was the jargon of the time.) I was tolerant of it because hey, the Rigases owned the team.  However, once Adelphia began to collapse and the Sabres went into bankruptcy, you could not have got rid of the colour combination fast enough for me because it was forever tainted.  (Still looked better than the Slug and that hideous yellow turd, erm, third, mind you.)

If this strikes you as being in my head, you might be onto something.

[Stoner]

7 hours ago, E4 ... Ke2 said:

It's my perception based on the evidence I accumulated when I had partial or full seasons from 1996-2004 and Adelphia cable from 1996 until it folded.

They wore the Sabres black uniforms with Adelphia "A's" on them instead of the Demonic Goat and the B-Sabre patch at the games.  They had variations for the red and white uniforms as well.  All the Adelphia propaganda papers were in Sabres colours -- even stuff that was outside WNY.

Thus, IMHO, the choice of colours was specifically for Adelphia's promotion.  ("Brand Synergy" was the jargon of the time.) I was tolerant of it because hey, the Rigases owned the team.  However, once Adelphia began to collapse and the Sabres went into bankruptcy, you could not have got rid of the colour combination fast enough for me because it was forever tainted.  (Still looked better than the Slug and that hideous yellow turd, erm, third, mind you.)

If this strikes you as being in my head, you might be onto something.

They didn't own the team.

[darksabre]

Game 2 is up
 

 

[Stoner]

Now that the games are going to be on MSG, shall we pick one for a GDT?

[Marvin]

7 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

They didn't own the team.

The Rigases?  Really?  My 2000 yearbook says they are.

Regardless, in my mind, the red, black, silver, and white are inextricably linked to Adelphia, the bankruptcy, and almost losing the team.

[Stoner]

2 hours ago, E4 ... Ke2 said:

The Rigases?  Really?  My 2000 yearbook says they are.

Regardless, in my mind, the red, black, silver, and white are inextricably linked to Adelphia, the bankruptcy, and almost losing the team.

The new colors arrived in 1996. Rigas didn't own the team then. He didn't have operational control until some time in 1998. He didn't officially own the team until 2000. He had infused the franchise with cash by 1996. I'm still looking for evidence that the colors were connected to Adelphia. "Because 'Adelphia' owned the team" isn't factual.