GDT - POSTPONED Blue Jackets @ Buffalo - December 20, 2021 - 7:00 PM (EST) - MSG-B & WGR

[Taro T]

6 minutes ago, steveoath said:

Is that us until after Christmas then?

Yep.  Next game is Monday at home vs the Aisles.

[Doohicksie]

Not surprised 

[MattPie]

24 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Yep.  Next yet-to-be-postponed game is Monday at home vs the Aisles.

FTFY

[Pimlach]

2 hours ago, inkman said:

I only cited Bernier as his debut was spectacular.  His career, not so much.  I was not camparing them as players. Gotta watch what you say in a public forum I guess 

No problem on the Bernier reference.  I sure didn’t mean to call you out either.  You are correct on the Bernier hot start. 
🍺 🍻 

 
I think we all have high hopes for Tuch. It’s hard to find a forward with his size plus a decent amount of speed, hands, skill, and energy.  He is promising and hopefully consistently good with longevity. 
 

 

[mphs mike]

7 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

Tuch scores 3 goals, 3 assists, knocks 2 Jackets out cold with mammoth hits and goes down the bench fighting the entire Jackets roster, beating up and disposing of each Jacket as he goes!!😁

All without getting COVID

[steveoath]

3 hours ago, Taro T said:

Yep.  Next game is Monday at home vs the Aisles.

Not surprised,  but disappointed.  At least it gives the team a chance to heal up a bit. 

[Ducky]

I think there will be a prolonged pause and the postponed games will be mostly made up during the olympics seeing as NHL players will not be going.

[inkman]

What is a 3 day pause gonna do?  

[spndnchz]

 Days before you get Covid?

[PerreaultForever]

bring back bubble hockey. Nobody was going to Sabres games anyway 🙂

 

[Andrew Amerk]

31 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

bring back bubble hockey. Nobody was going to Sabres games anyway 🙂

 

I’ve been trying to find a Super Chexx Bubble Hockey with RJ as the announcer for years, but these suckers want like $3,000 for one. 

As if they are stuck in Covid Containers off the California Coast or somethin’ 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Called it in the first few posts in this thread.

[Wyldnwoody44]

13 hours ago, inkman said:

What is a 3 day pause gonna do?  

Make everyone feel better about the fact that it does nothing meaningful. 

[PromoTheRobot]

11 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

bring back bubble hockey. Nobody was going to Sabres games anyway 🙂

 

This is why the Sabres have to try to stay in the top 12 of point percentage in the conference. Just in case the league decides to call for another expanded tournament.

[Taro T]

31 minutes ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

Make everyone feel better about the fact that it does nothing meaningful. 

It also gives the players that may now be having 2nd thoughts about participating in the Olympics a way to avoid playing in them without admitting they don't want to play given the severity of the consequences of a positive test.  So, in a roundabout way, it may be meaningful.

Interestingly, though the Olympics is in question, things are still proceeding towards the All Star Game & its associated festivities proceeding as planned.

[Wyldnwoody44]

8 minutes ago, Taro T said:

It also gives the players that may now be having 2nd thoughts about participating in the Olympics a way to avoid playing in them without admitting they don't want to play given the severity of the consequences of a positive test.  So, in a roundabout way, it may be meaningful.

Interestingly, though the Olympics is in question, things are still proceeding towards the All Star Game & its associated festivities proceeding as planned.

When 80k people at a football game are forced into a funnel to go out 2 or 3 turnstile exits and be crammed together for an hour, I don't take sports theatrical "attempts" very seriously. 

Look, if everyone is still that scared and worried then the season would be cancelled or bubbled again. But that loses revenue so we can't have that. 

Either suit up and play or cancel it all. Sh*t or get of the pot

 

[Marvin]

3 minutes ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

When 80k people at a football game are forced into a funnel to go out 2 or 3 turnstile exits and be crammed together for an hour, I don't take sports theatrical "attempts" very seriously. 

Look, if everyone is still that scared and worried then the season would be cancelled or bubbled again. But that loses revenue so we can't have that. 

Either suit up and play or cancel it all. Sh*t or get of the pot

Two points:

1. The comparisons with 1919-21 are interesting.  They seated every other seat at sporting events for those years.  We are taking COVID a lot less seriously than they took influenza back then.  Some of this makes sense because the death rates from COVID now are less than the death rates from influenza then.

2. IMHO, some of this is political.  If they take COVID too seriously, that will turn off the most vocal fans who are opposed to any restrictions at all and could land them on the national news as being against freedom.

[PromoTheRobot]

Speaking of being in the top 12, here's where we stand today:

The NY Islanders are 12th. We are tied with the Devils for 13th, but lose on the third tie-breaker, ROW 9 to 8. If we had gotten just one more point, from either of our last-second losses, or if the Rangers game goal was allowed to stand, we'd be ahead of the Islanders for 12th place with a .433 pct.

Edited December 21, 2021 by PromoTheRobot

[Doohicksie]

16 hours ago, inkman said:

What is a 3 day pause gonna do?  

• Give teams a chance to assess their own situations without cross-team exposure.
• Give the league a chance to assess current policies and adjust them going forward.
• Monitor the situation as Omicron becomes the dominant strain in North America.
• Take pressure off shutdown teams to get back to action prematurely.

At the end of the pause they will have more information about how to go forward, but part of that plan going forward may be an extended pause prior to starting up again.  But as of right now they're in an information gathering phase more than anything.  No reason to postpone games next week.... yet.

Edited December 21, 2021 by The Ghost of Yuri

[inkman]

37 minutes ago, The Ghost of Yuri said:

• Give teams a chance to assess their own situations without cross-team exposure.
• Give the league a chance to assess current policies and adjust them going forward.
• Monitor the situation as Omicron becomes the dominant strain in North America.
• Take pressure off shutdown teams to get back to action prematurely.

At the end of the pause they will have more information about how to go forward, but part of that plan going forward may be an extended pause prior to starting up again.  But as of right now they're in an information gathering phase more than anything.  No reason to postpone games next week.... yet.

They should shut down indefinitely 

[Doohicksie]

I dunno.  Let's see how Omicron pans out.  If it turns out to be a minor illness for vaxed people, maybe it should just be Game On.

[LGR4GM]

11 minutes ago, The Ghost of Yuri said:

I dunno.  Let's see how Omicron pans out.  If it turns out to be a minor illness for vaxed people, maybe it should just be Game On.

Yea, the real issue is knowing if Omicron is as bad as Delta or if it has the same outcomes such as myocarditis. I think pausing over Christmas is smart and they can decide how they want to move forward. They do need to move forward though, I don't think another canceled season helps anything. Good news is the Sabres don't have to worry about 50% capacity restrictions on the arena, thxs Terry! 

[Doohicksie]

15 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Good news is the Sabres don't have to worry about 50% capacity restrictions on the arena, thxs Terry! 

For real.

And on a related note:  I think they've kept the team on simmer this season but next season we may see a full boil akin to 2005-06.  If UPL can continue as he has so far, and you add Tuch, Krebs, Mitts, JJ, Power, Quinn, etc., etc., I could see icing a team that surprises a lot of the other teams.

[PerreaultForever]

Everything seems to be indicating that Omicron is much more contagious but is also not very serious for people who are vaccinated (which all the players are). So I think they are just buying time until those preliminary findings are more definitive. Then they'll just use the Olympic time to reschedule.

[LGR4GM]

19 hours ago, The Ghost of Yuri said:

For real.

And on a related note:  I think they've kept the team on simmer this season but next season we may see a full boil akin to 2005-06.  If UPL can continue as he has so far, and you add Tuch, Krebs, Mitts, JJ, Power, Quinn, etc., etc., I could see icing a team that surprises a lot of the other teams.

Idk if we'll be at a boil next year. They need another 2 good drafts still.