GDT Sabres Season Opener: Sens @ Sabres 10/13/2022, 7pm, MSG, ESPN+, RDS, WGR

[Taro T]

  On 10/14/2022 at 4:17 PM, Spoonman said:

Here is Meatballs: https://21143.mc.tritondigital.com/OMNY_SABRESHOCKEY_P/media-session/893b1665-a2d1-49e3-bfc6-77f49b172141/d/clips/4b5f9d6d-9214-48cb-8455-a73200038129/5f47c5fb-d9f1-4f87-adb1-a92b003718e7/69a9cdc1-8f3c-4475-8d1b-af2e00308cee/audio/direct/t1665716248/10-13_Don_Granato_Postgame.mp3?t=1665716248

go to Podcasts on Audacy. Sabres, then DG

Picture please!

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@steveoath posted a tweet w/ it back on page 4 of this thread.

[Doohicksie]

The Hockey Guy's take (cued up to the Buffalo-Ottawa game):

 

[triumph_communes]

  On 10/14/2022 at 2:28 PM, Doohickie said:

Out of the games I've seen so far this year, I actually the the Sabres broadcast ads were the best.  In Edmonton they were flickering and lagging which was extremely distracting.  In general when they change they just change instantly.  The Sabres ads actually transition with animation which seems less attention grabbing actually (at least to me).

My prediction is that as the season goes on, most teams will get their virtual ads worked out better but that also we, as fans, will learn to ignore them kind of like the little virtual ads on the games people play on their phones.

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Took me half the first period to be able to actually watch the game. It was bad 

[Taro T]

  On 10/14/2022 at 12:12 AM, freester said:

Key Bank looks fairly empty. I was hoping for better attendance. 

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There were ~14,500 in the building.  (15,360 tickets distributed)  Except for the 2 RJ games & maybe the Eichel that's the best attendance since prior to the pandemic.

[spndnchz]

The woman who got on the Jumbotron and lifted her shirt excited the crowd very well lol

[Taro T]

  On 10/14/2022 at 5:10 AM, Zamboni said:

That was a fun season opener to go to.

There were 15,000.+ tickets sold. But there definitely wasn’t that many in the seats. I would guess 11,000 to 12,500 were actually there. 

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Nowhere near that few in the building.  The place holds close to 19,000 (the exact # seems to change every couple of years depending on whether/how many seats they need to block off to be ADA compliant; thanks Larry) & there was absolutely no way the building was 1/3 empty.  Expect there were at least 14,000 in the building, likely 14,500.

[spndnchz]

They could turn the down the music a bit.  It made my head hurt.

[Huckleberry]

Actually thought I heard this last night, but wasn't sure 🙂

[SDS]

  On 10/14/2022 at 5:02 PM, spndnchz said:

The woman who got on the Jumbotron and lifted her shirt excited the crowd very well lol

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What was this? Lol

[spndnchz]

  On 10/14/2022 at 5:05 PM, SDS said:

What was this? Lol

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Younger one.  Was dancing and lifted it. Camera was only on for about 2 seconds and was cut off. Pretty sure it wasn’t on tv with the delay. 

[Norcal]

  On 10/14/2022 at 5:05 PM, Huckleberry said:

Actually thought I heard this last night, but wasn't sure 🙂

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Sounds like Shorsey 😆

[SDS]

  On 10/14/2022 at 5:07 PM, spndnchz said:

Younger one.  Was dancing and lifted it. Camera was only on for about 2 seconds and was cut off. Pretty sure it wasn’t on tv with the delay. 

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I assume you mean a school-age kid. Yikes 

[spndnchz]

  On 10/14/2022 at 5:09 PM, SDS said:

I assume you mean a school-age kid. Yikes 

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Early 20’s if I were to guess

[SDS]

For the people who went, what were your thoughts regarding the tribute prior to the game?

I know people who had a negative reaction to the timing.

  On 10/14/2022 at 5:10 PM, spndnchz said:

Early 20’s if I were to guess

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Oh. Well, party-on then. 

[Taro T]

  On 10/14/2022 at 2:22 PM, Doohickie said:

I felt like it was a game of momentum shifts.  The Sens pushed the play early which is what you saw.  There were times when the Sabres controlled play.  Both teams actively worked to steal the momentum from each other.  In the early 2nd period the Sabres carried the play, resulting in JJ's and Dahlin's goals.  The Sens pushed back but in the end Anderson was the difference maker.  When they got to the mid third period Ottawa tried to open things up but left themselves vulnerable to counterattack which the Sabres tried to exploit but they didn't score until the Sens finally pulled their goalie.

It was a game that gave Granato a lot of video to go over with the guys and they will undoubtedly learn from it.  The effort was there.

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Interesting you mention that.  Granato said post-game specifically that they hadn't shown the guys any post-game video in the preseason because there was no point to it when it wasn't against NHLers.  But that they would be reviewing a lot of stuff from this game with everybody.

Also, at least to me Interestingly, each player post-game gets a video customized to his own game to review.  There is a staffer that keeps track of when everybody hits the ice comes off it & the events & that log gets correlated to the game film so they can pretty much give those to the players almost as the game is ending.  They've had that in place since at least the mid-00's.  Would be interesting to know how much additional details they get now that the league does some degree of bio-monitoring.

[That Aud Smell]

  On 10/14/2022 at 5:11 PM, SDS said:

For the people who went, what were your thoughts regarding the tribute prior to the game?

I know people who had a negative reaction to the timing.

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I didn't go, but did see the entire program on the feed I had.

I found it a bit cringe-inducing. What was the reaction re the timing to which you refer?

I will add: I went to the Bills home opener and there was a tribute and program devoted to the same incident and issues. Bruce Smith was the focal point and dude was PREACHING. I did not find that program awkward or weird. I have some ideas on why that might be, not the least of which is that Bruce was given the mic, there were dozens of black people on the field getting ready to play the game, and there was a goodly number of black fans in the stands (including the Chefs!). My mother's a bleeding heart liberal who tends to cluck her tongue at things like pro football, but I have told her time and again: There's no more racially integrated experience in WNY than being a Bills fan. It has a long way to go, of course, but it's something over which white and black (and brown ...) people come together in an organic way.

The NHL and the Sabres? That's a different vibe. I couldn't miss the fact that the local TV production crew regularly put a camera on the black fan sitting at the glass (in a red jersey of some kind (a swizzle stick retro?)).

I applaud the efforts. I'm just being honest about my visceral reaction.

[spndnchz]

  On 10/14/2022 at 5:11 PM, SDS said:

For the people who went, what were your thoughts regarding the tribute prior to the game?

I know people who had a negative reaction to the timing.

 

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I liked it. What did ppl expect? A tribute mid summer?

RJ showing up was very cool.

I don’t but I heard after the first period the draft beer was warm.

They ran out of hot dogs (there’s cheap and there’s Sahlens) Cheap ones were gone by end of the second so they dropped the Sahlens price. FYI if you are a STH Sahlens price drops from like $7 down to $3.50, and they were really good. Lots of kids there mostly the issue. They did drop the regular price to 4 bucks when they ran out.

You really don’t need some STH id, just tell them you are and don’t understand the new phone stuff yet.

Canned beer is 15 bucks now. 

[Derrico]

  On 10/14/2022 at 5:13 PM, Taro T said:

Interesting you mention that.  Granato said post-game specifically that they hadn't shown the guys any post-game video in the preseason because there was no point to it when it wasn't against NHLers.  But that they would be reviewing a lot of stuff from this game with everybody.

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I really like that.  Had to listen to the Ottawa feed and couldn't get over all the ballwashing how great the power play look and this guy and that in the preseason.  

I'm like, man, it's preseason.  That don't mean *****. 

[SDS]

  On 10/14/2022 at 5:25 PM, That Aud Smell said:

I didn't go, but did see the entire program on the feed I had.

I found it a bit cringe-inducing. What was the reaction re the timing to which you refer?

I will add: I went to the Bills home opener and there was a tribute and program devoted to the same incident and issues. Bruce Smith was the focal point and dude was PREACHING. I did not find that program awkward or weird. I have some ideas on why that might be, not the least of which is that Bruce was given the mic, there were dozens of black people on the field getting ready to play the game, and there was a goodly number of black fans in the stands (including the Chefs!). My mother's a bleeding heart liberal who tends to cluck her tongue at things like pro football, but I have told her time and again: There's no more racially integrated experience in WNY than being a Bills fan. It has a long way to go, of course, but it's something over which white and black (and brown ...) people come together in an organic way.

The NHL and the Sabres? That's a different vibe. I couldn't miss the fact that the local TV production crew regularly put a camera on the black fan sitting at the glass (in a red jersey of some kind (a swizzle stick retro?)).

I applaud the efforts. I'm just being honest about my visceral reaction.

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Excellent point about the disparities in roster and crowd composition. 

The main objection, and I apologize if this was relayed to me incorrectly, was that the players jumped on the ice, immediately skated to the blue line, and everyone was then in solitude until puck drop. So, the question put to me was "were we supposed to be a rabidly cheering crowd or a super sad, respectful one?" He thought the timing of the ceremony really put the fan in an awkward place.

  On 10/14/2022 at 5:31 PM, spndnchz said:

I liked it. What did ppl expect? A tribute mid summer?

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I'm guessing the preference was to have something earlier in the pre-game, to allow the crowd to get back into the festivities. 

[spndnchz]

  On 10/14/2022 at 5:39 PM, SDS said:

Excellent point about the disparities in roster and crowd composition. 

The main objection, and I apologize if this was relayed to my incorrectly, was that the players jumped on the ice, immediately skated to the blue line, and everyone was then in solitude until puck drop. So, the question put to me was "were we supposed to be a rabidly cheering crowd or a super sad, respectful one?" He thought the timing of the ceremony really put the fan in an awkward place.

I'm guessing the preference was to have something earlier in the pre-game, to allow the crowd to get back into the festivities. 

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I suppose having the Sens get on for the tribute and then kicking them off for player introductions may have had been in the decision. I don’t think the somber tribute really quieted the crowd impo

[PromoTheRobot]

  On 10/14/2022 at 4:28 PM, Doohickie said:

The Hockey Guy's take (cued up to the Buffalo-Ottawa game):

 

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How does that guy watch every game?

[SDS]

  On 10/14/2022 at 5:49 PM, PromoTheRobot said:

How does that guy watch every game?

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What was said that couldn't be said in watching the 7 min game recaps on yahoo?

[That Aud Smell]

  On 10/14/2022 at 5:39 PM, SDS said:

Excellent point about the disparities in roster and crowd composition. 

The main objection, and I apologize if this was relayed to me incorrectly, was that the players jumped on the ice, immediately skated to the blue line, and everyone was then in solitude until puck drop. So, the question put to me was "were we supposed to be a rabidly cheering crowd or a super sad, respectful one?" He thought the timing of the ceremony really put the fan in an awkward place.

I'm guessing the preference was to have something earlier in the pre-game, to allow the crowd to get back into the festivities. 

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that's interesting. i didn't pick up on that from the broadcast. i will add: doing a tribute like that in an open air stadium of ~70K is quite different as well. the arena makes it feel a bit more ... intimate (?).

  On 10/14/2022 at 5:49 PM, PromoTheRobot said:

How does that guy watch every game?

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i love the passion. but, my lord.

[SDS]

  On 10/14/2022 at 5:49 PM, spndnchz said:

I suppose having the Sens get on for the tribute and then kicking them off for player introductions may have had been in the decision. I don’t think the somber tribute really quieted the crowd impo

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So, maybe his personal energy level was suppressed and he projected that onto others. 🤷‍♂️

[inkman]

  On 10/14/2022 at 5:02 PM, spndnchz said:

The woman who got on the Jumbotron and lifted her shirt excited the crowd very well lol

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