West Coast trips

[gilbert11]

With the Sabres headed out West, I thought I’d point out that this is the 6th consecutive full season that the NHL schedule makers send them out for a West Coast trip in October.  WTF!
 

They say sometimes teams bond better on a long trip but c’mon.  For an organization that’s missed the playoffs an NHL record 11 straight seasons, how about give this young team a chance to build some early momentum with a better schedule?!

[Brawndo]

The Sabres actually request an early West Coast Trip every season for team bonding purposes 

[Marvin]

35 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

The Sabres actually request an early West Coast Trip every season for team bonding purposes 

Al Arbour believed in this.

[Contempt]

2 hours ago, Brawndo said:

The Sabres actually request an early West Coast Trip every season for team bonding purposes 

Seems to have worked well. 

 

[Taro T]

3 hours ago, Brawndo said:

The Sabres actually request an early West Coast Trip every season for team bonding purposes 

Expect that having them out of town for nearly 2 weeks while the locals are focused on the Bills doesn't hurt ownerships feelings any either.

[LTS]

I'd request Edmonton, Calgary, and Winnipeg in October as well.  Better now than in February.

66% success rate works for me!

[Radar]

I don't think it has a negative to it. It's hockey and the teams are still the teams. Also for a young team I think there is something to the bonding thing.

[DarthEbriate]

14 hours ago, Brawndo said:

The Sabres actually request an early West Coast Trip every season for team bonding purposes 

And get one of those big travel trips out of the way early so you can do lots of short eastern jumps for a few months. The other western road trips this season are Dec (COL, ARI, VGK) and then February in California (which sounds pretty nice).

[Doohicksie]

On 10/16/2022 at 12:14 AM, Taro T said:

Expect that having them out of town for nearly 2 weeks while the locals are focused on the Bills doesn't hurt ownerships feelings any either.

Yeah but the Bills have a bye this week.  We'll spend a few days admiring yesterday's win but the next Bills game is almost two weeks off.

[Doohicksie]

23 hours ago, DarthEbriate said:

And get one of those big travel trips out of the way early so you can do lots of short eastern jumps for a few months. The other western road trips this season are Dec (COL, ARI, VGK) and then February in California (which sounds pretty nice).

There's a "mid-west" trip in late January:  @DAL, @STL, @WPG, @MIN; I'll be going to the Dallas game.

[Stoner]

On 10/16/2022 at 1:14 AM, Taro T said:

Expect that having them out of town for nearly 2 weeks while the locals are focused on the Bills doesn't hurt ownerships feelings any either.

As tough as I am on TP, I really hope he doesn't care about that.

[SwampD]

On 10/16/2022 at 1:14 AM, Taro T said:

Expect that having them out of town for nearly 2 weeks while the locals are focused on the Bills doesn't hurt ownerships feelings any either.

 

19 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

As tough as I am on TP, I really hope he doesn't care about that.

I might be concerned If I owned the teams. Especially cuz the Bills have a bye next week. 

[Taro T]

7 hours ago, Doohickie said:

Yeah but the Bills have a bye this week.  We'll spend a few days admiring yesterday's win but the next Bills game is almost two weeks off.

The Sabres take the western swing every year early in the season.  As it happens every year, quite certain it's something they request.  Like they used to request a home game for NYE.  October tickets are tough sells.  And the Sabres ALMOST never play on Sunday at home during football season (they've got 1 this year in December; none in October, November, nor January; and only 1 road Sunday game in that stretch too).

The Bills having a bye on one particular weekend, which likely isn't known when the league schedule makers start arranging for playing 1312 games over ~187 days, isn't going to significantly change the calculus.

There were ~7k bodies in the building on Saturday.  Had the game been played in February, there probably would've been 12k+ in the building.  Had it been played this Saturday, the Bills being off the next day would not have put 5k extra patrons into the rink.  Would it even have caused 500 more people to show up?

Yes, the Sabres don't want to compete with the Bills, but as stated above, they very rarely do compete with them.  It doesn't change the fact that competing w/ football season in general is something they'd like to avoid.

[SwampD]

If I’m being honest, 2-2 on this western swing seems hopeful.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

14 hours ago, SwampD said:

If I’m being honest, 2-2 on this western swing seems hopeful.

I would be very happy if the Sabres go 2 - 2 on this trip.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Vancouver and Seattle are very beatable or should be.  Calgary is tough ... very tough.  Edmonton seems to bring out the best in the Sabres when that other guy was around who had a chip on his shoulder and all kinds of other stuff going on.

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, Sabres Fan in NS said:

I would be very happy if the Sabres go 2 - 2 on this trip.

Really want to see them come away w/ 6 points here.

Calgary is probably out of their league right now.  And, though the Eulers should be as well, the Sabres seem to play them well.

Will be very disappointed w/out W's playing on the Pacific.

[IKnowPhysics]

Normally this time of year, Sabres would play LA, ANA, SJS, then maybe PHX in that order.  That trip is February this year.

[mphs mike]

On 10/15/2022 at 9:06 PM, Marvin said:

Al Arbour believed in this.

He also believed in rolling out Smith, Potvin, Bossy, Trottier, Gillies, Goring, etc

[PerreaultForever]

On 10/15/2022 at 6:30 PM, Brawndo said:

The Sabres actually request an early West Coast Trip every season for team bonding purposes 

Ya, I think this is a real thing. Young teams often play better on the road early in the year than they do at home. Less pressure, team bonding, and a greater focus on hockey first. It's a good thing.