With a win tonight, a chance to reprise 05-06 holiday surge

[ska-T Palmtown]

17 hours ago, dudacek said:

Is it a blip? Probably. We’ve certainly been conditioned to expect that it is.

This. This sums up my Sabres fandom right now. I want to believe. I also want to eat healthier, exercise more often, go to bed on time, and do all the recycling.

Alas, I have been conditioned to do otherwise. 😉 

[Taro T]

5 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

YOU may not be.

Remember how good Kotalik was at the SO, though?

Speaking of players who were (in fact) waived in connection with the 2005-2006 season, I have such a fond memory of watching the CBC guy being on-ice after the final game of the 2006 eastern conference semi-finals where he was interviewing Pominville (who'd just scored the series clincher in OT). CBC guy pointed out that the Sabres had placed Pominville on waivers before the season started -- no one claimed him (and I am not sure what kind of waivers those were) -- and that Pominville then spent a fair amount of time in Rochester before making his way back to the big club. It was such a good thing to point out in the moment -- you could see Pominville get emotional, thinking about it.

Yup, Pominville cleared waivers.  Thorburn got claimed.  Both had long careers but 1 was a top 6 player and the other a career 4th liner.  Sabres got lucky with that one.

Edit: Thorburn got claimed the following year when he'd become waiver eligible.  Was off a year on that one.  No idea why was thinking it happened a year earlier.  D'oh!

The 3 players that were waived to Ra-cha-cha to start that year were Pominville, Bartovic, and Janik.  Bartovic was traded to Chicago the next day for Leighton.

Edited November 25 by Taro T

[That Aud Smell]

3 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Yup, Pominville cleared waivers.  Thorburn got claimed.  Both had long careers but 1 was a top 6 player and the other a career 4th liner.  Sabres got lucky with that one.

What sort of waivers were those? Were they just the standard "you're going to the A, but you need to clear waivers before you go because of the amount of time you've been a pro"?

If so, Pominville was further along in his career at that time than I'd thought.

[Taro T]

Just now, That Aud Smell said:

What sort of waivers were those? Were they just the standard "you're going to the A, but you need to clear waivers before you go because of the amount of time you've been a pro"?

If so, Pominville was further along in his career at that time than I'd thought.

People forget that '04-'05 counted as a professional season for all the guys that actually played that year.  And he, and Thorburn too, were a couple of guys that likely would've had callups that season but the Sabre season never happened.

[inkman]

On 11/23/2024 at 12:42 PM, Stoner said:

(Of course they can still do it with a loss, but just play along.)

The 05-06 Sabres were nothing special before their road game on the Island on Thanksgiving Eve. They were 11-9-1. They did sit in the last playoff spot.

Buffalo dipped the Sticks in their own tartar and went on a rip of 15-3-1 through New Year's Day, ending up just three points out of first in the East. The road was tough with 8 home and 11 away.

With a win tonight the Sabres will host the Wild on Thanksgiving Eve with that same record of 11-9-1 and in a similarly uncertain playoff situation as Drury Briere and the boys.

While in 05-06 the home and road games were fairly spread out, this time it's 7 of 8 at home and 7 of 9 on the road. The holiday sked culminates in Dallas on NYE.

14-2-1 will suffice.

 

This is some high level jinxing.   Buffalo teams don’t need anyone’s help setting them up to fail.  They do a great job on their own. 

[Stoner]

17 minutes ago, inkman said:

This is some high level jinxing.   Buffalo teams don’t need anyone’s help setting them up to fail.  They do a great job on their own. 

We literally have nothing to lose.

Sabres goalies will have shutouts going every game the rest of the season.

[shrader]

2 hours ago, Taro T said:

People forget that '04-'05 counted as a professional season for all the guys that actually played that year.  And he, and Thorburn too, were a couple of guys that likely would've had callups that season but the Sabre season never happened.

Roy started the year in the AHL too, didn't he?  But he wouldn’t have been waiver eligible at that point.

Edited November 25 by shrader

[Thorner]

2 minutes ago, shrader said:

Roy started the year in the AHL too, didn't he?  But he would have been waiver eligible at that point.

05/06, yup 

[That Aud Smell]

31 minutes ago, shrader said:

Roy started the year in the AHL too, didn't he?  But he would have been waiver eligible at that point.

lol - i see that he had 20 points in 8 games there.

i appreciate the optimism about the current team, but, man, that 05-06 team was effing loaded.

[Thorner]

6 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

lol - i see that he had 20 points in 8 games there.

i appreciate the optimism about the current team, but, man, that 05-06 team was effing loaded.

That’s kind of what I was getting at up thread. Ya, maybe this team this year ends up being the best team I’ve even seen in Sabres sweaters, ever….but we’ve spent so incredibly long in the desert I don’t really see the need to envision the team as exceptional simply because we find ourselves to no longer be “historically bad”. Anecdotally I almost feel some need reminding those aren’t the only two options, which we sometimes around here seem to pinball between. We’ve been trying to draw comps to 05-06 since we moved beyond it 

If this IS the best Sabres team ever…great! I’m still focused firmly on scraping out a playoff spot. That would be awesome 

Edited November 25 by Thorner

[Taro T]

51 minutes ago, shrader said:

Roy started the year in the AHL too, didn't he?  But he would have been waiver eligible at that point.

Roy was assigned to Ra-cha-cha to start that season.  He was not waived to Ra-cha-cha.

And Thorburn wasn't waived in '05 to Ra-cha-cha (he didn't need to clear waivers that year).  He was waived and claimed in '06.  D'oh!  Sorry about having that off too.

[shrader]

25 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Roy was assigned to Ra-cha-cha to start that season.  He was not waived to Ra-cha-cha.

And Thorburn wasn't waived in '05 to Ra-cha-cha (he didn't need to clear waivers that year).  He was waived and claimed in '06.  D'oh!  Sorry about having that off too.

Oops, typo on my earlier post. I meant to say that Roy wasn’t waiver eligible. 
 

And I would have swore that we lost Thorburn prior to the lockout. It all blurs together. Also, he was with Atlanta/Winnipeg for so long that I just assumed they claimed him, not Pittsburgh. 

[Stoner]

1 hour ago, Thorner said:

That’s kind of what I was getting at up thread. Ya, maybe this team this year ends up being the best team I’ve even seen in Sabres sweaters, ever….but we’ve spent so incredibly long in the desert I don’t really see the need to envision the team as exceptional simply because we find ourselves to no longer be “historically bad”. Anecdotally I almost feel some need reminding those aren’t the only two options, which we sometimes around here seem to pinball between. We’ve been trying to draw comps to 05-06 since we moved beyond it 

If this IS the best Sabres team ever…great! I’m still focused firmly on scraping out a playoff spot. That would be awesome 

All the thread started out about was this team having a chance to do what the 05-06 team did during the holidays... starting with the same record and with various other similarities that have been pointed out.

[shrader]

Just now, Stoner said:

All the thread started out about was this team having a chance to do what the 05-06 team did during the holidays... starting with the same record and with various other similarities that have been pointed out.

That team had a much better coach. 

[mjd1001]

Not directly related to the topic, but I'm looking forward to the game Wed night for a 'nostalgic' reason....

As a kid growing up, a teenager, and even a young adult, I always LOVED 2 games each year. When they had home games the day before Thanksgiving and the old 'Pucks and Tux' or was it "tux and pucks' night on new years eve.

If those were exciting games and they played well, It just made the holiday the next day so much better (fun to talk to relatives, cousins about the game the night before when you see them on the holiday)

[That Aud Smell]

49 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

Not directly related to the topic, but I'm looking forward to the game Wed night for a 'nostalgic' reason....

As a kid growing up, a teenager, and even a young adult, I always LOVED 2 games each year. When they had home games the day before Thanksgiving and the old 'Pucks and Tux' or was it "tux and pucks' night on new years eve.

If those were exciting games and they played well, It just made the holiday the next day so much better (fun to talk to relatives, cousins about the game the night before when you see them on the holiday)

the barn will be buzzing, for sure.

[mjd1001]

19 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

the barn will be buzzing, for sure.

Hopefully a sellout, full house.  If that happens and they win, putting up at least 4 goals, wow, that will be a fun night.

[Stoner]

31 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

the barn will be buzzing, for sure.

Buzzed?

[That Aud Smell]

21 minutes ago, Stoner said:

Buzzed?

Buzzing?

[Stoner]

2 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

Buzzing?

Buzzed?

[Sabres Fan in NS]

On 11/25/2024 at 8:59 PM, Stoner said:

Buzzed?

Yes.

[Stoner]

I think it's going well.

[Thorner]

On 11/23/2024 at 1:15 PM, Thorner said:

We aren’t that team. 

Let’s just make the playoffs