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Posted

January 17, 1986

In GM Scotty Bowman's first game back behind the bench after firing Jim Schoenfeld a day earlier, Gates Orlando scores at 1:11 of overtime as the Sabres defeat the Montreal Canadiens at the Aud, 5-4. Bowman cited Schoenfeld's failure to properly utilize assistant coach Craig Ramsay's technical skills, while Schoenfeld and several of his players later said the firing was a matter of Bowman overestimating the talent level of the team. "I think Schony was getting as much out of the team as anybody could have at the time," said Ramsay. The numbers prove that statement. Schoenfeld was 19-19-5 in his 43 games as coach. Bowman was 18-18-1 the rest of the way as the Sabres finished in last place in the Adams Division and missed the playoffs for the first time since 1973-74.

 

January 17, 2000

Martin Biron has to make only 17 saves and Vaclav Varada scores a pair of goals in a 5-0 shutout of the Mighty Ducks in Anaheim as the Sabres start a four-game road trip. It's Biron's fourth shutout of the season and the only win on the trip for Buffalo.

Posted

To be filed under the "it just wasn't meant to be" category...

 

How is it that Scotty was wildly successfull everywhere but Buffalo?

 

He won cups in Montreal, Detroit & Pittsburgh, but didn't do squat in Buffalo(especially come playoff time).

 

:angry:

Posted

Seems like Scotty's timing was always impeccable. He put himself into some nice situations in his career, like taking over a Cup winner in Pittsburgh with Lemieux in his prime. Even his arrival in Buffalo was a bit of cherry-picking. The Sabres were a stable, successful, winning franchise that seemed on the verge of winning it all through the end of the 70s. What went wrong in Buffalo is a matter we could debate for days. (But the Sabres did have decent playoff years under Bowman in 1980 and 1983.) Actually, it's a bit unfair to suggest Bowman just got lucky in his career. He took over the expansion Blues in the late 1960s and led them to three straight finals appearances. I think the guy can coach! My dream has always been for Bowman to be coaxed out of retirement, and with the backing of a billionaire, wipe out the one stain on his resume. Scotty and Marv getting off the schneid, that would be sweet. :)

Posted
To be filed under the "it just wasn't meant to be" category...

 

How is it that Scotty was wildly successfull everywhere but Buffalo?

 

He won cups in Montreal, Detroit & Pittsburgh, but didn't do squat in Buffalo(especially come playoff time).

 

:angry:

Let me answer your question with a question. How many teams was Scotty GM for?

Posted

Didn't he want to be just GM in Buffalo? He said he would coach one year, I think. Then he was just hell on the coaches he hired. Kind of like the Marv Levy situation, Bowman always ended up thinking he was the best candidate for the job. Looking back, it was a real mess.

Posted
P.S. Bowman was also GM in St. Louis.

Give that man a cigar. And of the 5 teams Bowman was associated with, he won the SC with the 3 he was not GM for and did not win a game in the SCF's with the 2 he was GM.

 

St. Louis is a strange situation as the 6 expansion teams were not going to challenge the established teams for the SC but they worked their way through the playoffs in conference; and since someone had to be Montreal's or Boston's sacrificial lamb, it turned out to be the Blues each year until the conferences and the playoffs got realigned when Buffalo and Vancouver entered the league.

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