Good:
Pommer-Roy-Vanek looked great for the most part. Good to get them on the scoring column again
Kaleta-Leino-Gerbe looked like our best line and Leino did a great job down low drawing penalties
Ennis had a lot of speed and Stafford continues to play well
Ellis and Tropp played well when they were out there
Penalty Kill
Ehrhoff is a beast
Myers looked like a tank
Miller played decent
Regehr looked to gain his speed and played well
I thought Weber played decent besides a few mistakes
Sulzer didn't play that bad either. He wasn't a liability by any means
Bad:
Boyes - His time is up
I didn't really like Hodgsons game today. I wanna see how he does next season, however, since he picked a difficult time to join the team
Ugly:
Canes looked tired and were not skating hard at all at the end
Sulzer was rock solid and really steady in his stead however.
I thought our performance and "compete" was lowered to the level of the opponent tonight. That's one of many bad habits this squad has had for years. Still 2 points in the bag so it's tough to get down on them. This performance tomorrow night = LOSS.
RJ was the great and powerful RJ for my entire life until last year. That's when I seem to recall him starting to slip for the first time. This year he has slipped that much worse. He routinely mis-identifies players now and his energy level is a fraction of what it used to be. You really notice this watching old Youtube clips of him at his finest.
Harry is beyond horrible and has been mailing it in since he took over for Lorenzo.
Someone mentioned Harry retiring at end of this year. I have not heard that before, but that is a welcome change. He's horrible now.
It's sad to see RJ in decline. I have associated his voice with Sabres hockey basically my entire life.
I thought the energy level of the game tonight and overall action on the ice was really boring. I feel sleep in 2nd intermission and woke up 3 or 4 minutes into the 3rd.
The crowd in Buffalo is possibly the worst in the league; I can't think of anyone that is worse. There is just no life or activity in that crowd other than when the Sabres score a goal, and then the applause we do hear is short lived.
Contrast the atmosphere at tonight's game with Vancouver last Saturday, or in Winnipeg. It's a night and day difference.
What did people see in Leino that put him in everyone's Good category? I saw energy and puck possession, but zero playmaking. I guess he sold the hook at the end of the game.
I marvel at how much puck possession that guy can have without ever feeding anyone or creating offense. Hodgson had a relatively poor game but still connected on at least 3 passes that could have turned into chances.
I'd love to, but I no longer live in WNY. I'm just shocked at how tame First Niagara Center is all the time now.
I was in that building for the Derek Plante OT playoff win against Ottawa whenever that was. Anyone else there that night? The atmosphere was beyond electric with "USA" chants going, a depiction of the American Flag waving on the jumbo tron, chants going back and forth between Ottawa fans in our building and Sabres fans...
You couldn't ask for more than what we had in there that night. If that was a 10 out of 10, almost all home games this year have been a 1.5 out of 10. There was a home game on a Friday night against the Leafs earlier in the year where the crowd was going nuts. And the first Bruins reunion after the Lucic incident saw a lively crowd. I don't recall much more than that to be honest this entire year.
I'd love to, but I no longer live in WNY. I'm just shocked at how tame First Niagara Center is all the time now.
I was in that building for the Derek Plante OT playoff win against Ottawa whenever that was. Anyone else there that night? The atmosphere was beyond electric with "USA" chants going, a depiction of the American Flag waving on the jumbo tron, chants going back and forth between Ottawa fans in our building and Sabres fans...
You couldn't ask for more than what we had in there that night. If that was a 10 out of 10, almost all home games this year have been a 1.5 out of 10. There was a home game on a Friday night against the Leafs earlier in the year where the crowd was going nuts. And the first Bruins reunion after the Lucic incident saw a lively crowd. I don't recall much more than that to be honest this entire year.
WTF?
I was and you are correct it was beyond insane. Obviously it's my favorite Sabres game of all time(just look at my avatar). The only game that I can think of that came close to Plante was when Briere scored in OT of game 6 against the canes in 2006. That was pretty wild too. I couldn't talk for a week after going to that game. IDK maybe it's just an older crowd there now.
I was and you are correct it was beyond insane. Obviously it's my favorite Sabres game of all time(just look at my avatar). The only game that I can think of that came close to Plante was when Briere scored in OT of game 6 against the canes in 2006. That was pretty wild too. I couldn't talk for a week after going to that game. IDK maybe it's just an older crowd there now.
Honestly it's more of a younger crowd who is distracted with their phones and other nonsense at the game than anything. I'm in that age bracket and it infuriates me when people aren't paying attention at the game. I refuse to look at my phone unless it's commercial breaks or intermission. It's also a disservice to compare the atmosphere of a playoff game to a regular season game. The music is terrible and most of what they do in commercials to get the crowd going. The game day presentation is sad. It gets to loud points, it's just not consistent. As the season goes on it should get progressively louder.
Honestly it's more of a younger crowd who is distracted with their phones and other nonsense at the game than anything. I'm in that age bracket and it infuriates me when people aren't paying attention at the game. I refuse to look at my phone unless it's commercial breaks or intermission. It's also a disservice to compare the atmosphere of a playoff game to a regular season game. The music is terrible and most of what they do in commercials to get the crowd going. The game day presentation is sad. It gets to loud points, it's just not consistent. As the season goes on it should get progressively louder.
Wow!!! That is exactly what I was thinking, but too lazy to type it
I go to 10-11 regular season games a year and that's exactly what I see. Young idiots texting on the phones. I also see men who bring their wives or GF's and the women bring a book or Kindle and read WHILE the game is happening.
Are you that freaking important that you MUST look at your phone and text every 45 seconds? I wish the Sabres could jam data streams at FNC across all networks so only phone call frequencies work.
Wow!!! That is exactly what I was thinking, but too lazy to type it
I go to 10-11 regular season games a year and that's exactly what I see. Young idiots texting on the phones. I also see men who bring their wives or GF's and the women bring a book or Kindle and read WHILE the game is happening.
Are you that freaking important that you MUST look at your phone and text every 45 seconds? I wish the Sabres could jam data streams across all networks so only phone call frequencies work.
Yep, tilts me to no end. Thankfully I've got my lady friend to comply and do the same as me with my phone. I'm not the loudest person by any means but when a good opportunity happens or it's a crucial point in the game I'd appreciate the crowd being into it. Nothing tops people pouring out of the arena with 2-3 minutes left in a 1 goal game or tie game. I sit on the aisle the majority of the time and always say "Hey, thanks for coming" to people taking off early in a close game. Is beating traffic that important? I'm getting angry thinking about it
Yep, tilts me to no end. Thankfully I've got my lady friend to comply and do the same as me with my phone. I'm not the loudest person by any means but when a good opportunity happens or it's a crucial point in the game I'd appreciate the crowd being into it. Nothing tops people pouring out of the arena with 2-3 minutes left in a 1 goal game or tie game. I sit on the aisle the majority of the time and always say "Hey, thanks for coming" to people taking off early in a close game. Is beating traffic that important? I'm getting angry thinking about it
Nice!! I like that. Are you in the 300's? Are you going to anymore games this season?
Nice!! I like that. Are you in the 300's? Are you going to anymore games this season?
I definitely will be at more games, just not sure which ones specifically yet. Depends on how things are for me in regards to school. Should be going to Colorado next week as they're my second favorite team, always like to see them and I'm on spring break next week. We just got season tickets this year in 308, row 2 and we also split season tickets in 107 on the aisle, our family gets 8 or so games there as well.
These comments about the cell phone culture at the games and wives reading books are all a revelation to me. I had no idea it was that bad in there. You don't really catch that watching the games on TV. That would explain a lot actually in terms of the total lack of vocal crowd participation at these home games.
