I'm heading to the Carolina game on Sunday with the gf and my cousin. Just wondering what people's impressions are of the arena, fans, the city of Raleigh, etc. Any recommendations on good bars, places where Sabres fans hang out, etc.? My cousin (Buffalo native that now lives in NC) recommended the Flying Saucer, which apparently has a multitude of beers.

How is the Buffalo crowd down there? It seems that the Sabres draw a pretty decent crowd whenever they visit the Southeast division (with the exception of the Caps now).

And just for laughs, if you see a couple wearing a throwback Hecht jersey and a goat Hasek, it's probably us.

Hey guys in light of today's developments on the Ovechkin suspension and lack thereof on Matt Cooke I was wondering what your opinions were on the status how suspensions are dealt out in the NHL and what you would do if you were Colin Campbell.  This has been a hot topic between me and my coworkers for about the last week.  My thoughts are pretty straightforward.  Both Cooke and Ovechkin deserved to be suspended.  In Cooke's case I think it is pretty obvious he was intentionally going after Savard up high in open ice with his elbow.  Ovechkin depending on whether or not you are a fan of his or not you will most likely have varying opinions but to me it was a bone head play that was completely unnecessary and he at least in my opinion blatantly pushed Campbell.  Attached is a poll or just add your comments.  Thanks and GO SABRES!!!!

I know I haven't been kicking around the site (or Game Threads) lately - this is why!

My son Nolan was born Monday night/Tuesday morning at 1:58am - and he's the newest Sabres fan! Tonight was the first night we could sit down and actually watch the game since he was born - he was looking at the TV and actually let out a little yell when Hecht scored his 2nd to tie the game!

Of course, he's got his little Sabres sweater on watching the game...it's obviously a little big, but I did it for the pictures!

via hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net

(end new daddy bragging now) :D

Last night was awful. Tim Connolly has had two REALLY BAD turnovers lately (one vs Philly, one last night), LaLime made an absolutely awful decision with the puck, and they just seemed pretty lackluster last night. Hopefully, the PP will get better soon, seeing as Vanek has been playing quite well lately. I did not get to see the full game, just the highlights, but Myers was not noticeable that game, and someone (Montador? I saw a four, I thought.) looked like they needed to get their skates sharpened. Good third period attempted comeback, but still, if LaLime was playing like normal he would not have made that mistake handling the puck that made it 2-0.

Is there any method to how they pick where the NHL All-Star game will be played next? From what I've ever seen there has been only one played in Buffalo and that was back in the French Connection days... I was wondering if anyone knows when/how they pick where this game is played, or if there has been any mention to it being in Bufffalo anytime soon? It would be awesome if it was, I would love to attend a Skills Comp. I think that would be something fun to go to, probably a once in a lifetime type of thing to go to. And Buffalo would be an awesome host IMO.

Williamsville North HS Spartans (5th ranked in NYS) take on Suffern HS (located about an hour outside NYC, 2nd ranked in state) tonight at 7:15pm...... 

www.twitter.com/sirHockey will be following the game, and with a win, Willy North moves on to the NYS Final Four.  The team they play lost to Fairport, and Williamsville North won 3 state titles in the 2000-2010 decade.  Should be great, support Williamsville North HS!

GO SPARTANS!

I'm going to go ahead and give the WCHA the nod but I was wondering if someone with more knowledge would like to show me up. All 12 former WCHA players in the olympics came back with a medal. How did other conferences fare? I wish I could watch more college hockey but there simply isnt any sort of market. When's the ball gonna get rolling on college hocke? Stay Classy San Diego!

I know he's had a few failed opportunities to stick with the parent club either in call ups (11 games, 3 points) or winning a roster spot out of training camp but what's wrong with this guy???

At 24 years now he's reaching his make or break point to be a legit NHL player.  Granted he was only converted from defenseman to forward in 2003 while in the WHL but you have to imagine he gets it by now.  Purely based on numbers he's been Rochester/Portland's most consistent forward the last 4 or 5 years.  Put that with several AHL all-star appearances and he's got a great minor league resume.

Year                GP   G   A    P  PIM  +/-

2005-2006     71  18  24  42  80  -1
2006-2007     64  23  34  57  49  +1   
2007-2008     73  29  38  67  61  +9
2009-2010     80  21  36  57  78  -7
2009-2010     60  22  38  60  51  +14

I read one of his knocks is that his success has come because he plays with good players (Corey Locke, Nathan Gerbe, Tim Kennedy, Tyler Ennis, Clarke MacArthur) but that's what happens on any top line.  With his excellent size (6'4" 225)  and tremendous shot (AHL record 102.8 MPH), I see him as an ideal 3rd/4th line winger with powerplay upside.  Having played defense I'd love to see him inserted at the point on our 2nd PP unit, hoping for Alex Kotalik type production without as much defensive liability.

He's in the final year of his contract and will be a RFA this offseason so a contract decision looms with him from Darcy  Does anyone know what his issues are and why he hasn't been given PT on the sabres?  I'm at a loss.

UPDATE:  Some insight from a 9/2009 post by Dave Olesky paints a better picture:

We'll start with Mancari since he is still a restricted free agent with no intentions of signing with the Sabres.  It appears that Mancari is hoping to sign with a club that is willing to give him a shot at playing in the NHL.  It doesn't look like that chance will come in Buffalo with the depth the Sabres have at forward.

Most of us have not had ample opportunities to see Mancari play live and we relied on statistics and highlights.  We knew that he put up great offensive statistics and had a monster shot.  We didn't know how he actually played the game.

I always wondered why the Sabres never gave him a real shot to play in the NHL.  I stopped wondering after talking to people in the know.  It appears that Mancari is primed to be a career AHL player or a fringe NHL player.  Despite his large 6-3 220 lbs. frame he plays a soft game and is reluctant to battle in the corners.  He is also a very slow skater and has trouble controlling the puck in traffic. 

It looks like we know why the Sabres have been reluctant to give him a shot.  He seems content to play the same style and go somewhere else instead of working hard and trying to earn a spot by playing physical.  The Sabres would love to keep him around in case he ever realizes his potential but they will not give any gaurantees.  Can you blame them?

Well I thought that the Olympic break was everything that his team needed. Big guns (Vanek, Roy, Connolly, Pominville) all had over 2 weeks of rest. This was their time to relax, and find their game again. Well two games back from the break and the same old stuff is happening. And last night during the Sabres - Caps game I had a real tough time watching this team. Outshot almost 2-1, again... And when Miller was making saves to keep us in the game, again... we started to hang our heads?! I saw plenty of times during stoppage in play where they panned the bench and heads were down, same on the ice. They look like they just dont care. Millers post-game interview spoke 100% of what Im trying to say. Hes pissed too, and you can tell. Wouldnt you? Giving up 2 goals, on 39 shots to the Caps. Stopping OV cold point blank a few times...

Which brings me to this point. POINT BLANK CHANCES!!!! We had at least 5 last night. Ellis shot 4 feet wide on a half empty net. Myers shot one of the D-mans leg (who had no stick) at a half empty net. Pominvile, my God... does he ever get a shot to go in anymore? The whole thing this entire season has been Miller is amazing but where the O?? Which is why I changed my signature to read what someone in the game thread posted... So thank you for my new sig "Jsz"

"Its always Miller Time
Whens it gonna be Sabres-Offense Time?"
- by Jsz on Mar 3, 2010 6:25 PM PST

We need goal scorers... So these are my new line combos to try and spark that...

Vanek - Connolly - Stafford
Torres - Roy - Pominville
Ennis - Gerbe - Grier
Hecht - Gaustad - Kaleta

     Myers - Tallinder
     Sekera - Lydman
        Rivet - Butler

             Miller
            Lalime

edit: With Gaustad out then maybe bring up McCormick? That would be nice to have him get up here before the playoffs.

With Kennedy and Montador as the scratches. Let Mair try and clear waviers again, dont care at this point if he does or not. He brings NOTHING to this team IMO. "Mairs office" is cute, but Im not looking for cute. I want to win. I want Buffalo to win. I want all of you guys to win.

I know with these lineups Hecht loses some playing time... But I think he can twilight with the top 3 lines and fill in certain shifts or whatever, plus the PK.

Im sick of D-men playing on the wing also. Im not sure if I mentioned this above... but it needs to be re-iterated if I hadn't.

What do you guys think? And if this is used a place to rant, thats fine with me too. I didnt want to take any stories that DO and the boys have written and turn it into a bitch-fest. So I made this one for that lol.

I apologize in advance for those of you who still hold out hope that this team is going to do anything in the playoffs.  After watching tonight's abomination of a hockey game and seeing last nights effort in Pittsburgh A few things came abundantly clear to me.

1) This team is so devoid of offensive talent that I think there are many teams in the AHL that could beat us on any given night. Watching Washington's third line skate circles around us tonight was absolutely appalling.  Not to mention how even when we pull our goalie we cant get the puck out of our OWN zone.  The passing tonight was as bad as I have seen from any NHL team in a long time.

2) We no longer have any kind of team speed.  We are slow out of the zone, into the zone, and I think we had a grand total of 30 seconds of possession time in the Washington zone.  We might as well had just not even bothered to attempt to score (which is what it looked like for most of the game) and just lined all five guys up on the defensive blue line and pray that we don't give up a goal.

3) We are wasting the talents of Ryan Miller and by the time that we...cough cough...get enough talent around him to do some serious damage in the playoffs he might have gray hair or we will have traded him so we can get more third and fourth round draft picks that we can bring up through the minor league system and then let run off to greener pastures when they are finally decent players in the NHL (insert the most likely course of action with Tyler Myers).

4) I have no idea how any of you in Buffalo can stand to watch this team night after night.  Don't get me wrong I love this team with all my heart and sincerely want to see them succeed but they never put forth the effort to do so.  While the elite teams in the league like Washington and Pittsburgh and to a smaller extent Ottawa made significant changes that will actually help their team in the playoffs we add surprise surprise another GRINDER with limited offensive capabilities.

I am going to continue to hold out hope that they will improve drastically over the next few games.  Remember we are only 10 points up on the 8th seed in the conference and the way we have been and are currently playing I am getting worried.  I would say that I hope that they don't make the playoffs so that we can get rid of half this team and maybe get some real talent but I know that would never ever happen so here's to hoping for the best but I am not getting my hopes up.  GO SABRES!!!