Happy Friday everyone! The Sabres play the first game of a back-to-back tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs at 7:30pm, so Ryan Miller gets yet another chance to frustrate the Canadians before the Olympics. After the break we have stories from a ref's 1,000 game career, the shifting tides of international hockey, and a new stat to determine the most valuable player in the league.
NOTEBOOK: FINDING A WAY | Buffalo Sabres
Erin Pollina talks with players about how the team is finding ways to win. Also: Patrick Kaleta might stay out of the lineup until the team loses?
Rigorous preparation has Miller among the best | NHL.com
Ryan Miller is sooooo selfish. In this Dan Rosen article he enjoys when the team be "more focused on backchecking" and "bringing five players closer to me." What if those player want to go somewhere else Ryan? They can't be next to you all the time, holding your hand and cross-checking grinders! What a jerk.
SabreCast 2.15 – Halfway There
The Unofficial Buffalo Sabres Fan Podcast talks about the midpoint of the season.
A Ref's Life: Van Massenhoven's milestone | The Hockey News
I love reading articles about people involved with hockey who aren't players, so this Hockey News article about referee Don Van Massenhoven's 1,000th career game is right up my alley. There are some pretty funny stories in here so be sure to check it out.
Demographics may be catching up to Canadian junior hockey | Canada.com
Joe O'Connor of the National Post thinks that with both the U-17 and U-20 teams winning gold for the Americans, the tide of international hockey may be turning.
Individual GVT Stats | Behind the Net
Behind the Net is a great SBNation blog for hockey statisticians. Here they link to Tom Awad's GVT rankings, which measures the value of a player over his replacement, giving you a stat-endorsed idea of who the most valuable guys in the league are. Sabres fans will be happy toknow that Ryan Miller leads the league in GVT by a huge margin, which is no surprise. Every player in hockey is listed and you can sort by team; for a detailed explanation of how Awad calculates GVT, click here.