HARD WORK IS WORTH SOMETHING
Hear Sabres owner John Rigas promising to "supply the tools."
Let's hear it for the Leafs and their great fans! The Sabres sure needed something to get them out of their funk and the Leafs gave them all the inspiration they needed. The Sabres had lost 4 straight game, 3 of them to bottom of the barrel teams like Florida, Atlanta and Nashville. When the Leafs are in town along with their boisterous fans, you know the HSBC is gonna rock and it did tonight. Buffalo held the Leafs in check and finally got a victory, 4-2 over their arch rivals just down the QEW.
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Marty Biron gets ready for a shot by a Maple Leaf in the right faceoff circle. |
JP Dumont really played an intensive game, aggressively hustling for the puck and even putting on a few solid hits, shoving his weight around. He set up two goals with some brilliant passing and got the insurance goal in the third period. Miro Satan, who has been one of the few Sabres who has been hustling these past weeks during their slump, scored a goal top shelf for his ninth of the season.
One of the best things about a Sabres-Leafs game is the rivalry and camaraderie between the fans. Back a few years ago when the two teams faced off for the Eastern Conference finals, I went to a Saturday game at HSBC Arena, arriving there over an hour early and there was a pep rally going on. The Leaf fans had the entire HSBC Arena blocked off, holding it hostage as they were chanting "Go Leafs Go" to the Sabres fans across the street, who were chanting "Let's go Buffalo." It was like an old-time high school pep rally. The weather was in the 70s and it was like a Bills tailgate. Everyone was in a party mood and we had fun jawing at each other. After that game in which the Sabres blasted the Leafs, we ran to the ramp where our car was in wild celebration with our huge Sabres flag and giving the Leafs fans a good ribbing.
Nothing is like a Sabres-Leafs game to get the old blood circulating. Just ask the Sabres players... they can testify to that!
SEE THE COLLAGE OF PICTURES OF THE SABRES-LEAFS GAME
Maybe the tragic events that happened this week in NYC and Washington, DC will make us realize who the REAL heroes are of this country. It is not the $25 million quarterback, the shortstop that makes hundreds of millions, not the $85 million non-playoff performer just signed by the Islanders. This country has been awarding the super glamorized athletes who do not merit neither the money nor the glory that they have been getting.
The real heroes in today's world are the volunteers who put their lives on the line, the men in the armed service protecting our nation's security, the policemen who protect us against criminals and terrorists alike, and the firefighters who have been protecting us for hundreds of years. The horrific tragedy in the Nation's Capital and New York City have brought out the best in Americans trying to help and save victims of this catastrophe.
Two things that really get me upset about the professional sporting world and athletics in general is the different set of values and rules that athletes live by along with the exorbitant amount of money they get paid for playing a "game."
Let's talk about the different standards given to the stars of any sport. It starts in high school. Examples of this could be a top quarterback or a great running back, where the rules are bent for them. The kids may do bad in school, get in trouble, but everything is smoothed over as long as they perform on the playing field. Grades are adjusted and criminal records are suddenly cleaned up. This goes on through life until they get out of sports. Then reality hits if they haven't invested wisely. The star player is protected from the real hardships in life and they feel they are above the law.
Now that I have discussed the fans point of view in the ever escalating player salaries/ticket prices scenario, to be fair we should give the owners and the players their say in the matter. Their argument is that this is a form of entertainment, that the market sets the value of prices charged and salaries of the entertainers. That is the case in the movie and music industries. If people are willing to shell out money to view movies and buy CDs, then the market will determine the artists pay. The only problem here is that the price for a ticket in the movie theater costs between $6-8, which is within the range of the middle class worker. The average price of a CD is between $14-18, still within the tight budget of the common worker.
The price of tickets for hockey and football are starting to be affordable for only the affluent. The cheapest single game ticket for a Buffalo Sabres game is around $32 where the best seat in the house is over $100. In bigger cities like Toronto and New York, the prices are at least double that. In order to keep up with the high salary demands of the players, the owners of the NHL have had to double or triple the ticket prices from 10 years ago.
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Rob Ray loves to duke it out with former teammate and good friend Matt Barnaby |
The Sabres, after having another goal count that should not have, must get back up and continue the fight. Down two games to none against the Flyers should bring out that never say die attitude that they have had for the past 3 or 4 years.
It should be interesting to see if the Sabres can do what the Bills used to do, you know "circle the wagons like no other team can do." Stand tall in the face of all odds, against the worst fate can deal the team and still come out with their heads held high and maybe even come out the victor. That described the old Resilient Bills, the ones who made 4 straight Super Bowls. No matter how tough it got in the trenches, Jim Kelly and his squad came up fighting, never going down to defeat without clawing and kicking the whole way. That described the Bills. They would not let a no-goal issue get in the way of the main cause. No, the Bills never won a Super Bowl. They came close once, but to be kicked in the shins after 3 losses in a row, to come back each and every year in spite of all odds says a lot.
Now if the Sabres only show a little of that Resiliency tomorrow night and for the rest of the series, maybe they can kick a little Flyer butt and even up this series. It has been done before. We need to see these players get emotional. Maybe get Marv Levy to give them a little pep talk about Winston Churchill or General MacArthur. Lindy Ruff doesn't know squat about pep talks. He puts his players to sleep. No, what this team is someone to take the bull by the horns and give them a wake up call. Maybe Doug Gilmour is that man. He should be close to 100% tomorrow night. Don't tell me this doesn't mean a ton to him. Then there's Hasek. He's been robbed twice of something he earned. Two victories were snatched from him by some bozos in the video booths. He's got something that has been stolen from him. Don't think he won't be playing out of his skull tomorrow night.
The two veterans will dominate Sunday night. If Gilmour and Hasek don't put on the show that ignites the Sabres, then there is no heart left in this team.
The past four games the Sabres have played, there seems to be a deliberate attempt by NHL officials to do everything in their power to take the Sabres off their game. As Lindy Ruff said last night, Mark Recchi grabs his face anytime a stick gets near him and that after Jay McKee got a penalty, Dixon Ward got the same stick in his face - AND NO CALL!
I do agree that the Sabres we taking penalties that should have been called. My beef is that the Flyers were getting away with the same exact infractions. The game in Tampa was even worse. The referee there lives in Tampa and went out of his way to favor the home team.
I have a theory here that says the refs are finally getting their retribution for the "No goal" beef that the Sabres had. They have been slowly turning the screws on the Sabres until it will be so obvious that they are instilling their own mob justice that the Sabres management may have to get involved and do something with the league. The NHL is getting its revenge on Ruff and the team by penalizing the Sabres every time they even brush up against an opponent, while at the same time the Sabres are getting their heads handed to them by out and out goonism.
The NHL is a bush league and until they start training "professional referees," the league will continue to be a minor league sport. Even worse is their vigilante against Buffalo. It is getting to the point where the team may have to get a law team together to resolve the retribution the league is presently taking.
Pat LaFontaine was one of the last of his kind. The kind of player who loves the game much more than the money. LaFontaine to me was one of the greatest people ever to play sports. When I say this, I mean that he was one of the most humblest, most down to earth, most caring of any person to put on a uniform and play sports. This guy gave it his all. He would have played for nothing and still give it 120%!
The City of Buffalo loved LaFontaine. It was the way the Sabres and Darcy Regier handled the parting of ways between the team and LaFontaine that I will never forget nor forgive. LaFontaine was the classiest player to ever put on a Buffalo uniform, in any sport. He deserved to receive a much better treatment than what Regier dished out. To me, LaFontaine was not only a great player (one of the best Americans ever to lace up a pair of skates), but he was one of the most gracious athletes anyone will ever run across.
I think it would be a sad day for hockey if that does occur. If the Senators are put up for sale, it will be another nail in the coffin for Canadian hockey, especially how it pertains to the NHL. Anyone who has been a hockey fan for at least 20 years knows the value and the tradition that Canadian NHL teams bring. All Canadian teams, whether they are the fabled Canadians or Leafs, or the "newer" franchises like Edmonton, Vancouver, Calgary or Ottawa, bring to the table and the ice a different flavor.
The only thing to compare it to is baseball's Yankees or Red Sox. Those two teams are the epitome of major league baseball. Sure, you have the White Sox and Tigers, but the two teams now playing in the American League championship are hard core tradition. That's what you've got in Canadian NHL teams.
When Quebec and Winnipeg left for the States, it was a huge loss for the traditionalists. Hockey is meant to be played in Canada, bred in Canada, and enjoyed in Canada. Sure, Colorado is a good franchise and so is Phoenix. But it just isn't the same. I can remember seeing all those crazy Quebec fans dancing in the isles and with wild outfits on. Now that's a pureblooded hockey fan!
I'm not Canadian, but in a way, part of my heritage is Canadian. I grew up in the shadows of that grand country and watch their television stations. I followed the Leafs and Canadians in my youth and was enveloped into the aura of Canadian hockey while growing up. To see any of that being dismembered is a total disgrace of the game!
Thuggery is up the the NHL these days. With the new rules that Bettman instilled this season, violence is up and goalies are fair game. What is he trying to do, wreck the game? Well, we all knew that deep inside he wants to make hockey more like basketball, but the man is going about changing hockey into something very frightening.
Goalies are the lifeblood of hockey. There are never too many good ones. Its like protecting the quarterback in football. The NFL made rules to protect the glamor boys of the game. The same should be true for hockey. But judging from what's happening these past two weeks, the goalie will be on the extinct list very soon. Not only the goalies, but there are going to be a lot of serious injuries this season to star players. We have already witnessed it in Modano's injury and a lot of others.
The NHL has to go back to protecting the goalie and getting rid of all these goon tactics. Soon, there are going to be vigilante squads on the ice getting revenge on the goons. All this nonsense has to stop before it is too late. I swear, there is going to be a tragic injury in the near future if Bettman doesn't halt all this violence with ½ year to full season suspensions.
Gary Bettman can search for all the loopholes, claw and scratch at the truth, confuse the situation by referring to obscure memos that no one knew about and try everything in the book to disprove what actually happened at 1:31 am on Saturday, June 19 before a sellout crowd in Buffalo, New York. But the fact of the matter is that a great injustice was done by not doing the right thing at the right time. A great injustice was done to the Buffalo Sabres and all those fans who spent hundreds of dollars to view what was supposed to be a legitimate championship of hockey's best two teams. A great injustice was done to the Dallas Stars, who didn't have a chance to win the Stanley Cup by scoring a clean, non-disputed goal. And a great injustice was done to the NHL, who could have showcased what had been a classic series, one of the best in many years. No, what the hard-working fans of Buffalo got was a farce, a sham of a hockey championship. What the Buffalo Sabres didn't receive was a chance to either win or lose on their own merits. What the Dallas Stars got was an asterisk next to their names on the Cup. What the league got was embarrassment, a huge coverup, and a big black eye in the public's image.
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The NHL's infamous Czar, Gary Bettamn |
Yes, Gary Bettman and Stars fans. Try as you may to find loopholes and twist the truth, you cannot cloud Sabres fans minds. They saw the foot in the crease. They saw the replay. They saw the flood gates open only 13 seconds after the goal. Certainly not enough time for an honest review of the tainted goal. What they saw and will always remember is how the NHL denied their Sabres an honest chance.
