Reflecting on the Super Bowl

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The Super Bowl, as I said in a previous post, is a jumbled, orchestrated hodgepodge.

The game was not bad.

There were a few minutes in the third quarter where me, and the entire party I was at, had forgotten there was a game on. The Steelers robbery of momentum ended up sucking any and all firepower out of the game.

Luckily, both teams managed to find some footing in the fourth quarter and it made for a great finish. There is no way a penalty was committed on the final Steelers play. It was nothing more than strong coverage and a poorly thrown ball.

In the end, Big Ben made far too many mistakes for the rest of his team to cover up. I was in the majority of people who thought he was going to march the Steelers down the field to victory in the final 2:00. Continue reading →

Sabres lay an egg in front of new owner

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The Sabres played their first game in front of their new owner last night, and they laid an egg. Hopefully tonight’s game is a bit better.

While Terry Pegula has yet to obtain full control over the Sabres, all signs point to the final steps as a mere formality. The biggest question in Sabreland is, what changes will be made?

After playing 10 good minutes the Sabres went on to play 40 bad minutes before turning it on a bit in the final minutes of the third period. However, even without Sid the Kid and Geno, the Pens were a better team.

Continue reading →

TH3 R1CK got KTFO

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Apparently Rick DiPietro’s chin is just as durable as the rest of his body.

What DiPietro was thinking on that one is beyond me, he is giving up four inches on Johnson. Although, it is good to see two American boys going at it. Ask yourself this; who doesn’t love a goalie fight?

In other NHL news:

– Johan Franzen just about went Sittler on the Senators tonight. He lit up the Sens for five goals as the Red Wings won a barn burner, 7-5. The Wings also benefited from a reaaaaallllllly bad call. C’mon War Room, you can’t say the puck was under the goalie when it is obviously in the net. Add to that, the “intent to blow the whistle” ruling is totally bogus and shouldn’t even exist.

– Also the Sabres got some help from the Habs as they managed to beat the Panthers in regulation. Keep the hope tank filled boys and girls.

Pegula officially buys the Sabres

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It is official boys and girls. Terry Pegula has purchased the Buffalo Sabres from Tom Golisano for a cool $175M.

Of course there are still i’s to be dotted and t’s to be crossed. There is also the small task of being approved by the other owners. However, that is reported to be a mere formality after Pegula’s meeting with them last weekend.

Ultimately there won’t be a whole lot done in the short term, as I wrote about yesterday. This will be a long term project as the assumed plan is for the man, described as a puckhead, builds a true competitor in Buffalo.

I’ll have more later on Pegula and the great deed the Golisano did for this city.

Welcome to Pegulaville

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It is official. According to multiple sources, Terry Pegula signed an official purchase agreement to buy the Buffalo Sabres from Tom Golisano for, a reported, $175 million plus $14 million in debt. (The Buffalo News report)

For those of you playing at home, that is $189 million – or %6.3 of Pegula’s wealth. To equate that number to a realistic figure, think of going to the mall and spending about $100, that is what this transaction represents to Pegula.

An announcement will be made at the Arena on Thursday and I would assume Pegula will take over full control before the trade deadline hits.

Now, Sabres fans everywhere are doing backflips at the idea that Pegula is going to throw money at every big-name free agent out there and snag a GM that will wheel and deal on the trade market. Don’t get ahead of yourself.

He is a savvy businessman with a passion for hockey. He will let his management team do their job and guide the franchise in the right direction. In a year or two I wouldn’t be surprised to see some big moves made, but they won’t be made right out of the blocks.

Be patient, wait for the deadline to come and lets see what (the newly extended) Darcy Regier will do. That might begin to paint the picture of how the new regime is going to operate down at HSBC Arena. Either way there is certainly cause for excitement, just don’t expect the world people.

Introducing the Tampa Bay Blue Wings…er…Lightning!

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Tampa Bay unveiled a new set of unis, today, that dropped the iconic sliver and black that had graced their threads since their inception. Beginning next year, they will be taking the ice in these unis:

Not a bad set right? I am on board with the changes, even if the logo looks a wee bit like the Incredibles/The Flash. The uniforms have a distinct Red Wings feel to them with the basic stripe pattern. However, the change is good and I like the baseball feel to the road unis by including Tampa Bay above the bolt. They also have an awesome shoulder patch for these bad boys. For more pictures and info check out Icethetics.

I give a thumbs up to the Lightning for a job well done on the redesign. I understand that the new ownership group wanted to put their own stamp on the franchise. Lightning fans should be glad they didn’t take this route.

I will yearn for them to put the bolt back on the pants as they have had for years, just as I hope the Rangers bring back the Lady Liberty third jerseys.

Breaking down the ASG from the top

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The NHL All Star weekend concluded with a fairly-ish entertaining game that saw Team Lidstrom spoil all of the racing hockey fan’s weekend in Raleigh.

Prior to that however, were some creative and relatively successful changes that Brendan Shanahan is either completely or partially responsible for.

Continue reading →

All Star Draft tonight

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The NHL All-Star fantasy draft kicks off at 7:30 tonight. Kudos to the NHL for thinking of something to make the ASG semi-relevant. Sunday’s game will still be brutally boring.

If you look close enough you can see King Hank yawning.

Eric Staal and Nick Lidstrom will each choose a team of players (with the help of a few assistant captains) from a pool created by the NHL.Goalies must be chosen by round 10 and defensemen by the 16th round.

Six players were voted in by the fans which usually means they aren’t worthy of playing in the game but their fans cared enough to vote. The case this year is a bit more forgiving with Sidney Crosby and Carey Price among those six. But Evgeni Malkin is not having an All Star year and Kris Letang is simply not worthy of such an event. Sorry Pens fans. Continue reading →

20 Years after Wide Right

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It has been 20 years and every news outlet in Buffalo is remembering Scott Norwood’s missed kick.

I don’t remember the game, I was only five. I do remember the 52-17 beating in ’93 and Thurman’s fumble in ’94. But seeing the pictures and the highlights make it all too real.

The worst part is the current reality that Bills fans live in is so much worse. The level of mediocrity is insane. What I would do for Butler and Polian to be back at the helm…

Unfortunately, Tom Modrak keeps getting votes of confidence and drafting players like Aaron Maybin.

The only light at the end of the tunnel is to go buy Madden and play every game until the Super Bowl. I’m fairly certain you can’t simulate the Bills into the playoffs.