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Emotions In Motion

April 17, 2013, 12:53 PM ET [213 Comments]
GARTH'S CORNER
NHL news by Garth • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres will be wearing "Boston Strong" decals on their helmets during tonight's game.







Before the game, the Bruins are planning to play a video tribute depicting the courage and bravery of the Boston community.

The Sabres have to brace themselves for a tidal wave of emotion that will be acting against them in the first ten minutes of tonight's game.

The Sabres will want to score first, and second in order to take the loud, passionate crowd out of the game.


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Were he not in Buffalo right now living the NHL dream, rookie D Chad Ruhwedel most likely would have been at the Boston Marathon with friends and UMass-Lowell teammates on Monday afternoon.

On Tuesday, I asked him about the enormity of it all.

“I had a lot of friends and teammates that were at the (Boston) Marathon. it’s a huge day in Boston, they said it was pretty serious, but they weren’t anywhere near it.”

Ruhwedel said that he was worried about them.

“I called them all right away to make sure that they were ok”

“Rudy” told me that it will be great to see his Umass-Lowell teammates and friends o Wednesday when the Sabres play in Boston.

“Yeah, there’s going to be a lot of people there. A lot of teammates and a lot of friends from school. it’s a little added pressure but it should be fine”


Thanks, sabres.com



***

Thomas Vanek expressed his concern for the victims and the families of the Boston Marathon event.

“You always are affected by news like this, especially when you hear are kids involved. You have your own kids, we all have families. Its sad.”

**

Nathan Gerbe knows the Boston region like the back of his hand, having played at Boston College. On this day, Gerbe reflected on the terror in Boston.

“You know exactly where it is, I’ve walked past there I can’t tell you how many times. At times, for yourself, you thank God for keeping safe when something like this happens. Its embarrassing for our world that to affect innocent people and innocent children. Its sad.”

Gerbe has been to the Boston Marathon several times over the years and he has vivid memories of the event.

“I did. For a few years. Its an awesome event. it’s a great atmosphere, and a great party to celebrate a great thing (Patriot’s Day) to watch the people run is a big goal for the people who participate in it its unbelievable feat to happen in your life and to accomplish it. Ots sad that something like that had to happen”.

Gerbe was asked to reflect on the enormity of the tragedy. What were his first thoughts?

“The first thing that went through my mind is that you hope no one dies, that’s the first thing. Then your prayers go out to all the families when you do hear news and then you think about the people you know there and the people they love and you hope their safe and you try to reach out to them to make sure that they are ok and their families are ok, Luckily for myself, everyone I know is ok.”

Gerbe says that he will not walk around Boston later tonight or tomorrow. He says that he will just stay at the hotel rather than to go outside.

**


Sabres.com tweeted that Miller was the first goalie off the ice in Boston this morning, therefore, he will be the starter against Anton Khudobin tonight in Boston.

This is a must-win for Miller and the Sabres if their hope to earn the eighth and final playoff seed in the Eastern playoff race. The Sabres enter tonight's game trailing the NY Rangers and Winnipeg Jets by four points. The Sabres play the rangers Friday night in Buffalo.

Wins tonight and Friday night will go a long way to elevating Buffalo into the top eight. Losing one or both of these next two games will be crippling for the Sabres and their playoff chances.

Boston needs only one point tonight in order to earn an eastern conference playoff berth.

In his last start vs. Montreal last Thursday, Miller was pulled after 40 minutes after he gave up 4 goals on 28 shots. The Sabres were drubbed 5-1 on home ice. In his previous start to the Montreal game, Miller was beaten 4-1 in Winnipeg.

Jhonas Enroth started the last two Sabres game, both wins. He made 62 saves and only allowed one goal. He earned his third career shutout vs. Philly on Saturday.

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Awkward. Steve Yzerman didn't want Lindy Ruff to coach his Tampa Lightning, however, he does want the former Sabres head coach to be his Team Canada bench boss at the upcoming World Championships.




Its likely that Ruff will be an assistant coach on Mike Babcock's Team Canada coaching staff at the Sochi Olympics.

**

Hockey Canada announced today that former Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff (Warburg, Alta.) will be Canada’s head coach at the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, with Doug Shedden (Wallaceburg, Ont./EV Zug, SUI) serving as an assistant coach.

Perhaps this is the reason why Yzerman chose not to select Ruff to be his head coach in Tampa last month.

Here's more from Hockey Canada:

Lindy Ruff, 53, was an associate coach under Mike Babcock at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, winning gold. Ruff was Canada’s head coach at the 2009 IIHF World Championship in Switzerland, winning a silver medal. The native of Warburg, Alta., was the head of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres for more than 15 years, becoming the winningest coach in franchise history, and ranks second all-time in the NHL in most games coached with one franchise and most wins with one franchise, trailing only Al Arbour of the New York Islanders in both categories. Prior to joining Buffalo, Ruff was an assistant coach with the NHL’s Florida Panthers for three seasons. As a player, Ruff appeared in 691 regular season games, including parts of 10 seasons with Buffalo, and three seasons with the New York Rangers.

Doug Shedden, 51, won gold in his first appearance as head coach of Canada’s National Men’s Team at the 2012 Spengler Cup, after three appearances as an assistant coach. He was head coach of Finland’s national team in 2007-08 and led Finland to a bronze medal at the 2008 IIHF World Championship. Shedden is the head coach of EV Zug in the Swiss A League, a position he has held since 2008. He has a wealth of international coaching experience and NHL playing experience, totaling 325 points over 416 games with Pittsburgh, Detroit and Toronto from 1981-91, and has previously coached in the Finnish Elite League, AHL, CHL, UHL and ECHL.

Hockey Canada will be completing its coaching staff, as well as naming support staff members and players over the coming weeks.



Thanks, Hockey Canada
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D Wade Redden will make his Bruins debut tonight.

Swedish import Carl Soderberg will not be in the Boston lineup tonight.



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Updated 11am EDT:


Yesterday, there were two extra forwards in Buffalo with the return of Mikhail Grigorenko.

Today there is one extra forward.

Luke Adam has been sent back to Rochester, according to the Amerks.



Makes sense. Adam is better served by playing in Rochester than eating popcorn in the Boston press box. Grigorenko will not play tonight against the Bruins. He will practice on Thursday with his Sabres teammates. The way he practices on Thursday will determine whether or not he will play vs. NY Rangers on Friday night.

In his four games in Buffalo this season, Adam scored one goal and was +1.





Sabres prospect Dan Catenacci's Owen Sound team was punted from teh OHL playoffs earlier this week, therefore, the sniper is now a Rochester Amerk. He will wear #43 for the Amerks.


Catenacci scored 38 goals this season for Owen Sound.



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The Philadelphia Flyers did the Sabres a solid by kicking the NY Rangers on Tuesday night. The Winnipeg Jets refused to help the Sabres, who sit all alone in tenth place (42 points) with five games remaining. If Buffalo are going to make a serious move to secure a share of the eight-seed, they have no choice other than to win its next two games in regulation: at Boston tonight and at home to the Rangers on Friday night.

Winners of four games in a row, the Jets are now in an eighth place (46 points) tie with the Rangers, who have six games remaining, The Jets have 5 games remaining. The Sabres have five games remaining.

If they want to play the Penguins in the first round of the playoffs, they need to win all five remaining games, which will include head-to-head battles against the Rangers and Jets.

The maximum amount of points that the Rangers can accrue this season is 58, while the Jets can achieve 56 points. The Sabres can can only max-out at 52 points.

The Sabres have been playing inspired hockey since the closed- door, players-only meeting after the home loss to Montreal last Thursday night. Last week, the Sabres lost back-to-back games to the Jets and Canadiens by combined scores of 9-2. Since then, Jhonas Enroth and the Sabres have won two games in a row over Philly and Tampa by a combined score of 4-1. Enroth stopped all 29 shots the Flyers threw at him on Saturday, then made 32 saves against Stamkos and St. Louis on Sunday.


No more margin for error. Win and stay in. Lose and go to the draft.


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