Danny Briere had just completed his French-only interview with RDS.
His face, ashen and fatiqued. His eyes, glassy, tense, and emotional. His tone, hushed and reflective. For the first time in the post-Lockout era, I had spent an entire half hour or so in the prescnce of Danny Briere, and I did not see a smile on his face once in that time.
It struck me that maybe this is Danny's goodbye to Buffalo. Maybe I've been denying the inevitable. In my mind, I've been rationalizing that Darcy Regier can keep and sign both Drury and Briere to long term contract extensions, so that the Sabres can go on a streak, and finish what they started last season.
Briere becomes a UFA on at Midnight on July 1, and its likely that he'll sign a lucrative contract with another NHL team.
Montreal? There's got to be a good reason why Bob Gainey was scouting the Sabres during the Rangers series. Washington? Detroit? Philadelphia? Nashville? Colorado? Calgary? Edmonton?
All are known to want/need a player of Briere's pedigree. All will clear cap space to make a play fo rthe Kid From Gatineau.
He stood poised in his locker stall, as he was bracing himself for the deluge of media who were about to pepper him with questions.
Danny's not one to run and hide.
"We left it on the ice. We battled hard.I think its disappointing that such an awesome season ends like that".
"That" refers to the decisive and impressive 4-1 ECF series loss at the hands of the Ottawa Senators.
" The two games in overtime could have gone either way. It happens. Ya know, you look at last year we beat 'em three times in overtime. Its not like we outplayed them, its just the bounces were not coming our way. This year, we just couldn't find it in overtime. I think we're one and four in overtime, or something like that, where last year we got in and found ways to win those game. Like I said, its tough to swallow right now. I feel like we're letting the fans and the city down. Especailly after such and awesome season. With everybody around the way it played out, I really believe it was our year. But, we were not able to get it going against the Senators".
Is it possible that the Sabres can rebound from this galling loss and win a Cup next season? With the sun, moon and stars alligned for the Sabres this season, is that possible?
" (Heavy sigh) I look at these guys, the guys we just played on the other side. For how many years were they suppoosed to win it.. it was supposed to be "their year".. they weren't even able to get to the Stanley Cup Finals before this year. They learned. They battled hard. They took a lot of heat the past few years, but you know what? They kept fighting, they kept battling, and I look at them and hope that thats the same thing thats gonna happen here".
Briere was asked if there ws one thing that he could point to , that was the difference in the ECF.
"There's many things. The one goal games that all year we always seemed to find a way to win them. The second game here at home was tough to swallow. That overtime game. I thought we had played so well and came up emptyhanded. Our Powerplay is , uhhh.... an area where I wished we would have been better in, and maybe snuck a win here or there"
The Powerless Play will go down in infamy. What a glaringly obvious weakness for such a high powered team. They lived and died 5 on 5, to overcompensate for the fact that their Poweplay had betrayed them all season long. Not just in the Playoffs.
Has Briere thought at all about his future?
"No. Not at all. Its the last of my worries right now. there's other things on my mind, then whats gonna happen next year, right now".
I've got to think that Briere's emotion is directly related to the belief that somehow he knows that this group of sabres will not be playing together as a group again. UFS will go away. New guys will move in to the lineup from Rochetser.
" Every year, there's guys coming and leaving. Like I said, I'm hoping that almost everybody's back, that we can get another shot , the way we did this year, taking another step. I said it, look at at Ottawa. Took them a long time , but they kept fighting. what I like about our team is we have guys taht fight a lot. We don't have quitters. We have guys, that if we have the chance to come back together, we'll fight again all the way to the end. Thats what I'm hoping will happen".
Chris Drury has been the leader of the Buffalo team since he signed the team. Briere has been is able and willing co-captain. The Buffalo leadership group is as tightly knit as they come in the NHL. Drury and Briere are very similar guys, however, very different guys. One is the expressive . The other is very measured and analytical.
I asked Briere to comment Drury's amazing comeback after getting hit in the mouth with a Tim Connolly bullet.
Did you expect to see him come back to the bench from that viloent blow to the face?
" To be honest with you YES! At this time of the year, how big the game was, you just had the felling that he was going to come back onto the ice. I was hoping that we would be able to get that one for him".
When #23 made his way out of the trainers room and back onto the sabres bench in OT, Briere admits that he got emotional.
"That was a big chill running down the spine, I think for everybody should have taken a puck to the face-- a slapshot to the face. It was a...eveything all year seemed to be working our way and we fed off all of the little things. Against Ottawa, it just wasn't happening for us. All year, you'd have somebody.... take a slapshot in the face and come back in overtime, you just knew yu were gonna find a way to win. The disapponting part is that we were not able to get that one goal to put us over the top".
Is it time to bid au revoir to #48?
****
More later....
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