The Sabres hit the practice ice at 8:00 sharp this morning. Northtown Centre in Amherst is the site for today and tomorrow. Camp will shift back to First Niagara Centre on Monday morning.
In the meantime, here's the format for today and tomorrow is as follows:
* The vets and prospects will be broken up into three groups.
* The groups will skate for 90 minutes apiece.
* I'm surprised to see Kotalik in this group. Perhaps Lindy wants to see what kind of jump and speed he has (or doesn't have) right off the bat. Check out the D that this group will have to battle against.
Henrik Sedin has been as quiet as a church mouse his whole career. He generally speaks when spoken to, not exactly a Jeremy Roenick or Sean Avery clone/
Today, Sedin morphed from whisperer to smack runner when he was asked to comment on Christian Ehrhoff's eventually departure to Buffalo. Sedin told reporters on Friday that the Canucks are none the worse for wear now that Ehrhoff is gone.
Erhoff signed a massive 10-year, $40 million U.S. deal with the Sabres, after a trade between the Islanders and the Canucks went stiff. Ehrhoff was voted
Ehrhoff, a 50 point producer in the regular season, was a beast for Vancouver in the run to the Cup last Spring. He logged 25 minutes per game for the Canucks. He was the PP QB.
Ehrhoff's impressive body of work aside, Sedin says Ehrhoff was just another player in the Vancouver room
Sedin’s exact words were:
“I don’t think we lost anything. He was in a spot where we have other guys who can step up and play in that role. Alex (Edler) is going to get more responsibility. We have a healthy Sami Salo now. We have a lot of guys who are going to play a few more minutes. We have Chris Tanev who is coming up and he played great when he played last year. I think on the back end we were very deep last year and we are as deep this year.”
Wonder if Ehrhoff will dignify Sedin's stupid comment with a response, or, if he'll let his play do his talking for him.
Sedin does remember that Ehrhoff was awared the Babe Pratt Award in 10/11? The award is given to the Canucks best defenseman.
Day 1 of Buffalo Sabres training camp has concluded.
The team were called together for a 1:30pm EDT meeting with the coaches to review the plan for this, the most intriguing and highly anticipated training camp in the team's 41 year history. Each player was given their requisite physical exam. As Jason Pominville predicted to me last week, he passed the physical with flying colours, as did the rest of the vets and prospects.
Lindy Ruff and staff ran the players and prospects through the rigors of on ice testing. The players have been poked, prodded, pushed, and evaluated. Now, its time to get to work on "the system".
Lindy Ruff
Regehr, Ehrhoff, and Leino will now be indoctrinated and sworn into the Lindy Ruff cult of hockey. Defense first. Protect the fort. Join the rush. Support the puck. Active sticks. Play out of character. Create positive zone time. Play with passion and purpose. Smother teams with above average special teams play. Win shifts. Win periods. Win games.
Do all that, and the Sabres will a Stanley Cup.
Ville Leino
Christian Ehrhoff
Derek Roy
The players that I spoke with told me that they were excited to be back together on the brand spankin' new ice surface at First Niagara Center. A couple of them cracked wise about all of the construction and all the fuss being paid to improving the arena.
You can feel the excitement in the building. There is a palpable buzz in the air as well, its as if something big is about to happen. The excitement is so thick, you can cut if with a Buffalo Sabres.
I was moved by Al Kotalik's candid comments that he made regarding the premature death of three of his good friends as a result of last week's Lokomotiv Yaroslav crash in Russia.
Kotalik was emotional when recounting the loss of his childhood friend, Jan Marek, who he had been friends with since they were kids. Kotalik said that his family and Marek's family have always been close, and that Jan's loss is particularly tough for him to process.
Kotalik also was close with Karel Rachunek and Josef Vasicek.
Kotalik says that the Lokomotiv tragedy has taught him you have to do the best you can each day because tomorrow is not guaranteed.
I want you to support a friend of mine in his new TV endeavor.
His name is Rich Gaenzler. He's a pimp.
You know him as "Bull" from 103.3 The Edge in Buffalo. He also rocked out at WCMF in RaChaCha many moons ago. "Bull Radio" is now on TV. Time Warner Cable, Channel 13, to be exact.
You won't find a harder working badass withing 500 miles of Buffalo.
He rocks, he knows the top jocks, he's a dedicated and loyal friend, and he's a better human being.
Check him out tonight at 6:30pm EDT. If you can't watch it live, DVR it. There will be a pop quiz on the show.
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