Bowe Wants A Piece of Carlyle (sabres)

sabres

Bowe Wants A Piece of Carlyle

By GARTH'S CORNER

Mar 29, 2014 • 8:44 am

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are a bona fide dumpster fire that is raging out of control right now. Losers of seven straight games, the Leafs are dangling precariously from the Eastern Conference wild card race. They find themselves tied with three other teams with 80 points in the wild card race. The Leafs are 2-8 in their past ten game and find themselves slugging it out in the mosh pit with Columbus, Detroit, and Washington. All four teams have 80 points heading into Saturday's action. I like Columbus and Detroit to earn wild cards with Toronto and Washington headed to the local golf course.

The Philadelphia Flyers slapped the Leafs 4-2 on Friday night.

Same old song and dance for Randy Carlyle's hapless team. Too many turnovers, getting outworked by opponents and soft D-zone play.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Thanks, Leafs TV

Toronto coach Randy Carlyle might have to learn how to bob and weave. Bowe, the former heavyweight champion, former Syracuse Crunch owner, and admitted Leafs fan, threatened to beat up Carlyle on Twitter with a loss to Philly.

Bowe's not alone. There are millions of zealots in Leafs Nation who want to take Carlyle out behind the barn. Leafs fans have an inflated sense of confidence and vigor with their club and they feel its their right to have a playoff team every season. Not this season. As a team, they give up far too many chances and they cannot defend.

Bowe wants a piece of Carlyle.

Bowe instantly tweeted after the final horn, “See you in the parking lot Randy ...…

Carlyle's not ducking Bowe invitation to dance.

“I’ll have to get my posse together,… he joked.

***

Earlier this week, the Leafs were destroyed on home ice by David Backes, TJ Oshie, Ryan Miller and the St. Louis Blues. After the dreadful loss, Leaf captain Dion Phaneuf blew off the media and left without addressing his own terrible performance. The captain offered no explanation for the loss to the Blues. In my opinion, the Leafs' fortunes took a southern turn at the very moment that the Phaneuf was handed a seven year, $49 million contract extension in January.

As Phaneuf goes, so go the Leafs.

Fans can't blame Kessel, Bozak, and JVR, who are all playing 22 minutes a night.

***

There are many reports buzzing around on this night that Ted Nolan and the Sabres have finally signed off on the three year contract extension. Sportsnet reported it earlier Friday night.

GM Tim Murray made the proposal weeks ago.

Makes sense. Nolan has said right along that he sent the deal to his representative to give it the old once-over before signing it.

When someone hands you nearly $3 million guaranteed, you accept it.

No official confirmation from the Sabres yet.

Nolan is going back to the future.

More to come.

***

Friday March 28, 2014.

Ted Nolan and Dominik Hasek had their first conversation in seventeen years.

Seventeen years!

The former coach of the year and his former MVP goalie FINALLY mended the fence that separated them for nearly two decades.

Why the acrimony? What was the source of all of the friction? You and I will never know the truth. Thats between Nolan, Hasek, and former Sabres GM John Muckler.

Nolan and Hasek are both proud, stubborn men. We'll never really know what happened between the two competitive human beings back in the late '90s. Does it matter now? So much time has elapsed since those turbulent, tumultuous days in Sabreland. These are much different turulent times in Buffalo today.

Time definitely heals old wounds.

Hasek is back in the town that he singlehandedly placed on the NHL map in his days in a Sabres sweater. He will be inducted into the Sabres' Hall of Fame on Saturday night.

Hasek admitted during his Friday presser that he was curious to bump into Ted Nolan.

“I never really ran into him anywhere,… Nolan said this afternoon following practice inside the First Niagara Center. “He came down and said hello and we had a nice chat. It was nice.…

Nolan later said that he doesn't “know what really transpired back then"

Nolan said that over the years, he's gained a better perspective on his relationship with Hasek.

“But back then is back then,… he said. “He looks well and he’s all happy and excited about being back here. We had a nice talk. We had some good times. Everybody looks at one incident. One incident doesn’t form the relationship".

Nolan is content to keep their drama in the rear view mirror.

“But in the media, I guess sometimes we blow things way out of proportion and make it look worse than it really was. It wasn’t that much. People have disagreements all the time.…

Nolan and Hasek experienced some serious success together in their two brief, highlight reel seasons together.

“If you look what Dominik did for this organization, even when my time was here, we had a lot of wins, but a lot of wins were based on his goaltending,… Nolan said. “He’s a world-class goaltender. To come back here to the city of Buffalo and get recognized the way he has or the way he’s going to be, it’s a good honor. It’s a good to see him back.…

Thanks, Sabres.com

***

The Buffalo Sabres today announced the team will officially retire the jersey of goaltender Dominik Hasek, one of the most prolific goaltenders in NHL history, in a ceremony during the 2014-15 season. Hasek, who was the fifth and final Sabres player to wear No. 39, will be the seventh player in franchise history to receive the honor of having his jersey retired to the rafters.

Hasek is being inducted into the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame on Saturday, March 29.

Hasek will join six other Sabres legends to have their jerseys officially retired from use by the team. Other retired jerseys include: Gilbert Perreault (#11, retired in 1990); Rick Martin (# 7, retired in 1995); Rene Robert (# 14, retired in 1995); Tim Horton (# 2, retired in 1996); Danny Gare (# 18, retired in 2005); and Pat LaFontaine (#. 16, retired in 2006).

Originally acquired by the Sabres from the Chicago Blackhawks on Aug. 7, 1992, Hasek remains as one of the most decorated goaltenders in team and league history, appearing in a total of 491 games for the Blue and Gold during a span of nine seasons from 1992-2001. While backstopping the Sabres, he became the first goaltender in NHL history to win the Hart Trophy twice (1997 & 1998), while also capturing six Vezina Trophies (1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999 & 2001) as well as the William M. Jennings Trophy (1994 & 2001) and the Lester B. Pearson Award twice (1997 & 1998).

During his time in Buffalo, Hasek held numerous franchise records and, upon his departure from the Sabres, owned the records for most all-time games played (491), wins (234), shutouts (55) and lowest career goals-against average (2.22). Hasek appeared in a career-high 72 games for the club in the 1997-98 season, setting a team record with 13 shutouts, only to follow that up with a career-best 1.87 GAA, .937 save percentage and a Stanley Cup Final berth in 1998-99.

After his time with the Sabres, he spent a total of four seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, where he earned a pair of Stanley Cup championships (2002 & 2008) and also suited up for the Ottawa Senators during the 2005-06 season.

When he retired from the NHL in 2008, Hasek finished with 389 career wins, and also ranked inside the top 10 in several statistical categories, including highest career save percentage (.922), most games played by a European born goaltender (735), most career shutouts (81) and lowest career goals-against average (2.13). In international competition, the Pardubice, Czech Republic native won a gold medal in the 1998 Winter Olympic Games and a bronze medal in the 2006 Games.

**

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