Cool vinyl wall treatment at Otters ticket window on E 8th Street pic.twitter.com/PrC28jjgF4
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) November 5, 2014Breaking News:
Connor McDavid is in fact a human. He is not a super hero or a cyborg sent to Earth to re-write hockey history.
McDavid is a normal 17 year old kid. He's not immune from bad night's at the rink.
McDavid's 14-game point streak came to an end on Thursday night when the Niagara Ice Dogs beat the Otters 5-2. It was Erie's first regulation loss of the season.
The loss snapped Erie's 14-game point streak. The loss marks the first time in 7 games that the Otters juggernaut has failed to score 5 goals in a game.
Talk about oddities. The season high 5 goals against for the Otters are the exception and not the rule.
McDavid has 14 goals and 28 assists in 15 games played.
He is still and will continue to be the top rated NHL draft eligible prospect in the world.
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Buffalo Mayor Bryon Brown’s office presented the key to the family which owns the Buffalo Sabres, Buffalo Bandits and most recently the Buffalo Bills at the new HARBORCenter ice rink / hotel. restaurant/entertainment complex.
Last week, the Pegulas opened the door to their exquisite new Tim Hortons restaurant and "The Rinks" at HARBORcenter. On Friday, they will introduce the public to their new theme restaurant "716 Food and Sport". The Academy of Hockey and Impact Sports Performance opened in July. Next Spring, the doors will open officially to the luxurious new Marriott hotel at HARBORCenter
The HARBORCenter facilities were a $172 million project for the Pegulas.
Terry and Kim Pegula are presented with a key to the city of Buffalo from Mayor Byron Brown! pic.twitter.com/9ILk88QYrk
— Pegula Sports & Ent. (@PegulaSE) November 7, 2014
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Samson Reinhart will make his season debut for his Kootenay Ice club team on Friday night when the Edmonton Oil Kings come calling. The Ice will host the Swift Current Broncos on Saturday night.
Reinhart was sent back to junior hickey last week after he played nine games with the Buffalo Sabres.
Reinhart was born on November 6, 1995 in Vancouver, BC.
Happy 19th BDay, Samson Reinhart
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) November 7, 2014
Sabres GM Tim Murray wants Reinhart to focus on getting stronger while he is back in Kootenay so that he's not easily knocked off the puck when he returns to the NHL.
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The Minnesota Wild signed Thomas Vanek for a reason. The former Sabres 40 goal scorer will add immediate depth and scoring as he is replacing Zach Parise on the top line. Parise has been diagnosed with a concussion.
Vanek, Mikael Granlund and Jason Pominville are playing together in Ottawa on Thursday night.
Parise is the Wild's leading scorer with four goals and six assists.
Vanek has one goal and seven assists in his first season with the Wild after signing a three-year, $19.5 million contract in July.
Vanek and Pominville were one of the most prolific scoring duos when they played seven seasons together in Buffalo from 2005-06 until Pominville was traded in 2012.
"Hopefully we haven't lost it," Pominville said. "It's been a while, obviously. Not even training camp or anything, not really any shifts. Hopefully we can still find it and find a way to get it back early."
"It's been a couple of years now since we've done it together," Vanek said, "but usually when you have chemistry with one guy, it tends to come back fairly quickly.
"I feel like I know his game almost better than my own. It will be fun to be on the same line again with him. Maybe a little strange at first, but I'm excited for it."
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David Leggio was just being resourceful. He was just using one of the tools in his toolbox.
He wasn't trying to embarrass the AHL.
He liked his of stopping a shootout attempt rather than facing a 2-on-0 breakaway.
Leggio played the percentages and won. He made the stop on the penalty shot that was awarded after he dislodged his net from its marsh pegs.
Leggio applied goalie analytics and now he's being exulted as the goalie who will be the inspiration for new legislation that will prohibit such smart thinking. Leggio's no tomato can of a minor league goalie. He's a wily, crafty, talented 30-year old vet who went 38-24-1 with the Rochester Amerks in 2012-13 (.924 save % and 2.56 GAA).
The American Hockey League doesn't have a sense of humor. In light of David Leggio's desperation move to bail out of a 2-on-0 breakaway, the AHL is changing Rule 63.5, which states:
“If the goal post is deliberately displaced by a goalkeeper or player during the course of a ‘breakaway’ a penalty shot will be awarded to the non-offending team….
Leggio said in a media interview earlier this week that he and his former goalie coach, Jim Corsi, used to talk about about tossing the net during a two on one breakaway when the two men were employed by the Buffalo Sabres/Rochester Amerks. The Williamsville, NY native played with the Rochester Amerks.
TSN's Darren Dreger is reporting that the AHL is going to announce stricter rules for future Rule 63.5 violation.
The offending goalie will be assessed a game misconduct and the penalty shot will be taken by anyone on ice. The offending goalie will be sent to the room while the ice cold replacement goalie will face the penalty shot. The captain of the non-offending team will select the player who takes penalty shot.
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Montreal Canadiens rookie Jiri Sekac will not be getting a call from the NHL Department of Player Safety today to answer for this cowardly hit from behind that he leveled on Sabres rookie Niklita Zadorov on Wednesday night ( Renaud Lavoie, TVA Sports).
What part of the boarding rules does Quintal not understand?
He used to play for the Canadiens, among other teams. How does Quintal let the Sekac hit from behind pass without calling the player for a supplemental discipline hearing?
Zadorov was forced to leave the game with an injury and went to the Buffalo room for repairs after the avoidable collision. Did Zadorov cut his own face by throwing himself face first into the end boards? No. He was shanked by a rookie who needs to be reminded that such nonsense ifs not being tolerated by the NHL front office these days. If that same hit was delivered by Matt Cooke, Pat Kaleta, Steve Ott, or Zac Rinaldo you better believe that Quintal would have hauled the offending player into a hearing to answer for his actions.
How the Hell is Sekac absolved from further discipline for his punk shot on Zadorov? He clearly saw the #51 clear as day in front of his face, yet still proceeded to ram the Sabres rookie face first into the glass. This was clearly a retaliatory hit by Sekac who had been crunched three times earlier in the game by the 6'5" 240 lb. rough and tumble Zadorov. Its hard for me to know Sekac's intent without asking him directly, however, if I could read his mind at the moment of impact with zadorov's backside, I'm sure it would say that Sekac was none too thrilled that he had gotten smacked like a pià±ata by the bigger, tougher, more aggressive Zadorov.
Sekac was assessed a two-minute minor for boarding after blasting the big Russian into the boards from behind.
Midway through the third period with the game ties 1-1, Zadorov, found Sekac after a whistle and proceeded to get in his face. Sekac retreated and immediately skated away from the confrontation. Nikita wasn't exchanging Christmas cookie recipes. He wanted to let Sekac know that what he did was not cool, nor was it going to be accepted.
Sekac has to know that he has poked a surly, snarly bear, right?
Knowing the kind of player Zadorov is, it will not surprise me at all if he rag dolls Sekac for the next decade during the bitter Sabres-Canadiens rivalry. That is, if Sekac plays that long in the league. Guys who deliberately run opponents from behind are being weeded out of the game.
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