According to Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch, Jax aggitator, Jared Boll, has been fined $2,500 by the NHL for his high hit on Shaone Morrisonn. Boll will not be censured for his equally as high hit on Drew Stafford in last night's game.
No suspension will accompany the fine.
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Cabin Fever can do weird things to the human condition!
The Buffalo Sabres were beached for six days in Buffalo while the rest of the NHL teams played meaningful games. The Sabres had played 25 games as of last Saturday, the most of ann NHL team. The schedule maker front loaded the Buffalo dance card with October and November games, and then left a six day gap a s means for the NHL teams to catch up to them in games played.
The Sabres spent the six days working drills ad nauseum. Lindy Ruff had an opportunity to practice all three phases the game. They scrimmaged 5 on 5, worked on the ailing PP, and played the tight box PK. Ryan Miller liked the extra time off and the practice time between games. "We hardly had a training camp in September. This layoff gave the coaches time to work on our system and to clean up areas of our game that needed it. i love the way we played tonight', he told me with a cheshire cat grin.
By Wednesday, the Sabres had developed a serious case of cabin fever. They were sick of hitting one another at the rink every day. They grew weary of watching other teams mkes up games in hand on them. The long layoff accentuated the point that the Sabres were standing still and losing ground in the Eastern standings while they were idle. To add drama and intrigue to the six day off marathon, the Buffalo region was decimated by a lake effect snow bomb that droppped nearly three feet of snow on the ten mile radius south of HSBC Arena. The fans needed to be entertained after digging themselves out from under 26 inches of wet snow. The players needed to prove to themselves that this season is worth fighting for.
Miller and his boys were chomping at thee bit to get back to work. Boy did they on Friday night! Mix in Drew Stafford and pat Kaaleta for spice, and this game because the perfect panacea for all that ailed the Sabres in the first 25 games.
Scott Arniel thought that his team could slip into Buffalo in the wee hours of friday morning after playingthe night before in Nashville and jump the Sabres early. Uh uh, not so fast Scotty.
"We talked about jumping on them on the first shift", Jochen Hecht told me after the game. "We did not want to let them get their feet moving. We took our speed to them and it worked".
Cody McCormick summed up the CBUS game perfectly:
'We played team tough. We stick up for one another. We did what we had to do to earn two points on home ice."
Cabin fever over.
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Patty Kaleta, Cody McCormick, Jason Pominville and Steve Montador stepped up and represented their teammates in a big bad way on Friday night! Jared Boll smoked Stafford with a blatantly delibetrate high hit and it opened up a can of whoopass on the Blue Cheese Jax!
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The CBUS game was a tasty appetizer for the Ottawa scrum tonight. For as bad as both teams have been at times this season, tonight's game will have a ton of Playoff-level intensity!