The ongoing saga of the OHL Mississauga Ice Dogs has now been resolved.

The Toronto St. Michaels Majors are moving into the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, the Ice Dogs were sold and told to vacate, and the buzz had them going into a new arena in Niagara Falls, Ontario, until their city council gave the team a big middle finger.

So the team has been scrambling for a new home, and today the announcement came that they have found one… St. Catharines Ontario, where they will be known as the Niagara Ice Dogs and will play at the 2800 seat Jack Gatecliff Arena. The city will spend $250,000 for upgrades to the facility. There are no current plans for a new arena, although several OHL franchises have rolled out gleaming new venues in recent years, including such cities as London and Oshawa, with Kingston and Windsor set to open new arenas soon.

More from the St. Catharines Standard.

We have visited a number of OHL cities on the USRT, and have loved the rinks, the atmosphere, the Canadian brews and the quality of play. A quick hop to St. Catharines this fall is a complete no brainer!

Big props to Kevin Jordan at OHL Arena Guide for giving us the heads up on this.

Take the drive down from San Francisco to San Jose, and you will pass the gleaming headquarters and towers of every familiar high tech company known to man… Cisco, Oracle, just about every dot com comany. Even in downtown San Jose, the first logo you see outside the arena at the top of the nearest skyscraper is that of Adobe Systems.

So why is it then, that you step into the shiny HP Pavilion at San Jose, home of the NHL San Jose Sharks, and find only the most rudimentary and basic scorebaord and signage? Here, in the epicenter of technology, one would think that this venue would be the marker and example for the newest and most dazzling high tech fan amenities.

And indeed, all that is about to change, as it looks now that the city will be spending a whopping $16.5 million on sophisticated technological upgrades, and as this article in the San Jose Mercury News states, these are improvements that have been bandied about for years.

Mayor Stephen Mandel of Edmonton wants a spanking new arena built in downtown Edmonton for the NHL Edmonton Oilers. “Not so fast” say members of the City Council, who want no part of heavy public subsidies.

The mayor is appointing a new panel to come up with recommendations. Meantime, the Oilers continue to play at the old school Rexall Place, with a lease in place that runs through 2014.

More from the Edmonton Journal

Yet another cool sports weekend downtown ends at HSBC Arena this afternoon. I got a chance to cover the Bandits game as part of our “Puck Stop” column in Artvoice. Here’s a game recap…

The Buffalo Bandits hosted the Minnesota Swarm this afternoon in the first round of National Lacrosse League playoff action.

After the first six minutes of the game, Annoying Screeching P.A. Guy had to have a big yellow puddle under his chair, as the Swarm took an early 4-0 lead on just 5 shots and the situation was dire for the Bandits. Buffalo then came roaring back and even took a brief lead in the second, but a late “hidden ball trick” stunt with the Buffalo goalie out of the net backfired, giving Minnesota a last second goal and an 8-7 lead at the half.

Then after halftime everything changed…Buffalo came out storming in the second half, playing almost a perfect game and playing excellent defense, stifling the Swarm attack. The Bandits completely dominated and ended up winning 14-8, with John Tavares scoring three of the goals in the second half.

Bandits head coach Darris Kilgour gave credit to his defense. “We really shut ‘em down in that second half and Mikey (goalie Mike Thompson) came up big and I give them all the credit for that.” Kilgour also admitted that there was some panic after those early goals. “It felt like deja vu from last year’s Champion Cup game falling behind like that.”

The Bandits go on to play at Rochester this Friday. Said Kilgour “Hopefully they (Rochester) are due for a game where their shots don’t go in and their goalie doesn’t stop everything, but other than that we just have to stick to our system.”

The Knighthawks swept the Bandits in their two games in the regular season. Coach Kilgour did report that injured star goaltender Steve “Chugger” Dietrich might not be ready to start but will most likely dress as the backup. If Buffalo finds a way to win Friday’s game, they will host the Champion’s Cup Final right here in Buffalo on Saturday, May 12.

The teams shake hands on the field after the Bandits took it to the Swarm by a 14-8 score.

If there’s one guy who has been an indelible part of downtown Buffalo’s ballpark, it is Bisons Official Scorer Kevin Lester.

Kevin has been around the team throughout pretty much its entire modern era, even going back to the days at the Old Rockpile. For years he served in uniform as the team’s bullpen catcher, appeared in a cameo role in the movie “The Natural”, and for over a decade now he has held the post of “Official Scorer”. Actually working for the League and not the team, his job is to keep official track and record of the entire game. He sits in the second tier of the pressbox, inches away from the in-pressbox PA system which he coordinates.

One of his toughest jobs is making the call between a “hit” and an “error”. Kevin can regale you with countless stories of players and managers who have called on him and confronted him after a game to question his decision, some of the exchanges becoming quite heated. “It’s all part of the job” Kevin laughs.

One more thing we’ve got to say about Kevin… there is no bigger die-hard Yankees fan than he is. He lives and dies with the fortunes of his beloved Bronx Bombers, and while the Bisons game is in progress, he is regularly on the phone between innings, getting game updates from his family back home, who are as equally crazed as he is.

A cool pressbox tradition takes place when a pitcher in the game…home or visiting team, craps out with a horrendous performance. As the pitcher departs the field, Kevin Lester will announce the line, something like “2 2/3 innings pitched, 9 hits, 8 runs, all earned, 5 walks, 3 wild pitches” across the PA, and the report will prompt a round of applause from the media contingent.

Kevin appreciates that applause. He feeds on it. And while we’re at it, we also want to give him a round of applause, just for being a great baseball guy and a good friend. “CHOI!”

Before each game the Bisons put out a nice spread for the operations staff and the media, but the Sunday buffet is always the best… fruit plate, bagels, scrambled eggs, sausage, roasted potatoes and waffles. One awesome perk if you’re a sports reporter!

The top of One M&T Plaza, illuminated in Sabres colors. How cool is that?

Time to chime in on a little Buffalo Bisons baseball.

The team traveled to Columbus and Toledo on an eight game road swing, and managed to earn a 6-2 record on the trip, including a sweep at Columbus, with one of those games a 17-1 throttling of the Clippers.

How good was the offense? They outscored the two teams 40-17 in the eight games and were led by outfielder Jason Cooper
(.333, 6-18, 3 2B, 5RBI), Ben Francisco (.345, 10-29, 3 2B, HR, 4RBI) and Shin-Soo Choo (.313, 5-16, 5RBI).

Buffalo is home for a five game set beginning tonight, and in a true Mike Veeck moment, have come up with a cool promotion - the 60 degree guarantee. They are guaranteeing it will be 60 degrees for the next two home games, Saturday, April 21 (6:05 p.m.) and Sunday, April 22 (1:05 p.m.) against the Pawtucket Red Sox. If the weather doesn’t match the very promising forecast for the weekend, everyone in attendance will get a free ticket to a future Bisons game in 2007.

With a 9-3 record, Buffalo leads the IL North.

UPDATE… 6:08PM at Dunn Tire Park… official game time temperature 62 degrees…lots of fans in the building on a great night for baseball… Better luck tomorrow for a free ticket folks!

UPDATE… 8:30PM at Dunn Tire Park… Brad Bisbing just told us that even though the temperature officially crossed the 60 degree threshold, the team is still giving a freebie ticket to everyone in attendance tonight. Nice job Bisons!!!

After countless email exchanges, cross reporting and media networking, I finally got the chance to say “hi” to Mark and Kevin at Bfloblog. They were in full tailgate form in a parking lot down Perry Street. A quick beer, some hockey talk, and a promise for a more substantial get-together down the road.

Mark and Kevin, soaking up the nice Buffalo day and the pregame festivities outside HSBC Arena

Gotta throw this one in - thousands of fans enjoying the “Party on the Plaza” outside the arena. Many fans without tickets stuck around to watch the game on the special videoboard set up outside on the plaza.

Whew!

Series over.

The Sabres played a nearly perfect game for two periods, using their speed and aggression to attack the offensive zone and make play after play. Only the lack of finishing scoring chances kept this one from becoming a total laugher, and after two it was 3-0 Sabres.

That’s when things got hairy - the Isles’ Mirolav Satan finally got a goal in this series early in the third, but Buffalo answered right after by a pretty goal by Max Afinogenov. Light the cigar right? New York cut the lead again to two at the tten minute mark, then three minutes later scored again to make it 4-3.

“Yeah things felt a little desperate on the bench at that point” admitted Toni Lydman. After the game, Daniel Briere told the press, “The important thing is we found ways to win these games.”

Ryan Miller stopped nine shots in the final seven minutes, but none bigger than with 10 seconds to go, robbing Miro Satan on the doorstep with a blind save.

The feeling in the locker room afterwards was not one of jubilation, or that of relief; basically a sense of accomplishment that they got this round behind them, and every player and Coach Lindy Ruff admitted that the few days rest will do some good. After the game PR Director Mike Gilbert announced that Wednesday is the earliest possible date for the next game.

In my doghouse - Toni Lydman, who was a -2 for the night and on a couple occasions failed to clear the puck from the zone. And I like Jochen Hecht, but we’re at the point that maybe sitting him for a game might send this guy a message,

Penalty and game misconduct to… the game day entertainment crew. Whipping up the stupid wave with 9 minutes to go, then playing Sweet Caroline (bah! bah! bah!) with a tenuous one goal lead…. UGH! This stuff is OK when the game is salted away, but otherwise totally inappropriate. So shut the goddam hell up, or play some organ music, and let the fans do the rest.

Props to… the Sabres players, who again gathered as one after the handshakes were over, to salute the fans with their sticks. The crowd ate it up, of course… Plenty of love going back and forth, a nice, nice feeling.

So onward we go, with either NYR or TBL our next opponent… and still… “the chance that maybe we’ll find… better days.”

The Sabres held a light practice this morning at HSBC Arena, which looked like an optional skate, and about 15 of the players participated, including all of the reservists (Paetsch, Paille, Peters). Also on the ice was recovering forward Paul Gaustad, wearing the red “non contact” jersey and he was the last one off the ice, participating for about 70 minutes of ice time.

Thomas Vanek said that the Sabres aren’t taking their opponents lightly. “They are a good team and they have been in every single one of these games because they have the talent to do so and have worked to get to that point.” Vanek said that the team has to play smarter and expects to see that on the ice tonight.

I also chatted with Paul Gaustad, starting with the same question he hears five times a day.. “How’s the ankle?” “It’s getting better every day and I am skating with more authority every time” Gaustad replied. His comeback schedule is still up in the air, and his doctors participate with him almost daily to evaluate his progress.

Gaustad admits that he is dying to get out there and compete in the playoffs. “It’s so tough just watching and being helpless to do anything” he said. “But my job and the other guys who aren’t dressing as well have a role to lift our teammates and offer support in any way we can.” Gaustad did make the trip with the team to the Island.

Has the team played its best game? “No”, was the unequivocal response by Lindy Ruff. “We can play a stronger all around game.” He gave props to his defense which he says is maturing nicely, and also shrugged off any questions about the video reviews. “I’m going to continue to stay out of it.”

Islanders Coach Ted Nolan has faced adversity all season, and when asked if the team thrives on the sudden elimination scenario, he replied “we know where we are and we know what we have to do.” He called out his big guns, Yashin and Satan and said he expects more. “Our hitters have to hit, our scorers have to score, everyone has a role.”

He spoke of the changing culture in the Islanders organization, bringing in players such as Sillinger and Smyth and the roles they play in the clubhouse. “That has helped in these do or die situations” Nolan said.

Couple rapid takes -
-Much of the Buffalo media camped out by the Satan stall waiting for his comments. We should have brought our ponchos instead and just joined him in his verrrrrrrry lengthy shower. That interview didn’t happen.

-Markerboardgate update: no lineups in the Isles room on display today, just the bus schedule to the hotel and the buffet time. Judging from the history here, if I’m an Islanders player and the display reads food at 2PM, I’d probably have the number of Jim’s Steakout as a backup plan.

-Chatted with Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star and Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun, both Leafs beat writers and now down here covering the Sabres run. I get the sense they are really rooting for our guys. Probably because they just want to see more hockey. I gave them advice on some good wing places and other restaurants; when I asked them to reciprocate and advise me on where to find a good $6 pitcher of beer in Toronto, one could hear the crickets chirping in the background.

Puck drops at 7:08 or so… I’ve got the pressbox chair tonight; Pete will be in the stands. Let’s hope the boys put an exclamation point on round one with a convincing wih tonight. My heart and my head tells me that will be the case.

NEWS ALERT 5 PM…
New York Islanders defenseman Sean Hill has been suspended 20 games for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program. The suspension begins with tonight’s Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Quarterfinal game against the Buffalo Sabres.

Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the suspension is accompanied by mandatory referral to the NHL/NHLPA Program for Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health for evaluation and possible treatment.

This season the Los Angeles Dodgers have turned the right field bleachers into an “all you can eat pavilion”. One price gets you unlimited soda pop, nachos, peanuts and hot dogs, in other words, classic ballpark dreck.

This hilarious article on Slate recounts two fans’ experiences of their recent food fest at Dodger Stadium, and offers us all a few lessons in return.

I have to admit that at heart I am a fan of the roundball above all others. I have a strong basketball background in my family with two of my uncles having played hoops at the Division I college level and growing up as a kid my winters were spent shoveling the snow off of the blacktopped halfcourt in the backyard every time more than a half inch of snow fell on the ground.

My adolescence was during the Doctor/Magic/Larry/Michael days that everyone waxes poetic about today. (And as a Knicks fan during that era, I have a different opinion than most on that issue).

But anyhow, the recent run of Sabres success has turned this former NBA League Pass watching/wild feed satellite searching/staying up till 1:30 am for the Hawks/Clippers tilt hoops nut into a former basketball junkie.

(But again, the wildly inept front office and pathetic on court play of the Knicks going on simultaneously has to be a bit of a factor here as well, doesn’t it?)

I guess the point of this rant is that I’ve watched NBA hoops less in the past season or so than I have in the last quarter century. But gosh darnit, that doesn’t mean I’m not gonna put together a preview of this NBA postseason. It might not be of ESPN quality, but I bet I’ll be as accurate as they will be, so there! So for the dozen or so NBA diehards who live in the Buffalo area, here goes my NBA playoff preview….

Some intriguing stories are abound in this season’s first round(with predictions)….

The Cavs(2) and Wizards(7) meet in a rematch of last season’s superb first round matchup. The Wizards appear to be sitting ducks for Lebron James and company with Gilbert Arenas out indefinitely. No Hibachi in this series I’m afraid….

Pick: Cavs in 5

Chicago(5) and Miami(4) is another rematch from last season’s first round. How much of a factor will D-Wade’s shoulder be for the Heat? Shaq v. Wallace is going to be quite a matchup of two of the East’s(the only two??) premier big men. Should make for the best first round series……

Pick: Bulls in 6

Magic(8) v Pistons(1): I’m guessing that Dwight Howard and Grant Hill won’t be talking about the second round like McGrady did a couple of years back after going up 3 games to 1 in the series between these two clubs in ‘03. Never mind, the Pistons won’t let that happen against the only NBA playoff team with a losing record.
C-Webb is still in the NBA??…amazing what a change of scenery can do for a player.

Over/Under on Rasheed Wallace technicals in this series(2.5). That’s down one thanks to Joey Crawford’s banishment by Godfather….ahem….Commisioner Stern.

Pick: Pistons in 4

Nets(6) v. Raptors(3): good ol’ Vince Carter is coming back to the ACC to destroy the Raptors seaon. While I like the nice gang of young talent that Brian Colangelo has put together in Toronto(Bosh,Bargniani,et al), something says to me this is going to Jersey….maybe it’s just my hatred of the Leaves boiling over.

Pick: Nets in 6

Lakers(7) v. Suns(2): Kobe averages 55 per game in this series, posterizes Steve Nash, Shawn Marion, and Amare Stoudemire in the span of a single game…..and the Suns win in five games at most. Phoenix is just too damn stacked and hell they’re so much fun to watch with their uptempo style of ball.

Pick: Suns in 4(not 5 due to my heavy anti-Laker bias)

Warriors(8) v. Mavericks(1): Chris Webber was a rookie, Chris Mullin was in his prime, Tim Hardaway probably still hated gay people and Don Nelson was coach the last time the Warriors made the postseason. Now Mullin is in the front office and after eight different Warrior head coaches since 1994 Nelson is back as the head coach. Combine that with a 3-0 record over the Mavs in the regular season and one might think there’s a shot for the Warriors here.

Nah, Nelson will pull some silly schemes out of his a## in a vain attempt to knock off the club he last coached but the Mavs advance in a very entertaining series.

Pick: Mavericks in 7(instead of 5 or 6 due to my heavy pro Chris Mullin bias)

Jazz(4) v Rockets(5)….this series has no shortage of characters here….Yao, T-Mac, Boozer, AK-47, Van Gundy….ok I admit it, I got no clue about either of these two teams….well, John Amaechi did play for both clubs during his career, there’s a nugget for you!

Pick: Rockets in 6

Speaking of Nuggets…..

Nuggets(6) v Spurs(3): Forget what I said about the Heat/Bulls series, THIS one will be the most interesting to watch. Have ‘Melo and AI jelled as teammates in time for the postseason? And how will they stack up against Tim Duncan/Tony Parker? Does anyone else want to throw down with Duncan? Denver does come in winners of nine of their last ten….

Pick: Spurs in 6

So there ya have it, an informal yet somewhat informed look at the postseason in what I like to call “The True American Sport.” And trust me, by the time the first round ends(sometime in mid-June, thank you Commish,NOT!) my picks will probably be about as accurate as all of those “experts” out there.

And remember, Knicks take it all in ‘08. You heard it here first!

“Better Days”

This week’s Puck Stop. Check it out!

The Sabres take control of the series in another hard fought game at the Masoleum….err…Coliseum.

Chris Drury tabs a pair of goals for the second time in this series and Jason Pominville adds the critical insurance goal late in the third period as the Sabres survive another last minute Islander goal and a controversial “no goal” late in the third to defeat the pesky Islanders 4-2. With the win they boys in blue and gold take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.

The Islanders struck first with a goal by Jason Blake, but the Sabres answered back with goals by Drury and Vanek. All seemed well heading into the opening period’s dying moments until Ryan Smyth was able to grab the puck to negate an icing call and next thing you know…Sillinger puts the puck in the net with a half minute left in the period. Hmmm, where have we seen that before…

But a penalty to Richard Park put the Sabs on the power play to start the second period and they converted with Drury’s second of the night to put them back in front.
The scoring remained that way until a scrum occured in front of the Sabre net with about two minutes left in the third resulting with the puck in the back of the net with what appeared to be the game tying goal….

Not so fast, the referee had blown the whistle(and in later comments) because Miller was shoved into the net with possession of the puck. The play went to Toronto to be reviewed, but since the whistle blew it was considered a non reviewable goal(again, according to an NHL official).

Pominville then struck to ice the game, and down rained the bottles..at least it was better than game 3.

Nolan was adamant in the post game that the goal was a good one. You gotta feel for him, first the Vanek goal in Game 3 and now this. With his scrappy club fighting the top seed tooth and nail it must be frustrating not to get a break here and there.

At the end of the night though, Sabres lead the series 3-1 and head back to Buffalo to attempt to close it out.

Some random thoughts on tonight….

Saw Satan and Yashin arguing the “no goal” call.I think that’s the first time they’ve been heard from all damned series.

Exactly twenty years ago to the day Patty LaLa ends one of the longest postseason games in history with his OT goal to beat the Caps in Game 7 of their Division Semifinal series.

Some boarding call that was on Numminen, Blake got tapped from behind then jumped into the boards…..

Noticed the Tim Horton’s ad on the boards at the left end. Has the Horton’s empire reached the NY Metro area yet???