Well, we’re at it again folks! The USRT is off on a weeklong visit to the West Coast to catch some college football, Sabres hockey, and NBA hoops, some of which has its roots back in WNY. Ostensibly I’m heading out to see my sister/husband and newborn nephew but c’mon….who the heck are we kidding!

Posting this now while we’re in the Vegas International Airport being delayed(no shock) while laying over on the way to San Diego.

Schedule lines up as follows:

Sat 12/1: 4:30 UCLA/USC @ LA Coliseum
Sun 12/2: 3:30 Pacers/Clippers
9:30 Magic/Lakers….both @ Staples Center
Wed 12/5 10:00 Ducks/Sabres @ Honda Center
Thu 12/6 10:30 Kings/Sabres @ Staples Center

Check back for daily updates and then some as we enjoy kinda, sorta sunny California…..

Hmmmm….still delayed….wonder if I should hit the slots here in the terminal. Nah….

“The Northeast Division Gauntlet”

This week’s Puck Stop. Check it out!

1…2…3…4…5…We want 6!

Oops, not tonight.The Sabres lost to the St. Louis Blues tonight as the Bluenotes stormed back from a 2-0 second period to win 4-3 with the game winner coming in the final minute of regulation as Brad Boyes smacked puck into the net to finish off what had been a wild scramble in front of the net.

The opening period featured just one goal as Jason Pominville took a pass from Clarke McArthur to slide one past Manny Legace.

From the intermission on this game was all about the Blues. St. Louis outshot Buffalo in the second by a 12-4 advantage and dominated play, yet still the Sabres led 2-1 at the second intermission thanks to a power play goal from Ales Kotalik. Later in the period Martin Rucinsky would finally get the Bluenote on the board with his third of the season.

Wonder if he still thinks the Sabres are an average team with a great goaltender…..

In the third the Blues began to show their dominance on the scoreboard with two goals in the first seven minutes of play with Paul Kariya scoring on a two on one break as Miller didn’t have much of a chance to stop that one. The next one was a softie without question as Mike Johnson slid one underneath the pads to put the Blues ahead for the first time all game, and by the way they were playing this lead appeared to be pretty solid.

An unheralded player came to the rescue for Buffalo with about nine minutes left as Andrej Sekera let rip from just inside the blue line for his first career NHL goal. His goal seemed to awaken the dormant crowd and team on the ice as well, but in the end the stage would be set for Boyes’ heroics in the final minute.In the locker room afterwards players were a bit frustrated to let this one get away but were realistic about it. Jason Pominville stated that “We didn’t deserve to win. (The Blues) were the better team and with the game on the line they were the better team. And that’s not the team we’ve been the past few games and that’s not the message we want to send….it’s not the way we want to play.”

Lindy was straightforward in the postgame conference calling out the carelessness of his team, forwards in particular in handling the puck, adding that “As a group I didn’t like the play of the forwards…didn’t like the battles on the walls….didn’t like the fact that they weren’t in shot lanes….it hurts….and I could see it early…..and you can’t play like that.” And on that note he left the podium.

Sabres now stand at 11-11-1 with Carolina coming up on Saturday night followed by a trip out to California….and guess who will be out there with them for the Southern California portion of it? You got it, so stick around for the next few days for daily updates from West Coast starting on Friday…..

There was a huge buzz on both sides of Tampa Bay this morning as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays unveiled renderings for their dazzling new ballpark. If their plans are successful, the 34,000 seat venue will open in time for the 2012 season, and will be located on the site now occupied by Al Lang Stadium on the St. Petersburg waterfront.

The Rays are envisioning an open air facility with a futuristic 21st century modernistic design, and spurning any hint of the “retro” iconic look with red brick facades and wrought iron gates, the staple of new ballpark design over the past two decades. The most interesting feature of the venue would be a “sail” which would unfurl to cover the stadium during rain events, meaning no postponements except under the most extreme conditions.

Today’s St. Petersburg Times has all the details. Check out the slideshow which not only shows multiple views of the new ballpark, but also renderings of what a redeveloped site of the current Trop might look like.

Quick! Can you name the last time the Buffalo Sabres defeated the St. Louis Blues?

The answer is October 22, 1995…. a 5-2 win at the Aud. The Sabres are winless in their last 10 games against St. Louis, going 0-7-1-2 during that stretch, and have never defeated the Blues at HSBC Arena.

Nonetheless, Lindy Ruff discounts any such streaks and records as the two teams prepare to meet. “I remember the last game, a low scoring affair where we had a goal disallowed and we ended up losing in a shootout. Other than that reaching out over the years really makes no sense.”

Former Sabres defenseman Jay McKee is making his first return to Buffalo since his departure at the end of the 2005-06 season and will clearly be the center of attention when the players take the ice tonight. “It’s a special feeling” said McKee after the morning skate “being able to skate out there and look up at the rafters and just remember the special moment and teams you were a part of.” McKee stated that he had no regrets leaving, saying he doesn’t live his life that way. He also admitted that he came very close to quitting hockey for good this past summer, battling through a severe pelvic injury. “I battled through the pain and it’s all behind me now. I feel real good.”

McKee spoke about the magical 2005-06 season which ended in the conference finals against Carolina. “I truly believe that we had the best team in the league that year. But injuries happen and when the story line is written on those teams it is those things which come into play. But that year and the ‘99 run is what I will most remember about the time I spent here.”

Drew Stafford will be in the lineup tonight, perhaps returning a bit early from his shoulder injury, but it is a move of necessity. Forward Andrew Peters has the flu, which got worse overnight, so he will be a scratch tonight. Stafford will be paired up on his familiar line with Thomas Vanek and Derek Roy.

Game time is 7:00 PM, and there aren’t even scraps available at the box office for this VALUE priced game, so look for a very packed house on hand. Peter has the AV chair tonight and will have a post game wrap up.

A BCS playoff. What do you think?

I have pontificated in the past about the boorish behavior and the goings on at Ralph Wilson Stadium, but sometimes we pick up on some bad stories at peer NFL venues.

If you asked me which stadiums are the most intimidating for visiting fans and/or the most likely places you will see a violent incident off the field, I would immediately choose Giants Stadium in New Jersey, and McAfee Coliseum in Oakland. New Yawkers are generally a boorish loutish class of fans, while Raiderfan is just intimidating by nature, and the scary costumes provide no comfort.

Yesterday’s New York Times featured a story on the goings on at “Gate D” of the stadium, where apparently fans congregate on the spiral ramps and exhort female patrons to bare their breasts, throwing debris and hurling profanities if they don’t comply.

According to several fans and stadium workers, such behavior has been going on at Jets home games for years. But it apparently had not been a problem at Giants home games.

So apparently this has been a Jets tradition for years, and is now spilling over into Giants games. Nice.

Here’s a streak we would like to see continue…for the third game in a row, the Sabres scored FIRST. This time a power play goal by Derek Roy on a pretty feed pass from Maxim Afinogenov. The Sabres played an intensely offensive first period getting plenty of scoring chances, but couldn’t put another one past Montreal goalie Carey Price until the second period. Tim Connolly, back for only his second game after recovering from his most recent injury, scored to make it 2-0.

Montreal, however would come back to tie the score, getting one in the second period; then Montreal’s Guillame Latendresse was absolutely robbed by Miller in the final seconds of the second. In the third Montreal tied it on a breakaway by Tomas Plekanec. Buffalo would regain the lead at the 11:27 mark in the third, on a power play by Thomas Vanek, only his fifth of the season. From there Buffalo played a lot of keepaway, first star Ryan Miller took care of business, then Buffalo added an empty netter by Danny Paille on a feed from behind the net by Afinogenov, and the team won its third straight, 4-2.

I had said earlier in the day that the game would be a sellout. Well I was right but this was one contrived accomplishment. There were thin gaps of empty seats in the 300s corners as well as scattered empties in the 100 level end zones. Memo to Sabres: $85 is TOO MUCH money to charge to sit in the top row of the building. Official paid attendance: 18,690, which means that the Sabres get to keep their sellout streak intact until…. ummm… the next GOLD game, December 21 vs Philadelphia. You fans in sec 301, 303 and 325 in the upper rows are welcome to wear your plastic blue seat costumes again then.

I’d guess about 1000 Habs fans in the building, pretty sedate compared to Leaves fans, breaking out in the “ole ole” song after each Montreal goal. Enjoy your stay in Buffalo and have a nice ride home, you visitors from Montreal Stevensville and Welland.

The home and home continues in Montreal tomorrow, and ends the streak of nine straight games against divisional opponents.

The price tag for this monolith, to be erected in Stratford, just east of London, is 496 million Pound Sterling, and that amounts to over a billion US dollars. It will be the centerpiece of the Olympic Park, and be set on an island, accessible via pedestrian bridges and ticket turnstiles and security checks will be performed well away from the building.

Once the Olympics are finished, the stadium will be scaled back to 25,000 seats and serve as a multi-purpose venue with a focus on athletic events. There are no plans to bring a franchise in the Premiership to this location.

The U.K. Telegraph has more on this, including a preview video.

A good number of MLB teams have posted their 2008 schedules on their web sites, and by backing and filling, we were pretty much able to figure out who is playing where and what teams we want to see. In addition, most of the minor leagues, including the International, Eastern and NY-Penn Leagues also have their master schedules up.

So we are pleased to announce three USRT baseball adventures set for 2008, as follows:

June 12-15: Farewell Shea Stadium - One more NY Mets game in their venue’s final season; minor league visits to the new Coca Cola Park (Lehigh valley, IL) and to New Britain and Connecticut (EL).

June 20-22: Nationals Park - The “official” USRT visit to the fabulous new home of the Washington Nationals; add a visit to Aberdeen (NY-Penn).

Aug 1-3: Farewell Yankee Stadium - The Yankees drop the final curtain on the House That Ruth Built; minor league games in Portland and New Hampshire (EL), and Lowell (NY-Penn).

Here is a link to our updated road trip schedule.

One thing we learned when attending a press conference by Montreal head coach Guy Carbonneau, he breaks it into two sessions - the first part is done in French for the French media, then he switches over to English for the Anglophones. Undoubtedly he answers the same questions twice in some situations.

So this morning when Lindy Ruff met the press following the morning skate, someone jokingly asked if he could please do the conference in French. He smiled, but then when the first real question was fired - “What happened to Drew Stafford the other night?”, Ruff replied, je ne sais pas! Typical Lindy!

But Stafford’s injury is no laughing matter, and with him being out for the next couple of games at least, look for Ales Kotalik to get a bigger role and more ice time. Ruff also plans to match up Michael Ryan and Daniel Paille on Gaustad’s line. “they’ve given us a lot of energy and a lot of shifts.”

Despite rampant speculation that Ruff might sit slumping forward Maxim Afinogenov for a game or two, there are no plans to do that, for now. “The one thing I am is patient, we’ve had meeting and talked to Max on ways he can improve. He’s got to make a bigger commitment in certain areas. I’ve asked for a bigger commitment, and I’ve seen some areas of improvement” said Ruff.

Regarding the Canadiens, Ruff says, ‘Yeah we’re getting a heavy dose. There really are no secrets between these two teams. Our job is to get traffic in front of the net and create scoring chances, as well as neutralizing their power play.”

There are still pairs available in the upper reaches of the 300s, and scattered singles elsewhere for this Gold priced game, and being a Friday night and a holiday weekend, expect those tickets to be gone by faceoff time, which is at 7:30pm. I’ve got the AV chair tonight and will have a post game report later on tonight.

As we are walking out of the arena tonight, dozens of fans are stopping our guest to congratulate him and wish him well. One asked for an autograph; another pleaded to have his photograph taken with him; later on at the Anchor Bar, two girls planted firm kisses and asked “where else but Buffalo would you get kissed by two girls?” 

So who is this guy getting the rock star treatment? His name is Steve Williamson. He is a sports road tripper from Orlando, Florida. And he is doing something that, to our knowledge, no one has successfully accomplished - attending a game of all 30 National Hockey League teams -  IN THIRTY DAYS! 

Much to the Sabres credit, when it comes to special visitors like this, the organization pulls out all stops in making a special occasion out of it. In this case, Marketing Director Rob Kopacz fixed Steve up with a first row club seat. He was then feted on the video board during one of the first period media timeouts. In addition Williamson was a guest on the MSG telecast during the second intermission with Robie and Kevin Sylvester. Earlier in the day, Channel 2 dropped by his hotel to do an interview; and of course Buffalo’s coolest and bestest alternative news weekly did a story on him as well. 

Tonight was Steve Williamson’s 27th stop on his amazing odyssey, and being the sports road trippers that we are, we were anxious to hook up with Steve to share our stories from the road and get his takes on his entire Buffalo experience. So what better a place than the historic Anchor Bar, where we covered the table with pitchers of Labatt’s Blue and a platter of the good stuff - half medium and half barbecued. Only when the food arrived did we learn that Steve is not a big wing enthusiast, likes the boneless tenders instead. But the beer? Oh yeah! 

As we talked, Steve admitted that this grueling schedule of travel and seeing games night after night is making all these experiences become a blur. Nonetheless, he had nothing but complimentary things to say about Buffalo, the Sabres, and HSBC Arena, first of all thanking the front office for all the special treatment. “Everyone here has been so nice since I arrived.” Steve got the pregame tour of the arena, and got to meet Managing Partner Larry Quinn before the game. Once he got the video board introduction early on, wearing his trademark “30 in 30″ Lightning jersey, it was instant recognition everywhere, with Sabres fans welcoming Steve to Buffalo and offering support and congratulations on the trip. One fan, an off duty Buffalo police sergeant, gave Steve his card and said “If you get in any trouble during your stay just give them this.”

Steve was very impressed with the arena. “I really like the atrium pavilion it is a signature part of the building.” He also made a note of the green floors on the 100 level with the white markings denoting various designed plays. Steve walked around all three levels of the building, snapping photos and taking notes of design elements which caught his eye. He also had nice words for the fans. “You don’t have to sell me on what great fans they are here in Buffalo. I have known that all along and it is such a great hockey town. I knew I’d be in for something special here.” Of course the place was rocking tonight, a great win for the home team and fans pouring out of the building on a happy note.  

One more thing Steve pointed out to us which really made us pay attention. “You guys have the cheapest concession prices in the NHL.” You mean among the cheapest right? “No… the cheapest, and it’s good stuff too.”After paying $13 for a beer at the ACC in Toronto the night before (and that’s in Canadian dollars, folks, which these days means what… about $22 U.S.?), it was nice to bring Steve back down to Earth.

By midnight or so they were shutting down the Anchor, Pete had to dash to make the last LRRT train back to South Campus, Steve had to catch some zzzzz’s before catching an early flight to Nashville, his 28th stop on Thanksgiving night, so we said our farewells and promised to hook up with Steve down in Orlando next March. That’s when the USRT heads to Florida for the NCAA basketball subregionals and some Grapefruit League baseball.

Steve Williamson maintains a web site and a blog titled 30 games in 30 nights. Drop him a line and say HI!

A few days ago after the Montreal game, Kevin at our sister site Bfloblog said it best…Nice Win - We Just Need Five More in a Row. Well tonight at HSBC Arena, the building was electric, and the Sabres felt like the team of old, again scoring three goals in the first period, then after surrendering two bam bam goals in the second (including a horrible giveaway by Henrik Tallinder to Daniel Alfredsson), Drew Stafford notched the team’s fourth goal on a nifty feed from Thomas Vanek.

Just like last Friday against Montreal, that was all the scoring as the team played a solid third period, including killing off a late penalty and then Jason Pominville almost scoring an empty netter. Final score 4-2 Buffalo against the nemesis Ottawa Senators, currently the hottest team in the NHL.

With the win, the Sabres have their first two game winning streak since late October, and look to make it three in a row when the Montreal Canadiens come to town once again this Friday.

Tonight the Sabres welcomed road trip enthusiast Steve Williamson to the arena, giving him his 30 seconds of fame on the video board. Williamson is attempting to visit all 30 NHL venues in the span of 30 days, and tonight was his 27th stop. Andrew will have more on this story.

Game night presentation alert — during one of the late media timeouts they did the “chicken dance” on the video board, and the cameras kept focusing on one hot dark haired woman who was just nailing it. My pressbox seatmate Matt Ondesko was all a ga-ga over this lady. Turns out (and we have it on good authority) that this dancer was Ryan Miller’s MOM, who apparently is one stunningly attractive woman (and a good chicken dancer to boot!).

Habs come to town on Friday… Andrew’s covering but it is my scheduled day off from work, so if the boss doesn’t call me in for OT I might head down to catch the morning skate.

Happy Thanksgiving to our readers and supporters, and to all our fellow writers and bloggers in the WNYMedia family!

New renderings released last week.

Update from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Today’s guest column in the Buffalo News pretty much nails my feelings on why I rarely go to football games at RWS anymore.

There is a culture of violence at Buffalo Bills games which, contrary to conventional wisdom, does not occur to any great extent at other NFL venues. It is all fueled by alcohol, drugs, binge drinking at tailgates, and a general mindset that misbehavior and outrageous conduct is acceptable and even cool.

There is one take where I beg to differ with the writer…

The Bills have made a huge investment in security and policing fan behavior, and their intolerance of it inside the stadium is commendable. The Bills have pleaded with fans to clean up their act.

Oh really? Dressing more guys in green jackets and waving batons has solved the problem??? Me thinks not. What the Bills have done is build nice dugout suites and club lounges, and erected an impenetrable wall to keep the Great Unwashed away from their premium customers. Everyone else is left to fend for themselves. What the team should be doing is developing more family friendly tailgate events, music, contests, etc in the lots to discourage the kind of conduct that is going on out there now. What the team should be doing is setting up sobriety checkpoints around the stadium perimeter. Anyone holding a ticket in one hand and swigging beer with the other doesn’t get in to the stadium. Period.

I applaud the Buffalo News for publishing names of those arrested for game day infractions. The media should do more. The Chris Hansen “To Catch A Predator” model, shaming the perps before the viewing public, might make belligerent fans think twice about their conduct. In today’s day and age of technology, establishing a text message mechanism to report misbehaving fans by seat location, and a rapid response by security, sounds like a no brainer.

My advice to families attending sporting events around these parts still goes - Sabres, Bisons, Bandits, UB football. But for now, definitely not the Bills.