Lindy Ruff’s quote above just about says it all doesn’t it.

If fans were expecting a continuation of the edge of your seat excitement spilling over from Wednesday night’s game, they would be disappointed. The Buffalo Sabres came out flat tonight against the Montreal Canadiens at HSBC Arena, and ended up taking it on the chin. Final score, Montreal 6, Buffalo 2.

Fans from Montreal Welland, Stevensville and Crystal Beach were in the building tonight, chanting “Go Habs Go” and singing the “Ole, Ole” song. Patrons were treated not only to pictures of soldiers in fatigues waving Sabres flags on top of tanks, but also a real live military guy in the house, getting his own standing O to the strains of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA”. Oil at $103 a barrel, gas heading to four bucks a gallon, the greenback collapsing against world currencies, America heading into recession. Who the f**k cares! Let’s all stand and cheer and sing and spooge to the drumbeat of war war war!

But back to the game…The Sabres were outshot 12-6 in the first period and fell behind 2-0 after one. Tomas Plekanec scored a nifty power play goal on a cross ice pass shot from a bad angle, then Mark Streit added a goal midway through the period.

Buffalo would come back in the second period, when Thomas Vanek scored his 27th goal on the power play. Montreal then padded their lead with two goals, another power play goal by Plekanec on a cross ice pass which looked almost identical to his earlier goal, and then he scored his third of the night on another power play, this time from just across the blue line.

Montreal made it 5-1 in the 3rd period when Andrei Kostitsyn blew in alone on Ryan Miller and put the puck up high. That got the Habs crowd hailing from spitting distance the other side of the Peace Bridge in a real throaty mood, singing “Hey Hey Goodbye” while earning derisive boos from the Sabres faithful. Tim Connolly scored his 7th of the season on the power play in the middle of the frame, and then Sergei Kostitsyn completed the ugly night with Montreal’s 6th tally late.

Coach Ruff spoke about the failure of special teams and all the Montreal power play goals. “We have to dig in. I don’t know if this set up is going to work. All the power play goals that have scored on us in the last few games… we’re not going to win games like that.”

It was anticipated that Ruff would keep his lineup intact from Wednesday despite the health of Drew Stafford and Maxim Afinogenov. Ruff replied “I felt we would put our best lineup out there. They were ready to play. It’s easy to look back and say ‘we shouldn’t have changed’ and if we lost the game we’d say ‘we should have changed the lineup.’” Talking to Stafford, he was told after the morning skate that he would be playing tonight.

The final game of the homestand comes this Sunday at 6PM, when the Detroit Red Wings, the team standing in the way of back to back Sabres Presidents Trophy titles (yes I am being a comedian… thud!), come to town. Dominik Hasek has been out injured but did play tonight in their 3-2 loss to San Jose, so we might just get our chance to boo him come Sunday. Dave in Rocha over at Bfloblog thinks our guys can beat the Red Wings. Check out his takes on tonight’s game.

Side notes –

-Take that Don Cherry! All Montreal scoring tonight courtesy of Euros.

-Where are you Andrew Peters! Lindy Ruff put Maxim Afinogenov on the 4th line with Patrick Kaleta and Adam Mair tonight. Let’s just say that’s a failed experiment. “I thought Max turned the puck over too many times” said Ruff. Nooooooooooooo!

-Did they really announce 18,690??? Those yawning gaps of empty blue seats in the upper corners of the 300s suggest otherwise. Memo to Sabres: Gold game prices are too expensive!

The new ballpark for the Washington Nationals is a month away from debuting, and of course we’re anxiously anticipating our trip to D.C. and the next official new frontier for the Ultimate Sports Road Trip.

Our travel dates are June 21 and 22, and we already bought our game tickets for the Saturday night game (a nice deal on eBay). So with those ducats enroute, I thought I’d go online to scope out our parking strategy and other activities to plan our visit to Nationals Park. Now I’m getting a bit concerned.

Parking at the new ballpark is going to be a real bitch, apparently. The two parking ramps connected to the ballpark have but 1200 spaces, and they are reserved for the highest of rollers. The Nats have secured another 4000 spaces nearby from private lots, and are making those available for season ticket holders only.

Now the District is chiming in with their own bans, according to this article in the Washington Post. They will be setting up parking meters all around the ballpark limiting parking to two hours, not enough time for the game patron.

The good Mayor’s advice? “Take the Metro”. Hey fine by us we love riding the subway and local rail lines to sporting events. (Got a dandy story about riding the MARTA in Atlanta from Turner Field to Atlanta/Hartsfield Airport… but I digress.) The nearest station is the Navy Yard Station about two blocks away. But then we read that it’s a rinky dink station. Throngs of fans will most likely overwhelm this facility.

Other ideas being put forth include free parking at the lots at RFK Stadium and shuttle service.

Saturday will be no problem for us as far as riding the Metro. We plan to come early and stay late and behave like drunken fools as we explore the ballpark, check out the nightlife after the game, and have ourselves a good time. As for Sunday? It’s a day game and then we have the 400+ mile drive back to Buffalo. We’d like to do a quick getaway… that doesn’t involve shuttles to RFK, long waits on subway platforms, or other exotic ideas. Just get us to our car and point the GPS towards home.

All this will just certainly add to the adventure. Stay tuned!

A track meet. Plenty of offense. Penalty shot. Lots of scoring. A few fights. And a big Buffalo win. What more could one ask for in an evening of hockey?

Tonight at HSBC Arena the Buffalo Sabres got their first ever home win over the Nashville Predators by a score of 8-4.Steve Bernier would get his first goal as a Sabre at the 4:33 mark, as he and Derek Roy broke in on a 2 on 1 break. Roy slid the puck across to Bernier, who had nothing but net. Bernier then added his second goal later in the period, a slap shot off the top of the face off circle, scored on a delayed penalty to Nashville.

Early in the second period Predators center Scott Nichol was awarded a penalty shot when Jaro Spacek threw his stick on an apparent breakaway. Nichol’s attempt was stopped by goalie Ryan Miller. Daniel Paille would then make the score 3-0 Buffalo, taking the puck off a giveaway in the corner and putting it past Nashville goaltender Chris Mason.

But Nashville would come back with two quick goals to narrow the lead to 3-2, Ryan Miller would leave the game after the first Nashville goal, suffering a bloody nose from a puck which struck him in the helmet, and was replaced by Jocelyn Thibault between the pipes.

Buffalo got a two goal cushion back quickly, on a nifty goal by Andrew Peters, of all people, Peter’s first goal of the season. Peters was fed a pass from behind the net by Patrick Kaleta and sent a blistering shot into the net. Lindy Ruff mentioned Peter’s goal as a turning point - “That was a big shift for us. A great goal for us. Those guys don’t get mentioned often but the grit they showed is important for our team and sometimes goes unnoticed.”

Peters was ecstatic about scoring his first goal of the season, but was deferential towards his new teammate Steve Bernier. Said Peters, “I can’t say enough about the guy. He came in here this morning and was an instant hit in the locker room. Great guy, great personality and I could tell he was a real team guy. I’m just happy that the monkey is off his back and he went out and had a great game, and hopefully we can keep that line going.” Then Peters joked, “I’m just sorry I had to score and rain on his parade a little bit.”

Nashville cut the lead to 4-3 at the 7:53 mark on Jason Arnott’s second of the game and his 24th of the season. Miller then returned to the net around the 12 minute mark.

Jason Pominville would add to the Sabres lead at the 14:50 mark, on a great feed pass from Ales Kotalik, who waited and waited until his trailing center could get into position to take the shot. That goal chased Mason from the Nashville net in favor of back up goalie Dan Ellis. Derek Roy then made it 6-3, and that is how the period ended. Buffalo scored 4 goals in the second frame on just 6 shots.

In the 3rd period Nashville scored an early power play goal by David Legwand to again cut their deficit to two goals. Midway through the period there were back to back fights – Andrew Peters and Darcy Hordichuk traded blows, with Peters ending up in the bottom of the pile, then right off the faceoff Jordin Tootoo gave an old fashioned beatdown to Buffalo’s Adam Mair.

Shortly thereafter Buffalo got their three goal cushion back, as Tim Connolly took the puck in himself on a 2 on 1, executing the perfect deek. Later on Ales Kotalik would make it 8-4 on his 19th of the season. That would be it for the scoring, but not before Bernier gave Tootoo a nice licking after Tootoo cheapshotted Derek Roy. Peters said “That showed a lot of character on his part.” Ruff also heaped a lot of praise on Bernier’s debut. “It was great to see. He set up a couple great opportunities. He missed a chance when he walked in all alone. But it’s going to get tough for him. He made it look easy tonight.”

While this game had a lot of side stories and elements to it - all four goalies facing action, at least three fights and other scrums, 12 goals, it was Bernier’s night. He earned the game’s first star and when he skated out to take his bow he received a thunderous ovation from the Buffalo faithful who might be starting a love affair with their newest Sabre. Bernier admitted that he didn’t get much sleep since arriving. “I didn’t sleep much last night. When I wake up this morning it was a long time to the seven o’clock start. All day long I was thinking about the game. Then I did not sleep this afternoon. It really went well and this is the way i wanted it to go.”

The Sabres homestand continues on Friday as Marion Hossa and the Montreal Canadiens come to town, and yes there are still tickets available for this gold priced game. Puck drops at 7:35PM.

Side notes -

-On the Sabres DL and listed as day to day is none other than Sabres PR Director Mike Gilbert, who was spotted in the clubhouse wearing a sling as he suffered a slight separated shoulder while playing hockey yesterday. The cast should come off in a couple days. “Will take a lot more than this to knock me out of the lineup” Gilbert quipped.

-About half of tonight’s high school hockey players watching Lindy’s postgame press conference from the back of the room were wearing mohawk hairstyles! I was chomping at the bit to hear what Rob Ray would have to say about all this, but Ray entered the room and was speechless, and that left me feeling empty.

-Soupy gets an assist tonight in the Sharks 4-2 win over Columbus. Wow, probably means his price just went up. Do I hear $50 million?

Everything is the same today at the Sabres morning skate. Or is it?

Gone is Brian Campbell, and all traces of his presence, most notably his locker room nameplate, have disappeared as well. And this means that a fresh opportunity has been created for Nathan Paetsch, who will play as the 6th defenseman and will be teamed up with Nolan Pratt.

So is Paetsch excited? “Well my first thoughts are the loss of Brian who was an excellent player and a good friend, and we all wish him well” Paetsch replied. As for playing with Pratt - “Oh definitely I am excited when we played together earlier this season I thought we had good solid chemistry. He’s a steady guy and likes to give me the puck and let me go.”

Most of the focus today was on the newest Sabre - Steve Bernier, who arrived last night from San Jose and was barely down the BNIA terminal concourse when he was greeted by fans and well wishers who were welcoming him to Buffalo.

The well spoken Bernier, who hails from Quebec City and talks with a distinct French-Canadian accent, was basking in the glow of all the media attention. “I’m already nervous” Bernier admitted after his first morning skate with his new teammates. “I feel good. Very excited.” Bernier was very complimentary towards the fans of Buffalo. “It’s way different here than in San Jose. I love it. It’s a real hockey city and I’m excited to be here.” Continuing, he said “I grew up in Quebec City and followed the Nordiques. Every day on the paper, stories on every player and about Montreal. It’s fun being a part of things like that.”

Bernier will get a chance to show his stuff right from the get go, as Coach Lindy Ruff will place him on the first line with Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek.

Ruff also said that injured forwards Maxim Afinogenov, Drew Stafford and Jochen Hecht are “getting close” to returning. Max and Drew both skated this morning, with Max flying up and down the ice with seeming ease. Drew wore the red “no contact” jersey.

Lastly, got a chance to talk with Pete Weber, Buffalo guy through and through and Voice of the Nashville Predators. When I get face time with Pete, I don’t waste it on hockey talk and instead got into some baseball stuff with him as we chatted.

I asked Pete how things were going with the new downtown baseball stadium for the AAA Nashville Sounds. “It’s not” replied Weber very forlornly, and explained how a corporate funding scheme fell through, and now a $1-million dollar renovation of decaying Greer Stadium will happen instead. “If AAA decided to pull the team out of there I wouldn’t be at all surprised.”

Weber shared this story with me - “Back in 1995 when the Bisons came to town early in the season, (Bison player) Billy Ripken was so disgusted with the filthy conditions in the visitors clubhouse that he taped a symbolic band aid above his locker stall. When the team returned in June, that band aid was still stuck in the spot he had left it in months earlier.”

Puck drops tonight at 7:05PM, with two teams clinging desperately to playoff hopes in their respective conferences. These two teams haven’t met in Buffalo since 2003, and Buffalo is winless at home all time against the Predators in their four meetings here.

I’ve got the AV pressbox chair for this game and will have a postgame report later on tonight.

First the Rangers take two points from the Sabres on Saturday, tonight it would be the Sabres handing the hated Flyers two points on a night with plenty of drama on and off the ice.

The season has been full of occasions where Buffalo has blown many one or two goal leads only to wind up on the short end of things when the buzzer sounded. Tonight they found a way to take things one step further and choke away a three goal lead to fall to the Flyers 4-3 in shootout.

And take a wild guess who provided the game winning goal in said shootout..strong hint-see the title of this post.

Buffalo got off on the right foot with a pair of goals coming just eleven seconds apart in the first period. First Derek Roy, then Clarke MacArthur in quick succession to send the arena into a frenzy. And when Jason Pominville made it 3-0 at the 14:16 mark of the 1st it appeared that the Sabres would be the next club to add to the Flyers losing streak. Maybe the Sabres were thinking this as well. They certainly started to play like this soon after.

Jeff Carter struck just moments later to get the Flyers on the board, and a second goal by Scott Hartnell later in the first stanza would close the gap further.Both the Sabres and Flyers failed to connect on multiple power plays during the second period, and for a time it seemed as if the 3-2 score may hold. Then came that darned over the glass delay of game penalty on Pominville. A penalty call that has bitten the Sabres many times over in the past and tonight would be no different as R. J. Umberger lit the lamp to tie the game at three.

The irony of it all, the man whose career has been defined by a hit from Brian Campbell ties a game that could, and probably is Soupy’s final game in a Sabres uni. But the irony would get even more sickening later on.

After a scoreless overtime the game made its way to a shootout. With the Flyers shooting second the score was even at one heading into the deciding round. Derek Roy barely got off a shot on Marty Biron, and coming into the game for the Flyers would be one Daniel Briere.One sprint up the ice followed by a fake of Ryan Miller and Briere’s shot landed safely in the net and the victory was complete. Umberger’s goal, Briere’s game winner, Biron outdueling Miller. It was tough to watch.

It was despondent to say the least aftward in the Sabres locker room. Lindy took far longer than normal to get to the podium and had a very quick conference. He didn’t say anything about overconfidence or anything of the type but did note that “we made some very casual plays” after going up 3-0 and basically “let them back in the game”.

Before leaving for the night the media got to talk with Campbell…..my personal thoughts after seeing him are that this guy is certain to be gone tomorrow. Yet seeing him answer questions I got the feeling that he really didn’t know particulars, i.e. where he’d be going to. When asked about Buffalo he talked by and large in past tense, yet wouldn’t rule anything out and certainly appeared as if he didn’t want to go anywhere. “I’ve grown up here and it’s been a lot of fun…..had a lot of ups and downs here and the fans have been great……I try not to think about it(his contract situation much….”.

Another one out the door, the dismantling of a once great team continues…

Useless stats:The Sabres blew a three goal lead and lost for the first time in nearly four years. The last time being a 6-5(OT) loss to the Maple Leafs on 3/15/04.

The win was the first via shootout in five tries for the Flyers. For the Sabres it would be their eighth shootout loss in ten attempts. All time the Sabres are 17-17 in the shootout format.

The game winning shootout goal by Briere was his first successful shootout attempt all season. It was his fifth attempt thus far.

The Sabres had a lot to overcome tonight.

It was bad enough that the team had to deal with a spate of injuries to mess up their lineup. But before the puck was even dropped to start the game, they would have to face more adversity.

Yes, in town to follow Doug Allen and the national anthems of our two countries, there he was – Ronan Tynan, the Irish tenor and the Sabres’ favorite jinx, to croon The Dead Fat Woman’s Song. The crowd loved it, from what I heard of the reaction. Since I was in the pressbox, I didn’t want to look like a total schmeck and sit during the song, which is what we always do in silent protest when we’re in the stands. So I took a quick walk and back once it was over, got settled, just shaking my head again. Why oh why does the Sabres management love this guy so much?

In the end, the Ronan Curse prevailed once again, as a late goal by the Rangers’ Sean Avery was enough to give New York a 4-3 win before 18,690 mostly disappointed fans at HSBC Arena.

The New York Rangers would take the early lead on their first shot on goal on a nifty tip by Jaromir Jagr. Buffalo would answer a couple minutes later when Ales Kotalik scored his 17th of the season off the point. The tie was broken shortly after when the Rangers Nigel Dawes hit a perfect one timer over the top of Ryan Miller’s shoulder.

As the period wound down Rangers bad boy Sean Avery and the Sabres Pat Kaleta dropped the gloves and went at it, with Avery landing the only meaningful punches. Both got five minutes for fighting. So what words did the two exchange before the fight? Kaleta replied “I probably can’t say it on camera. That’s just what my job is, to agitate a bit out there. We’re both doing our jobs and that’s what happens sometimes.”

Jason Pominville tied the game in the second period, and mid period Buffalo would take his first lead of the night when Kotalik got his 18th, a nifty over the shoulder shot which was placed perfectly. New York would tie it a minute later on a rebound by Brandon Dubinsky, after New York had numerous chances in the crease and Buffalo could not clear the puck.

Buffalo had many opportunities to takes the lead in the third, none more so than when forward Thomas Vanek broke in all alone on Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist but shot the puck right into the body. A short time later, memories of Kotalik’s two goal night were quickly erased when he sent a blind pass into the middle of the ice; the first shot was missed but the puck rolled over to Sean Avery who had nothing but net and the Rangers had themselves a lead.

Buffalo would pull the goaltender but didn’t develop much of a scoring threat in the closing minute. A 6 on 4 chance with less than 30 seconds to play resulted in no chances as the Rangers managed to successfully keep the puck moving along the boards and out of harms way.

Coach Lindy Ruff was visibly angry during his short postgame press conference. “The first of the play was going down the ice and not shooting the puck. We turned the puck over in the offensive zone when we could have had a great scoring chance. Second part was our goaltender could have frozen the puck. We didn’t have to throw it away against that line. And the third part was Al’s (Kotalik’s) turnover.” Ruff insisted that the Sabres were the better team, the more desperate team. “I like the way we played.” Ruff lamented Vanek’s breakaway opportunity in the third, throwing a small crumpled piece of paper on the lectern as he spoke.

With the loss, the Sabres cling to 8th seed in the East, thanks to losses today by the Islanders and the Flyers, who trail Buffalo by a point. The reeling Flyers come to town Monday to face the Sabres, who will play 4 home games in 7 nights this coming week.

Chris Drury watch:
Drury received loud and almost universal boos when his name was announced as part of the starting lineup. He was mostly a non factor in the game, earning one assist, and fans saved their scorn for Jaromir Jagr and Sean Avery.

Behind the scenes stuff that you’ll only read here
For each game the Sabres hosts a high school hockey team up in the pressbox. The youngsters view the action from the auxiliary box in the corner and get to watch Lindy’s conference from the back of the interview room.

As I walked into the room tonight, there was Rob Ray, microphone in hand ready to do his MSG intro, he is cracking jokes with the players, and at one point calls out one of the teammates for his shaggy mop of long hair. I’m sitting a few feet away, and Rayzor turns to me and says “what are you smirking about?”

I reply…”Just wondering if you will critique my haircut?” He then pays me the ultimate compliment - “You’ve got a fine haircut, very professional.” At that moment WGR Radio’s Nick Mendola walks in. If you had seen Nick this morning, he had the full beard going to match his scruffy hair, but by tonight he was shorn and shaven and sporting this choir boy look. “How ’bout Mendola?” I call out to Ray. He apparently approved, telling the young hockey players “See this guy? Now that’s what a good looking haircut should look like.”

My partner Pete just got his first haircut in nine months. He would have savored the moment.

The stakes are huge tonight.

The Buffalo Sabres and the New York Rangers are locked in a 3 way tie for the 6th through 8th seeds in the East, and the loser of tonight’s game could find themselves out of the playoff seedings after today’s play is concluded.

So the team went through its morning skate today, and all the players who were absent yesterday with various ailments skated, save one - Jochen Hecht. Coach Lindy Ruff said that Hecht is “doubtful”, nursing a leg injury, and also admitted that there is no timetable for his return. Add the fact that Michael Ryan will be out for several weeks with a groin injury, Tim Connolly is up for one game gone the next, and Drew Stafford is still on the sidelines, and the Sabres are dealing with a mess o’ injuries.

Coming to the rescue? Marc Andre Gragnani, the latest callup from the Rochester Americans, who will dress tonight and wear #17. Gragnani has played primarily as a defenseman, but will play the forward position in his NHL regular season debut.

Gragnani learned of his callup last night, when he was pulled out the lineup at the Amerks game by Coach Randy Cunneyworth, and at first he thought that he was in the doghouse for something. “I went into the game and they told me ‘you’re not playing’ and I wanted to know why. I said why. I felt bad obviously and then they said ‘you’re going up’” said Gragnani, who was very excited to hear that news. He admitted he was nervous about tonight, but was going to follow the example of some his ex-Amerk teammates, including Clarke MacArthur, Patrick Kaleta, and Nathan Paetsch who have made their own transition to the NHL as seamless as possible. Gragnani also admitted that it has been a difficult year playing in Rochester, with the team in last place in the league and all the off ice distraction about the franchise’s financial difficulties and a pending affiliation switch taking its toll on the team.

Gragnani was a third round selection in the 2005 NHL draft, and was signed to a three year entry level contract by the Sabres last spring. In his last two seasons in the juniors (P.E.I. Rockets in the QMJHL) he led all Q defensemen in scoring with 139 points (38 goals and 101 assists) in 127 games.

While Gragnani was the object of all the media attention in the Sabres clubhouse, some other guy across the hall was also getting some pub. Chris Drury will be in the building tonight, making his first return to Buffalo since bolting for the New York Rangers as a free agent last July 1.

With Drury’s return, the tight playoff standings, the injury news, not to mention the looming trade deadline this Tuesday, it should be high drama and excitement at the H tonight as the Sabres try to get their first points off of the Rangers this season. I’ve got the Artvoice chair and will be covering tonight. Pete is staying home to watch the big Memphis-Tennessee college hoops game. Call me crazy, but I think I’ve got the better end of the deal!

Hope all of you idiots who spent good money to watch the first fifty five minutes of play at the arena tonight got your money’s worth.

Yes I’m talking to you, the ones who left after Vaclav Prospal lit the lamp to give the Lightning a 3-1 lead with under seven minutes to go in regulation.

I’m guessing that right about now you’re feeling a bit silly. For if tonight’s game doesn’t prove the old adage that “It’s never over ’til it’s over” and that one should NEVER leave a game until the final buzzer sounds, then I guess beating traffic is simply more important to you than the pile of currency spent wasted on not witnessing the most important part of the game live. So be it.

And while I’m at it, let me bust on all of those fans out there that have been hammering on Thomas Vanek. Overpaid? Probably. His fault? not one bit. Lit the lamp ten times in the last seven games? Yep. Team’s leading goal scorer? You betcha.

Tonight the Sabres rallied to defeat the Lightning by virtue of Thomas Vanek’s natural hat trick with all goals coming in the game’s final 4:46(2:21 of 3rd and 2:25 of OT). But prior to that, the game was looking somewhat similar to Sunday’s match against the Penguins. Plenty of shots on goal and opportunities by the wayside resulting in a Sabres loss. So when Brad Richards gave the ‘Ning a 2-0 lead early in the third all signs appeared to be pointing to another tough loss. The Sabres were in the midst of a scoring slump that had seen them score just three goals in its last eleven periods and didn’t seem like things would change soon.

“It felt like we weren’t gonna score again” quipped Lindy Ruff afterward.

Derek Roy would notch his 22nd of the season two minutes later to cut the deficit in half, but even that didn’t expel the general feeling that this just wasn’t going to be the Sabres’ night. So for many out there, the goal by Prospal seemed to be the icing on the cake. No way these guys could rally from a two goal lead in such a short span of time, right??

In stepped Vanek, with help from Tim Connolly as he assisted on both the tying and winning goals by Vanek, with the tying goal being a sweet pass through the offensive zone catching Johan Holmqivst out of position. Said Vanek of Connolly: “He’s unbelievable…his expertise, his passing game and he showed it again tonight.”

Vanek would score the game winner on a power play in the with 2:35 left in the OT.The win keeps Buffalo in a three way tie for the final two spots (they’re at the bottom of the tiebreak thanks to less victories than Boston and Philadelphia) and head to Toronto for their next game tomorrow night against the Leaves.

Useless notes…..A hat trick in 4:46! Quick, but not a team record. That belongs to Don Luce who did the feat in 3:49 against Washington on December 22, 1974. Two hat tricks in eight days by the same person! Again, done quicker. Most recently two seasons ago when Derek Roy had a pair within six days (3/3 Toronto, 3/9 Tampa Bay).

One more useless note: This is the third season in a row that Buffalo has victimized Tampa Bay with a hat trick.

“Sabres and Rangers - The Battle Continues”

This week’s Puck Stop comes to you from New York City, where we covered last weekend’s Sabres/Rangers clash, and also take a look ahead to this Saturday’s rematch.

Check it out!

I think this story is worthy of a mention on this site, if for no other reason because the USRT’s engagement in the media has its humble origins with the Buffalo Gladiators semi pro football team (long story we’ll save that for another time).

The Gladiators have been one of the flagship franchises of the New York Amateur Football league for many seasons now, enjoying success both on and off the field. The competition has been based in Western and Central New York State, although the Gladiators have gone on to play in the regional Harvest Bowl tournament in the fall and had a couple runs at a sanctioned national title as well.

Well the NYAFL is no more. The league has agreed in principle to merge with the Garden State Football League, and the combined circuit will be called the Northeastern Football Alliance. Among the teams merging into the new league will be the powerful Brooklyn Mariners team, which should give the Gladiators a run for their money in 2008.

More on this story at Minor League Football News.

So why do I give this story special props? Only because the NYAFL Commissioner (and former Gladiators offensive lineman) is none other than my lil’ bro’ Taras Kulyk. Taras has been working the phones and involved in high level meetings across the state in recent weeks to bring all this to fruition.

Nice job, Mr. Commish!

We did a few updates on the Ultimate Sports Road Trip web site following our trip down to New York City and back this past weekend.

Click HERE for the updated American Hockey League page, recapping all the arenas we’ve been to in that circuit. Still remaining on our to do list? Only Norfolk, Chicago, Rockford, Iowa and Quad Cities.

Click HERE for the updated venue profile for Madison Square Garden. Last time we were there, our digital camera got damaged the day before and we didn’t get any shots of the place. So we corrected that this past weekend and have added an entire array of thumbnailed photos.

Lastly, we added the Niagara Ice Dogs to our OHL page. We visited there back in October and neglected to update the page until now. We are overdue for some road trip adventures through the OHL. Would be nice to see the US dollar get some octane again before we head back to Canada.

Enjoy the updates. Let us know what you think.

Our final stop on this Ultimate Sports Road Trip adventure is here in Bridgeport, home of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, and they are facing off against the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins.

We had gotten a lot of negative reviews about the Arena at Harbor Yard, both from road trip buds as well as fellow media folk who were here to cover the MAAC basketball tournament last year. So our expectations were really low walking into the place.

So weren’t we pleasantly surprised!

Here’s the skinny… the good and the bad: From an aesthetic standpoint, this is a very nice place to visit. The seating bowl is sparkling bright, with seating rails in one end zone, fresh looking carpeted concourses throughout the facility, nicely appointed concession stands, and a couple little nooks with seating areas and a play area for the youngsters. Such a contrast from Wilkes Barre, where the concourses looked so dated and drab.

Food items here cover all the typical ballpark dreck, although we did see a roast beef and pastrami stand where the stuff was hand carved, and the Mexican stand was very colorful and placed adjacent to a nice dining area.

Another interesting feature here is that there is no center ice four/eight sided scoreboard hanging from the ceiling. The main scoreboards stretch along the walls high above each sideline, with smaller dot matrix boards in each end zone. At first we thought the place looked naked but it works here just fine.

The arena is but six years old, and next door to a minor independent league ballpark which is also fairly new. Downtown Bridgeport isn’t exactly your cosmopolitan metropolis; from what we saw it looks like the sidewalks were rolled up for the evening.

Now the bad - unlike the fans in WBS which we saw last night, the fans here aren’t exactly large in number nor does the team enjoy much community support. They rank among the lower tier of AHL teams in attendance. Check out the photo above - our guess is a crowd of around 3000 in a 10,000 seat arena, and on a Saturday night no less!

Nonetheless, the tea and crumpets crowd that was in attendance on this night so a good one for the home team, as Bridgeport Sound put a three spot on the visiting Penguins after two periods, and cruised on to a 4-0 win.

And another Ultimate Sports Road Trip is in the books… we’re overnighting here in Connecticut and will be pointing the car back towards B-Lo in the morning.

Alrighty…another dreaded chain. But no trip to New York City is complete without a visit to Nathan’s for one of their great all beef hot dogs (or two or three) with a side of crinkle cuts and a cold lemonade.

The original Nathan’s is out on Coney Island, and each year on July 4th is the host venue for their nationally televised hot dog eating contest, beamed on ESPN, and yes, Takeru Kobayashi was finally dethroned in 2007. Jon Splett at our sister site here at WNY Media is the guy to talk to when it comes to binge eating competitions.

After doing a dreary and depressing post game interview stint in the Sabres locker room at the Garden, we joined up with our road trip buds Mike Casiano (aka The King) and Gary Herman to share some dogs at a Nathans in mid town Manhattan. A chance to catch up on sports roadtripping, and a chance to enjoy one of NYC’s great culinary fast food delights!

Here we are in the Big City! It’s a crisp and chilly but sunny day here in New York, and traffic from New Jersey and through the Holland Tunnel was surprisingly light and stress free. We got down to the Madison Square Garden neighborhood and the next challenge was scouting out parking.

In Manhattan, that is no easy task. Private lots are few and far between, the ones that are available are very pricey ($25+) and on street parking is metered every day but Sunday. But we checked around are eventually found a location on 26th and 8th, about 6 blocks from the arena for $15. We snapped a few pics, got our credentials, had a nice brunch, and here we are in the north pressbox, halfway up the seating bowl sitting right amidst the fans.

1st period:

0:10 - Game is underway, and 10 seconds in Sean Avery buries a rebound past Ryan Miller. Just like that it’s 1-0 New York and fans are on their feet clapping and chanting a cool “oh oh oh oh hey hey” song. Not the beginning we wanted.

4:31 - First whistle in the game and we already got our first “Potvin sucks” chant. Get over it Rangersfan! Martin Straka then gets an assist to make it 2-0 Rangers, his 700th career point.

9:05 - %$%#@!!!! I think we may be seeing Jocelyn Thibault before long….arrrgh.

12:25 %$%#@!!!! And here comes Thibault……useless USRT stat: The Sabres have been outscored 18-4 in the last four games that we’ve been in the press box for, including two yankings of Ryan Miller. Blame us….go right ahead we can take it.

:40 - Final minute of play….can’t come quickly enough here and shorthanded as well.
sog’s NY 11 - Buf - 7. I can see the Knicks here anytime if I wish to see my favorite team get hammered. Not good, not good….

2nd Period

15:00 - No Ranger goals, hey that progress. And now I’ve finally got internet back up and running, sorry folks. I’ve just been reminded by the fans that Dennis Potvin still sucks here. Losers….they’re just irked knowing that they’re already fourteen years into their nexty fifty four year Stanley Cup hex.

12:37 - Break in the action to gush about MSG. While it’s the fifth MSG that’s been in use, the venue still is one of the older venues in the NHL(oldest in use in the NBA). So if you like old school sports from the days of fuzzy color photos this is certainly a place to soak in.
Well, except if your team is getting hammered right about now……

Still, the banners, the visuals of Willis Reed hobbling onto the court here. Multiple Big East tournament/St. John’s games. Yes, and Messier holding aloft the Cup.

12:13 - %$%#@!!!!! Ya know, I’m getting really sick of this whoa-oh-oh-oh! song…..and then Pratt heads to the box. Uglier than….than….ummmm….just ugly.

5:48 - noticeable 1st period stat: Campbell(-4) if I could pick Darcy’s brain off to my right here…..6M…..5.5M…..5M….down…….hmmmm.

Press box note- the people who are in charge of passing out game notes generally fall into two categories. A- smoking hot interns for the traditional male(Buffalo falls under example A) and B. Old codger usher who’s been employed by the team since their inception. Unfortunately tonight falls into category B.

End of 2: Rangers 5, Buffalo 0 Sog’s Rangers 12(23) Buffalo 9(16). Still an ass kicking, and worse yet, !@#$ing Sean Avery is just one goal away from a hat trick. I’d rather lose 30-0 than see that happen.

3rd period

3:17 - sighting of an endangered species - Buffalus Sabris powerplayus.

10:55 - Another useles USRT stat: The home team/team we want to win in the three games we’ve witnessed on the current roadie have gone over 117 minutes without scoring a goal. For the good of the team, this may be the final Sabres road game that we sit in the press box for.

13:03 - Damn I’m good at reverse jinxing! The streak ends at 121 minutes and 7 seconds when Thomas Vanek lights the lamp. Right about now I’m looking for some “let’s send a message to those guys” type of scrums….

16:30 puck gets caught in netting just out of the reach of a fan. The peanut gallery boos him mercilessly until he reaches jusssst a big further to get it by the fingertips. Welcome to New York! The things you notice when a game is a snooze….

18:00 Guess we’re too far behind to pull the goalie..

19:00 - Final minute….couldn’t come soon enough.

20:00 - finito. 5-1 Rangers. Sog NY 9(32), Buf (30)…to the dressing rooms I go. 4 and a half hrs to face off in Bridgeport….

We left Horseheads mid afternoon for Wilkes Barre. Since we’re 21st century type of travelers we ditched the road atlas in favor of the GPS to be our guide.

This may have been a bad move, instead of taking 86 East to 81 South we took the advice of the satellite guidance and took some winding maze of back country two lane roads through Northeast Pennsylania. Not a harrowing ride, but a tedious one that we’ll never take again to be certain.

Once we snuck into….errr…..arrived at the parking lot at the arena it was immediately noticeable that the venue had a very flashy and modern look to it. The anticipation was building. Then we stepped into the concourse and seating bowl. This arena opened in 1999 and is one of the newer venues in the AHL. So our first take? Hmmmm…..maybe functional is the proper term. The interior is dominated with a bit too much of a grey, concrete look and not incredibly pleasing to the eye. It is an intimate seating venue with about 8000 seats on two levels and hugh pitched seats behind the nets really give the feel of being right on top of the action not seen in most newer venues. Also at 7689 fans per night the Pens are the second best draw in the AHL, and the routine packed houses bring plenty of much needed color and atmosphere to the Wachovia Center.

Couple of notes: when a goal is scored, the goalposts and crossbar of the net that was scored in lights up, and red lights go off all throughout the venue for a Penguins goal. Also a minor architectural gaffe was committed in the building of the venue. The designers omitted the press box and a suite behind one of the nets had to be retrofitted for the media.

Hey! I think that’s Don Luce below moi in the box….hmmmm.

Probably the most significant lack of something in this building is the lack of a “Wow Factor” signature entrance. Pretty much the doors swing open, you scan your ticket and you’re in the concourse. There is no main team store, but plenty of souvenir stands in the corridors. If you’re hungry, there are more than a few signature food items - one stand sells potato/cheese pierogies and potato pancakes, another cheesesteaks, a Mexican stands offers fajitas, churros and cowboy bean soup. An end zone stand called “The Lion’s Den” offers the local Stegmaier Beer in addition to other specialty brews.

But really it is the raucous and passionate fans that makes this place. They are so into their Penguins, hooting and hollering on every rush, egging on their favorites during a couple fights, and the energy in this building is something that is very palpable and not typical of many of its peer arenas in the AHL.

Tonight we were treated to a great goaltending matchup, with NHL’ers Marc Andre Fleury and Brian Boucher between the pipes for the Penguins and the Philadelphia Phantoms. This tight contest was scoreless until 13:24 of the second period, when the Phantoms took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Lars Jonsson. That score would hold up, and Boucher and the Phantoms got their 1-0 shutout. Ugh! So much for the once heralded USRT Karma!

So off we go to the Sheraton Newark Airport, 120 miles to the east, to catch some zzzzzzz’s… Tomorrow it’s into the Big Apple via the Lincoln Tunnel and Day 3 of more great road trip memories. Till then!