Things are really starting to take shape at Ralph Wilson Stadium as the Winter Classic is just four days away, and the excitement is being felt all around town.

This afternoon, Outdoor Rink Wizard Dan Craig and Senior Veep Don Renzulli gave their daily update, which was also broadcast via NHL.com to media across the continent. Things are running smoothly, the men reported, and they are within 6 hours of their timetable to have everything up and running and completed, time which they should easily make up.

Craig stated that 42 tractor trailer loads of equipment had been brought in thusfar, and there is now a half inch coating of ice, and the playing surface has been painted white. While all the boards and benches are now in place, Craig indicated that the painting of the lines and logos won;t take place until Sunday, and the glass should be installed by Sunday night. Another interesting thing - they might actually “make snow” on Monday night to cover over some of the tarped areas on the field and give the entire floor a clean look.

I asked where they plan to place the cameras and platforms, and they replied that the main camera towers will be placed at center ice, while broadcast platforms for NBC and CBC will be erected in the corners in the tunnel end zone. Just for the record, about 2000 “obstructed view” seats were not sold and will be tarped over, in the areas which would have been blocked by the platforms.

After the briefing, I took a walk around the entire seating bowl to take some more snaps and also to get a viewing perspective from several angles. Those obstructed view seats (rows 1-14) really aren’t all that bad once you get above row 4. From row 5 on up you have a view of just about the entire playing surface. Row 1, however, is brutal, as you can not see even a smidgen of ice. The only thing that fans will be able to see from that angle is waist high player movements.

Next, the end zone seats are really really far from the action. I would say that the best view of the action will be from the upper deck, those first few rows between the blue lines.

Lastly, I asked Mike Gilbert about parking and tailgating, and he informed me that the lots will open at 8 AM and will be priced the same as for Bills games, $25 per vehicle. He also told me that all this as well as do’s, don’t and allowed and prohibited items are posted on the Sabres web site. Call me a knucklehead, but I searched and could not locate this info.

By Sunday we should have some great shots of what the whole set up will look like in its final form. Till then!

Official Winter Classic merchandise is now on sale at a portable kiosk outside the stadium

A half inch of ice is now down and the playing surface is painted white

The NHL’s Dan Craig and Don Renzulli give their daily briefing to the media

Decorations and banners going up around the seating bowl

Both CBC and NBC will have on field platforms in the corners as part of their telecasts

Note to SabreNation: The 07-8 version of our guys are not Stanley Cup contenders. Tonight was just another example of this truth. A solid team, yep. A playoff team - at the moment. Elite NHL team….forgetaboutit.

The Sabs came into tonight’s game playing the best stretch of hockey of the season having won six in a row and thirteen of their last seventeen. With the run putting them into the postseason hunt, tonight’s game was expected to be a game to show exactly where they stood against the conference’s best team.

Pffffffft…..nope. Not there, that’s for certain as Buffalo drops a 5-3 decision to the Sens in front of another boisterous packed house downtown. The Sabres outshot the Sens 32-24 and got three markers from Jochen Hecht, Brian Campbell and Adam Mair. But a shaky outing from Ryan Miller doomed the Sabres, putting them into a hole three goals deep in the third period that they weren’t able to rally from.

The game was iced when Ottawa’s Dany Heatley added an empty netter in the game’s final tick of the clock.

The game’s opening period went by without much incident, save for Tim Connolly’s “welcome back” moment where he tagged Sens goaltender Martin Gerber with a slapshot off the head. Gerber was shaken but able to continue.

In period two things began to heat up with the two clubs trading goals early in the period, then the Sabres had a wild stretch for about a minute or so where Ottawa consistently turned the puck over in their own zone giving Buffalo multiple glorious opportunties without success. So of course shourtly thereafter Wade Redden finds an open net on the power play to give the Sens the lead.

Towards the end of the period the Sens began to take over the play and sure enough Mike Fisher would clean up a mess in front of the net with a rebound into it for a 3-1 lead with less than two to go in the period.

With the third period beginning it seemed that Buffalo scoring first would be imperative, didn’t happen as Alfredsson put one past Miller in the first minute of play. And while the Sabres would rally to within a goal, they weren’t able to convert a critical power play opportunity in the game’s final minutes and the Sens would hang on for the W.

Afterward the frustration seemed centered on the inability to play a complete game tonight. Quipped Pominville about the third period: “We got our legs moving, we got pucks deep, and when we do that we can play with anyone.” Tim Connolly added that “we match up well with them, they played well at times and we played well at times. We’ve just got to put it together for a full sixty minutes……”

Lindy seemed very matter of fact about things. When asked about the goaltending: “You’re going to need great goaltending to beat that team.” And may have hinted at the Christmas break being a factor for some, noting that “some players react differently” to the time off.

Sabres now face a thirteen point gap between them and the Sens and now head off to Jersey Friday night. The next Sabres home game….do I really need to discuss that one????

Today was the first day that the media could access Ralph Wilson Stadium to observe the progress on transforming a football stadium into a hockey venue.

The last scenes we saw were on television Sunday night, dramatic images of workers struggling to lay a tarp on the field in the teeth of horrific winds and precipitation which followed the Bills/Giants game that afternoon. But considering the crummy conditions that night and through Christmas, things are actually moving along quite well.

The National Hockey League has set up its operations in a trailer adjacent to the Bills Fieldhouse, and they are conducting daily briefings at 2PM in the press box, open to the media. This afternoon Dan Craig, NHL Facilities Operations Manager, and Don Renzulli, Senior VP for Events and Entertainment, made a presentation to outline the work that has been performed so far.

“We’ve compressed about 72 hours work into 48 hours” said Craig, who admitted that the weather was an impediment on Sunday night but the work that needed to get done got done. Craig bears a great deal of experience in managing and orchestrating an event of this magnitude, with the experience of running the outdoor games at Michigan State and at Edmonton.

On Monday they leveled off the field’s 9 inch crown with styrofoam, then a 3/4″ layer of plywood, and finally a layer of plastic, all to make the playing surface flat. This work took roughly 10 hours to complete. The next task involved laying the piping from the refrigeration units down the stadium tunnel to the playing surface, and then connecting them to ice mats which cover the plastic tarp.

As the two men were speaking, workers were pouring a warm sand mixture onto the surface, and this will form the base on which an ice sheet will be laid. In addition, work on erecting the dasher boards at the west end of the stadium had also begun.

I asked Craig what the ideal weather conditions are to do such work. “Yesterday and today have been absolutely perfect” Craig replied, referring to the sunny skies and temperatures in the mid 30s. “In fact, this would be the perfect condition to play the game in. Let’s drop the puck now. Let’s go.”

Craig, Renzulli and their crew are aided by the presence of a “weather station” located at the 50 yard line, a device which measures temperature, wind speed, dew points and can also give hour by hour weather predictions so that work can be adjusted accordingly. “Having this at our disposal is absolutely invaluable” said Renzulli.

As I walked around the stadium to take photos, I could see that there was plenty of work to be done in the public areas and the seating bowl as well. Three days after Sunday’s game, crews were just today beginning to clear debris from the stands and haul garbage from the concourses. (Memo to The Ralph operations staff from me, a professional exterminator - leaving giant bags of garbage and disposed excess food and popcorn is rodent heaven. You people must be idiots allowing to leave this sitting for days on end and I don’t care that it was a holiday.) Much of the stadium seats and aisles are not only covered with snow, but tamped down ice frozen over from Sunday’s storm, making the walk around the building treacherous and scary. They will need a massive amount of work and salt and chisels and some above freezing temps to make the building game ready.

The NHL will be holding daily briefings at 2PM, leading up to credential distribution on Sunday. Both teams will practice outdoors on Monday and by then the entire ice set up and press set up should be in full swing.

The center ice view from the pressbox

Managing Partner Larry Quinn checks out the progress along with Sabres PR Director Mike Gilbert and Jamie Horan from the NHL media department

The “weather station” positioned at the 50 yard line gives up to the minute climate information

Another view of the playing surface from just above the end zone tunnel

Some of the piping and refrigeration equipment

The Buffalo Sabres skated for almost 50 minutes this morning, in preparation for tonight’s game against the Ottawa Senators. About 600 fans were also in the stands during this Holiday vacation season to watch the practice.

Appearing on the ice today were both Drew Stafford and Tim Connolly, both who have been dealing with injury issues and lost ice time. Stafford said “I feel fine, good to go” while not wanting to discuss too much about the specifics of his upper body injury. He said that the few days off and a chance to rest up and enjoy the holidays did wonders to get him back to 100%.

As for Connolly, Coach Lindy Ruff first stated that “both are ready to go”, but later in his comments admitted that stamina and fatigue might be an issue for Connolly, and will most likely not give him the usual ice time.

One of the concerns brought up during Ruff’s comments was all of the hype surrounding the Winter Classic/Ice Bowl. One can already feel the excitement and talk building around the arena and locker room about the event, but before this game takes place, the Sabres have to play three games, two on the road after tonight. “We’ll spend some time between games going through some stuff, but we won’t be dealing with that game until we get to that game” Ruff replied.

Ruff was also asked of this current streak of games bears any similarity to last season’s opening run of ten straight wins. “When we get closer to ten then it will remind me of that” Ruff joked, prompting a chorus of laughs.

Other news and notes…

-Ryan Miller was showing off a specially commissioned goalie helmet which he will be wearing for the Winter Classic. It is primarily powder blue in color and looks awesome. I would have taken a snap but my frikkin’ camera was down the hall in my satchel in the interview room. Oops!

-Memo to media: DON’T be blocking Andrew Peter’s stall interviewing someone else or he’ll let you hear it. Peter’s neighbor is Ryan Miller, and he let the crowd around Miller have it as they were doing their interviews and blocking access to Peter’s stuff. Sorry Andrew, I like ya and all, but my violin is about the size of my thumb on the pity meter. Score your first NHL hat trick tonight, and YOU will have the crowd blocking Miller’s stall!

-Teppo Numminen on the ice today wearing the no contact jersey. Even though he is not ready to play, do ya think just having him around the clubhouse and the Sabres resurgence is mere coincidence? Don’t think so.

Faceoff tonight is 7:05PM and this game is VERY much a sellout with huge demand for tickets. Peter will have the AV chair and will be covering tonight, and he will have the post game wrap up.

Thanks to the folks at the Weather Channel and their ten day forecast we can now begin paying close attention to what conditions will be like on New Year’s Day.

For today’s look at the forecast for Orchard Park, NY click here.

So said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff tonight at HSBC Arena, as the Philadelphia Flyers came to town. The hype meter was off the wall, as former Sabres Martin Biron and Daniel Briere were making their first return to Buffalo since their departures last season.
Both received warm applause during the warmups and intros, but the adulation quickly turned to boos once the game started, especially when Briere touched the puck during play.

For the pregame, the game night staff pitched the “Say Hey Say Yeah” flick, and instead showed a pretty good video montage titled “The Rivalry Continues”, rolling out highlight reel moments between these two teams. While the memorable playoff goals and OT triumphs were fun to watch, goalies Garth Snow and Steve Shields going at it in the ’97 playoffs is the signature memory seared in my mind. Good stuff!

The game took on a physical tone early on, with both teams throwing punishing hits and checks, and while Philadelphia seemed to have the early edge in that department, Buffalo then took control of the play. At 11:41, Marty Biron made an incredible save on a rebound shot by Paul Gaustad, stopping the puck literally in midair on the goal line. Even Drew Stafford’s goal at 17:51 required a video review, as the puck crossed the goal line before Derek Roy tapped it with his stick while in the net. At the end of the first Buffalo led 1-0.

That lead disappeared in the second, as Buffalo came out looking sluggish, and bang bang goals by Jeff Carter and Jeffrey Lupul gave the Flyers a 2-1 led. Buffalo had two power plays in the second period but could not convert. Danny Briere was called for two minutes early on, drawing cheers from the crowd, and got even a louder cheer when Jaroslav Spacek laid Briere out on a Philly power play late in the 2nd.

Ales Kotalik’s one timer from above the left circle early in the third tied the score at two, reigniting the energy in the building. From there the game went end to end with entertaining edge of your seat action. At 5:27 Spacek slammed Scottie Upshall with the hit of the season, but was called for a lame interference penalty on the play. Spacek was a maniac on the ice tonight and deservedly was awarded the game’s first star. Said Ruff, “This might have been his best game ever.”

Buffalo took the lead for good at 17:09, when Jochen Hecht tipped in a rebound in the slot. Philadelphia then pulled their goalie with 90 seconds to go, but Buffalo stymied any offensive threat by the Flyers, and the game ended 3-2 Sabres.

A happy Lindy Ruff held a lengthy postgame conference, savoring the moment and calling many reporters by their first name as he responded. He spoke at length about winning the little battles, and how a hit here and a good pass there can change the tone of a game.

The Sabres won’t have long to savor this one - they head to Philly for the back end of the home and home tomorrow night at 7PM at the Wachovia Center. But as they board the team plane tonight, they do so as the East’s 6th seed. How sweet it is!

Just another day at the rink right?

Well not quite. The Philadelphia Flyers are in town for the first of a two game home and home set. At stake? Conference seeding as the two teams are locked in a three way tie for seventh spot in the Eastern Conference.

Derek Roy was out on the ice today participating in the morning skate, while Tim Connolly was nowhere to be found, apparently still nursing a bad case of the flu. Roy explained that the injury he sustained the other night was a freak sort of thing, where he just crashed into the boards unabated. As for today – “It felt good” he said. “I was shooting OK.” Still concerned with his full range of motion, Roy said “this is the type of injury that you just have to go and battle through, and I will.”

Coach Lindy Ruff stressed the importance of tonight’s game as it relates to the standings. “A win tonight puts us right in the playoff picture, and that is where we want to be” said Ruff. Commenting on the return of former Sabres Martin Biron and Daniel Briere, Ruff said “The best thing about both those guys is what great guys there were in our room. I don’t remember Marty ever having a bad day.”

Lindy was asked about how the team might respond to Philadelphia’s physical style of play, fearing a repeat of the two game debacle out in California. “It’s not about us responding, it’s about us initiating” Ruff replied and with that his morning comments were over.

Danny Briere was asked if he harbors any ill will towards the Sabres after not being asked to return until it was too late. “You know I’m over it. I’m happy with the Flyers and where I am. Besides teams have a right to walk away from their players just like we have a right to walk away from teams. I’m not here to bash the organization” said Briere. I asked Briere what he might expect in terms of crowd reaction. “I haven’t had much time ti think about it” he replied.

Flyers Goaltender Martin Biron was… well… Marty being Marty, chatting a mile a minute despite being on the clock for the 12:15 team bus back to the hotel. “Last time I appeared on this ice was when I fought Ray Emery” Biron said wistfully. So of course the question just had to be asked - “Does that mean you’ll be fighting Miller?”. “I don’t know” replied Biron with a wink and a nod, but then added “I don’t think that’s on the program tonight.”

After my own 10 days on the DL recovering from surgery, I will be in the AV chair covering tonight and will have a postgame report later on.

….the Sabres were better in a 3-1 win over the Blackhawks.

In recent years a visit to Buffalo by the Blackhawks would be an event that would draw little interest and plenty of empty seats. Yet thanks to the presence of Patrick Kane rolling into town tonight was going to be a bit different.

From the time the PA system pumped out the strands of Chicago’s “Saturday in the Park” to the nice applause to hearing Kane’s name in the starting lineups to the wonderful pregame ceremony involving Kane, Brian Campbell and their respective fathers to the great ovation they received. It was quite obvious that the fans of Buffalo, Sabres and bandwagon Blackhawk alike gave Kane a warm welcome home to Buffalo.

“OK kid, now just disappear into the background for the night, will ya.” I thought to myself as the puck dropped.

Except Kane wasn’t finished on center stage just yet, because just two and a half minutes in he took in a nice feed from Patrick Sharp and fired it past Ryan Miller from the slot for a 1-0 lead. About five minutes later in the period he would get on the stats sheet again with a penalty for hooking.

The goal by Kane would hold the lead for Chicago through the end of the period and into the next until Thomas Vanek scored his tenth goal of the season with the man advantage on a similar play from Derek Roy. The Sabres would then break the tie about halfway through on a great effort from Drew Stafford as he scored from the slot as his momentum was taking him away from the net.

With the Sabres holding onto a slim lead heading into the final stanza someone needed to step up and play the hero, and for tonight that person would be Ryan Miller. Miller stopped all eight Blackhawk shots with his best stop coming on a point blank stop of Tuomo Ruutu with about six minutes to go in the game. Jason Pominville would put the icing on this victory with an empty netter with about a minute and a half left to go. Ruff praised Miller afterward stating that ” we needed a save and he gave it to us” referring to the Ruutu save.

After the game Kane had a few quick comments on the night, he couldn’t stay long with the media since he had so much family to see after the game and so little time before having to head onto a plane for Chicago.

“It was one of the best nights of my life.” The night’s third star said “It was fun all the way from the pregame skate, one step at a time all the way through.” and said that “it was nice to get the goal(Kane hadn’t scored in thirteen games)” and he got a kick out of the fact that he was actually cheered for getting the penalty in the first period.

Coach Ruff had his quips on the whole thing himself….”his dad and grandpa hadn’t gotten to their seat….so I heard” referring to the goal he scored. “I’m happy for him, it’s awesome that he’s from Buffalo and he’s the first pick….I just wish he’d scored another night”.

Maybe lost amidst all of the Kane hype is that the Sabres are on a bit of a roll. Since Andrew and I left the debacle at Staples Center nine days ago Buffalo has won four of their last five(including) and has looked darn good doing it with even their one loss to the Bruins being a respectable outing. The team’s resurgence has brought them to within one point of eighth seeded Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference, how ’bout that!

The Sabres get a few days off before heading out to Long Island on Wednesday followed by a Friday/Saturday home and home with Philadelphia. Have to wonder what reaction the home fans will give ex Sabres Danny Briere and Martin Biron in their first game in Buffalo since leaving the Sabres.

The Wheels Come Off in SoCal.

Have a looksee!

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

On Monday night the Sabres peppered plenty of shots on net to little avail, they did so again tonight with better results as the guys in blue and gold again pelted the net with over forty shots and this time got out of HSBC Arena with a 5-3 win over the Islanders and sending them to their sixth loss in seven games.

Five different players lit the lamp for Buffalo(Drew Stafford and thousands of others may tell you six) and the first two were scored by Sabres who notched their first of the season. Nolan Pratt scored the only goal of the first on a flutterer from the blueline. that Rick Dipietro may not have seen. This would be followed by Toni Lydman’s only goal of the season, a sort of redemption for his two afwul giveaways in the previous game that played a huge role in the loss to the Bruins.

Ales Kotalik would quickly add another about a minute later off a pass from Pominville that came from a defensive zone giveaway by New York.

The teams then traded five on three power play goals and Richard Park closed out the second period scoring at 4-2. The goal seemed to turn the momentum in favor of the Isles, and entering the third it continued when Mike(I’ve played for every pro hockey team besides Buffalo) Sillinger scored early in the third very shortly after a brutally ugly giveaway by Ryan Miller.

The flow of the game was definitely in the Isles corner at this point….then Jochen Hecht came streaking down the ice a few minutes later, swerving past two Isles on the right and flipping a puck at the net and into it for a 5-3 lead, and when Drew Stafford appeard to add to that lead seconds later the rhythm and flow of the game had definitely changed. Stafford’s goal was disallowed thanks to it being kicked in the net(though this person swears it caught the stick on the way in.) but by this point the Sabres had the cushion and the control of the game that they needed and would hang on for the win.

After the game Lydman was a bit more jovial in his deadpanning, self-depricating way “I kept my goal scoring streak alive of scoring a goal in every season…..I just closed my eyes and shot it….I’m always surprised when it goes in.”

Coach Ruff was happy with the penalty kill in tonight’s game saying that “they’ve really gotten back in their groove” and cited the continuation of good play heading into tonight from the last couple of games. He also praised Miller’s play despite the near disasterous gaffe early in the third and specifically mentioned a great sprawling save made on a critical third period power play.

The win brings the Sabres to 14-14-1, 12th in the East.

Useless stat of the night: The Sabres are the only NHL club remaining not to have participated in a shootout this season.

Up next, a quick roadie to Washington on Friday then a return home the following to take on the Chicago Blackhawks and Patrick Kane.

For the second time in three games the Sabres are shown up at the hands of a no name goaltender. But not without the help of Toni Lydman and co…..On Thursday it was the Kings Johnathan Quick leading the way an 8-2 drubbing of the Sabres. Tonight, it was recent addition Alex Auld stopping fourty four shots in helping the Bruins to a 4-1 win over the Sabres.

The Sabres helped set the tone for this one thanks to two horrible first period giveaways in the defensive zone by Lydman that directly led to Bruin goals, and despite outshooting Boston 12-6 the Sabres found themselves at the short end of a 3-1 score. Jaro Spacek grabbed the lone Sabre goal on the power play and Savard, Axelsson, and Schaefer had the Boston tallies for the period.

The Sabre onslaught of Auld continued, and he stood tall as he stopped all twenty second period shots to maintain the two goal edge heading into the third. Glen Metropolit would get the final marker at 10:08 of the third and the Bruins would close out the win despite being outshot 45-21 for the game.

The mood in the locker room afterward was somewhat upbeat despite the loss, players found themselves to be a bit surprised at the effort they were able to put out despite the long journey back from San Jose. Jason Pominvillle quipped that ” The energy level was there…..I thought overall we skated well…..but again we didn’t score the first goal”

Coach Ruff was upset more with the mental mistakes than the fact that they lost despite outshooting the Bruins by more than two to one:”The last thing we talked about this morning was to we were going to have to be smart and not make mistakes and not give the puck away”.

When asked about the multitude of shots he replied simply that “We still gotta finish”.

After the fourth goal, Ryan Miller was attended to by the trainer, he was unavailable for comment after the game but Ruff said that he tweaked his ankle and that he would be fine.With the loss the Sabres fall to 13-14-1 on the season.

Useless notes:
Tonight’s game was not a sellout, official count was about 390 short of a full house.

With the 4-1 win the Bruins move back ahead of the Sabres in the all time goal count in the series. Boston has 773 and Buffalo 771.

I woke up this morning here in sunny rainy San Diego asking myself - what the hell did I just see out of my Buffalo Sabres over the past 48 hours?

It Wednesday’s game at Anaheim was disappointing, last night’s rout at the Staples Center to the hapless Los Angeles Kings and their newly minted ECHL goalie Johnathan Quick was downright ugly. It was 4-0 after one, Thibault was pulled and Ryan Miller was back in the net, that made no difference as L.A. kept piling on the goals - shorthanded, even strength and on the power play. It was 7-0 before Drew Stafford finally tapped one in to break up the shutout, giving the healthy Buffalo contingent in the stands something to cheer about.

After the game you could hear a pin drop in the Buffalo dressing room as players silently shuffled about and grabbed some pizza and a beverage off a table in the center of the room. I talked with Stafford and he didn’t have any firm answers. “All I know is that San Jose is a very good team right now and we have to be ready to play them and we will be.” I sort of challenged him a bit, saying that as a reporter hearing these tired cliches like “we didn’t skate” gets old after a while, and asked him at what point does a team rally around themselves, outside the eye of the press, the fans, and outsiders. “I know what you mean” he replied, “and all I can say is that there are ebbs and flows to every season and to every game, and right now we have to recapture the success we’ve enjoyed the past couple weeks.”

While Coach Lindy Ruff looked disconsolate during his post game comments, he at least attempted to put the finger on what had gone wrong in these past two games. Continuing on Stafford’s take, he said “Look at Carolina. We killed them last week in our building, then they turn around and go and beat the Rangers. These things happen all the time.”

I asked Ruff if a shakeup might be in the offing, and perhaps another call up for Clarke MacArthur, who gave the team a lift after his last callup. “Well he won’t be joining us tomorrow” Ruff said, then added, “But he has given this team a spark in the past and we could use that.”

A few miscellaneous musings on LA, Anaheim and hockey in SoCal…

-Los Angeles is the better of the two venues all around, in my opinion. More tradition, better arena, nicer facilities. Kevin Sylvester was doing the intermission hosting on the MSG telecast, and in Anaheim they stuck him in some broom closet. Ditto the press dining room which was tiny, while the “Chick Hearn Media Room” at Staples was expansive and nicely decorated. The visitors locker room at Staples had a separate shower/changing area, while at the Honda center, I could practically feel the mist off the water spray as guys were showering and Pete and I were trying to do interviews.

-”I Love L.A. - We LOVE it!”… they play this song every time the Kings score and it is so appropriate. For me this song will always remind me of the first Naked Gun movie, Leslie Nielsen the home plate umpire at a California Angels game. I can watch that film a hundred times and never get tired of it!

-The Kings do a nice job with their event presentation. A real organ, which is nice. Audio clips are nostalgic 70s and 80s stuff, and they don’t go over the top with game night hosts and t-shirt tosses and all that nonsense. Since our last visit in 2000, they did drop the South Park Eric Cartman clip, the one where Cartman was wearing the home jersey and chanting “Go Kings Go!”
By contrast, the Clippers on Sunday had some D.J. who looked like he was on a work release program from some supermax penitentiary, spinning vinyl of the most ghastly gangsta rap.

-Shout out to all who made this USRT adventure another memorable one - Running into Pete’s coworker Al right after hopping off of the plane made for a good start to the week, Katy and Bill French for putting us up at their home in San Diego for 5 of our 7 nights, the Tsunekawa and DiMento families for the wonderful outing, Ray Orepeza for the USC parking pass (thank you thank you thank you for that!) and for hosting us for the nicest breakfast on the tour, and Sabres media relations honcho Chris Bandura who is truly the bestest PR dude in all of hockey.

Our return flight to Buffalo is one for this afternoon, and we’re hoping another USRT to California will be in the offing sometime in the near future… as long as it is NOT for the relocated Buffalo Bills!

6:48PM - Check out the view above from our perch at Staples Center. When you have a lower level, a club level, THREE levels of suites then the upper level, that translates into total nosebleeds for the pressbox.

The Sabres will be looking to rebound from an ugly defeat at Anaheim last night. As for the Kings, they are also coming off an identical 4-1 defeat at Phoenix.

The last time these two teams played was in Buffalo on January 14, 2006, and the Sabres demolished Los Angeles 10-1 on that night. The Sabres last played at the Staples Center on October 23, 2003 and Buffalo also won that game, by a 5-1 score.Jocelyn Thibault will be in the nets for the Sabres tonight. -ak

7:19 As usual, heavy Sabrefan presence around the visitors entrance….-pjf

7:22 Looking over at the championship banners above the seating bowl I just can’t help but think “night and day”. Nine Laker Championship banners in sets of three hung alongside….an LA Sparks WNBA title and LA Avengers AFL title banner. Could there possibly be two more irrelevant pieces of cloth hanging next to the Laker banners??? As an aside, the Kings do have one division and one conference championship banner up there with retired numbers for Marcel Dionne, Dave Taylor, Rogie Vachon, Luc Robataille and that #99 guy…can’t make out his name. - pjf

7:27 Peters and Tallinder are scratched….. - pjf

7:35 Johnathan Quick making his first NHL start this season in net for the Kings. - pjf

7:42 Thibault with a save on a breakaway….Sabres first PP opportunity gets some chances but no reward. - pjf

7:45 @#$!!!….bright side, the goal horn isn’t as annoying as last nights. First noticeable “Let’s Go Sabres chant heard soon afterward. -pjf

7:51 @#$!!!….softie….was just thinking how this is the game the Sabres have to get on this road trip. Yikes - pjf

7:57 TV timeout, useless note. I’m really not liking the chants these fans have out here. “Let’s Go Ki-ings” and “Let’s Go Du-ucks” just don’t roll off the tongue that well. I suggest they go the Canadian route of “Go (team) Go”. Spacek in the box, here at Staples they pronounce correctly.- pjf

8:01 Derek was “Roybed” on the break….yea, I’m using the French pronounciation for this comment only. - pjf

8:12 @#$!!!….It’s getting REALLY close to bedtime, on the east coast….for Sabrefan here in the building…whereever.- pjf

8:15PM - Jaroslav Modry makes it 4-0 Kings and the song “I Love LA” rains down on the crowd. Will we see Miller between the pipes? Anyone staying up in the east? Ugh! -ak

8:36 PM - Miller in net….doesn’t mean crap. It’s bedtime folks, not like I’ll stop blogging though. pjf

8:40 Pete and I took a ride down to the 100 concourse and said hi to our road trip bud Andy DiMento and his older brother Nick… both in the building tonight cheering on their beloved Kings, and both with big smiles on their faces. - ak

8:42 1…2…3…4….5…6….oh wait, nevermind….-pjf

8:48 another note about the intermission, we walked around the lower concourse and saw plenty of diversity in the Sabres jerseys, must’ve been the rich folk this time around compared to last night in Anaheim. - pjf

8:53 TOUCHDOWN!!!!!:(…great, three goal by folks who haven’t scored a goal all year and we’re facing a goalie who hasn’t played in the NHL all season. The Elmira Jackals could punk the Sabres tonight. BTW…..Sabres have been outscored 11-0 since early 1st period in Anaheim. - pjf

8:57 Make that 11-1, forgive me if I’m not thrilled. Amazingly, Sabrefan still throwing out the “Let’s go Sabres” chants in the building…would’ve thought they’d bail by now. - pjf

9:08 7-1 end 2, outshot 26-11, outscored 11-2 in California. Anyone in favor of keeping the current scheduling format? Anyone? Do I hear a second??? - pjf

9:27 3rd period underway, gee we outscored them 2-0 in the last seven minutes or so….-pjf

9:30 Did I read this right? Todd Collins throws two TD for the ‘Skins as they beat the Bears tonight? I thought Collins was selling insurance somewhere in the Yukon…. - pjf

9:41 Ok, we have tonight’s mispronunciation of a Sabre player’s name. Meet Nathan Paetsch(pronounced Pash) guilty of a delay of game penalty. I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking that delaying the end of this game is the last thing he wants to do right now. - pjf

9:44 They play “I Love LA” after each goal and I’m tellin’ ya…I hate LA right about now. I wish to have the referees swallow their whistles from here on out. Let’s get outta here before someone suffers a needless injury. -pjf

9:53 2:23 remains. I heard some Kings fans start a “Buffalo sucks” chant. Anyone disagree??? - Tick…Tock - pjf

9:59 Game over….8-2 loss. If you’re still awake, you’re certainly a diehard and someone whose sanity I’d have to question….adios!!!!!!