Glasscast #5: Quick Summer Recap.

Oh hi, I'm back again! Here's my most recent podcast talking a little about the changes that took place this summer with the Sabres.

http://kiwi6.com/file/937il2ede8

The Evolution of Thomas Vanek.

Some of you may already know this but I now write for BuffaloWins.com and I just published my first post there. Here's a link if you would like to read it.

The Evolution of Thomas Vanek

Winnipeg gets their team back.

It was officially announced today that the Atlanta Thrashers were moving to Winnipeg to give them back another NHL team for a second shot. This also made the count of Canadian teams go up to seven. It's a great day for Winnipeggers but an extremely sad one for the Thrashers fans who made an effort to try and save their beloved team down south. It's really a shame that the NHL wasn't able to do more for them. Personally, I have family members who live down in Georgia and while they were Sabres fans, they were also Thrashers fans. My uncle and I especially spoke about what was going on with the Thrashers and having an NHL team in town meant he could see the Sabres twice a year. Now that is no longer the case.

It's amazing how these events unfolded so quickly. Only about two weeks ago was it mentioned that Atlanta could possibly move up to Winnipeg. Phoenix had been in a ton of danger for maybe three years prior to that and when they were told they would stay in Phoenix for another year, the NHL looked elsewhere. I had a feeling in my gut that the Thrashers or Panthers should be moved over the Coyotes to Winnipeg, mainly because I thought moving them back to where they have previously been was just stupid. I'm sure it would have been an entirely awesome experience for Shane Doan though. Regardless, this deal going down in only about two weeks was really crazy and you have to wonder how Gary Bettman feels about all of this. I'm sure Winnipeggers don't care in the slightest, they're just glad that they have a team back.

The thing that confuses me the most is this unnamed Winnipeg team playing in the Southeast division for next season only so that they can get used to the change. Considering that they are more North than the Wild and they're playing for the East is strange to me. I'm sort of looking forward to seeing them twice next year but I just wonder how much those ticket prices are going to be. Also, which team from the West will make a move to the East? Columbus, Nashville, and Detroit are up for talks. I would personally love to see Nashville in the East to create a bit more competition. I don't like Detroit but Columbus' time zone is Eastern. It would be easier to add that onto the Eastern Conference. I guess that will be all decided within the next coming season.

Congratulations again on this, Winnipeg fans. Also, congratulations to Canada on their seventh team. You finally got it.

National teams that struggle - they can only blame themselves.

With the recent departure of Team Austria in the A-Division of the World Championships, it got me thinking about an article that I had read which was posted on the IIHF website prior to them being ousted. It was a little snippet into the life of head coach of the national team, Bill Gilligan, which had the wheels in my head going.

Within some European countries who do not develop many NHL players (like Austria and Slovenia for examples), they do not have many rinks or hockey programs because hockey is not the number one sport of even close to that. If you look at who has come out of Austria such as Vanek, Grabner, and Nodl – all three of them came over to North America at a young age to reach their dream of making the NHL. Do you think at this day and age; the young kids in Austria with a lack of guidance and proper hockey experience will get them to the NHL by staying in their country? Probably not.

Vanek came here when he was 14 to play in the ECHL and then played for the Gophers. Grabner came and played for the Spokane Chiefs in the WHL and was quite the star there. Then Nodl pretty much took the same route Vanek did and played for the same team he had in the ECHL. I did some research to see if Anze Kopitar had developed within Slovenia but then learned that at either 16 or 17, he left to play in Sweden. He had been told he would not have a chance in the NHL unless he ‘left the country’.

There’s probably major concern for this; seeing as if Austria, Slovenia, and some other countries could perhaps get more hockey schools, they would develop a lot more players within the country. The kids are becoming more interested in the sport thanks to the guys mentioned above but they’re only being motivated to leave the country when they get to be older. I would personally love to see Austria get plenty of rinks and schools to help kids there. I think they could be a hockey powerhouse if they tried.

Vanek actually made comments on the current situation with how the national team is run in Austria:

Now let’s talk about the Austrian squad. I’ve read Matthias Trattnig’s interview with Laola1 today and have to completely agree with his criticism. I am and always have been proud to play for Austria, the state of things in the national hockey federation just makes it hard to do so. You feel like at a summer hockey-camp when you join the national squad not like in a professional team. While it’s an important factor it’s not only to do with getting food and water but with other basics like wearing the same uniform already in practice. Other “small” hockey-countries like Italy and Norway warm up in the same tee-shirts. We do the warm-up completely mixed up. Matthias is wearing a Red Bull-shirt, Bernd Brückler a Russian shirt from his club and I warm up in a Buffalo-shirt.

Of course, that’s not all. What’s really bad is the fact that there’s just not enough staff. We have just on physical therapist and one equipment manager – by far not enough for a national squad, especially at times like a world championship where you play every other day. 15 or more guys would need a massage after a game, but there’s only time for like 3 or 4 to get one. The equipment manager is also overstrained with so much work in so little time.

The players are supposed to be professionals. True, but the same should be said about Hockey Austria. We want to come and play well, but, as I said above, the officials don’t always make it easy for us.

It’s hard to say for us why that is so. We as players don’t have any insight into the finances of the hockey federation. We have no idea if all the money is getting to where it should really end up. But I think it’s alarming that similar hockey nations like Italy and Norway can do so much better than we. We’ve talked to Hockey Austria manager Giuseppe Mion and president Dieter Kalt sen. last year but nothing much has changed.

It’s interesting to see his thoughts on everything and how truly upset he seems to be over how unprofessional the national team is. It makes me wonder if he’s going to try and make a difference after his career is over.

If you’d like to read the article I mentioned earlier, check it out here if you’re interested: Have Puck, Will Travel.

Ho hum.

What went wrong in this game?

To be honest, I have no idea. You can point the finger at a lot of the players on the Sabres squad and claim that they hadn’t stepped up in this game. You can look at the overall series and pick and choose at individual players; dissecting their stats. For instance, before Brad Boyes just scored in this game as I’m typing, he did not have any points at all in this series. In fact, he was the only player that played in every game (besides Miller) that did not have a point in this series. The acquisition was huge because we as Sabres fans did not expect anything like this so soon within the Pegula Era. He immediately had an impact in the New York Rangers game after the trade deadline and scored a huge goal. Throughout the rest of the regular season for the Sabres he would score a total of 14 points in 21 games. He has one more year with the Sabres so I’m hoping he shows up moreso during the regular season but we could have used his help during this entire series.

You can turn to look at the defensive play…Steve Montador, who was a +16 during the regular season, was a -1 during this series and was scratched in game seven. Chris Butler looked lost most nights and had ten minutes in penalties. If we compare Game 5 to Game 6 and also to Game 7, the defense was entirely non-existent on the ice. There was a reason Ryan had two shutouts during this season. The defense and Ryan himself had been spectacular. Injuries affected them, sure, but the defensive breakdowns were inexcusable. It’s something that will have to be looked at in the offseason.

Top six not showing up at crucial points, especially tonight’s game. If you read numerous quotes, the Sabres claimed they were ready for this game. They didn’t show up until the third period. The Flyers poured on the offensive power like they know best and proved why they are the better team. Maybe not the most respectful team out of the two, but the better one, and unfortunately that’s what counts in the playoffs. The Sabres just couldn’t match up to the adversity in the most important game when they needed it the most.

The thing that will be stuck in my head this summer is Game 6, at home. Crucial point where you could’ve wrapped things up. The Sabres were up 3-1 and then the Flyers ended up coming back from that deficit and won in overtime. I’ll be honest and say that after that loss, I lost a little faith in the team if only because they would come back to a loud building – I was right. Maybe it was my lack of faith that caused me to lose, or perhaps it wasn’t. We won’t know what the Sabres could have done to the Caps if they have moved on in this series. Now we’re left to wonder what could have been for another season. Locker clean out will come and go, then the long offseason. I think it’s going to be an exciting one, Sabres fans. Terry’s first as the owner and we’ll see what he can do. Let’s hope it instills some newfound hope into this organization that goes on for the entire season.

Let’s go, Buffalo.

Two Headed Monster: Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider.

The goaltending duo in Vancouver was awarded with the Williams M. Jennings Trophy to have the fewest goals scored against between the both of them. The Canucks also won the President's Trophy this year and I don't think it was any accident. The team has played just as such - a team. There have been contributions from every line, the defense has been figuring into the scoring and even though there were plenty of injuries to have happened during the season, the team played well. It helps that both Schneider and Luongo had nearly an even number of games to play so that not one goaltender was hit by fatigue. It makes you wonder if this is the key to success for a hockey team.

Now not every goaltending duo is on it's game like these two are. Not every year are you going to find a lot of teams that can play both goalies every night and have much success. The thing is, many backups tend to play better as they play more often. Let's use Patrick Lalime as the case in point. When he went down to condition in Portland last season, he came back up and won a stellar game versus Chicago. He went on to win a few more last season. When Lindy played him more frequently, he became better as time went on. Only a few goaltenders are still excellent when they sit for a long time. Nearly every other game, Schneider and Luongo switched roles to lead the team to an impressive 54-19-9 record. I really think that Canucks have a great chance to take it all this year, and I would see the even time between the two goalies to be a huge factor in that. When they're both on their game, they are on. The only case where I would hope they're not is if the Sabres make it to the Stanley Cup Finals along with the Canucks - then I hope both goaltenders are fatigued.

The hunt starts tonight as the Canucks take on the Blackhawks with a 10 PM ET puckdrop. I'm hoping the result this year is different from the past two seasons. Go Canucks, go!

Columbus Shenanigans.

It's nice to have slept in my own bed last night but this weekend seemed unreal. A huge win by the Sabres on Friday along with clinching a playoff spot made the trip to Columbus that much more exciting since we didn't have to be nervous about maybe not making the playoffs. Tamara and I left early Saturday morning for Ohio and arrived in the early afternoon. I have never seen so many things on the highway closed for renovations. At least it wasn't like when Denny's was closed when we were heading for Ottawa last season...

We arrived at Nationwide Arena pretty early and could already see about 40+ Sabres fans across the street at a local restaurant. There were jeers at Columbus fans of course, and one fan replied back that we could 'go back to the empty arena'. I replied to him that he should come up for a game and then see how empty it is.

The Rivet jerseys were worn for this game and we received several snide remarks from Sabres fans. Tamara and I never had this problem at home but considering we seemed to be the only Sabres fans in attendance who were wearing any sort of Rivet jersey, we were being heckled. It's about the logo on the front, not the name on the back. Of course, after his little scuffle with Tyler Ennis we took the jerseys off. I had my Vanek shirt underneath, it was all good.

Now the Columbus fans...I admire their dedication but yelling at Sabres fans that we're going to get out of the first round and saying 'let's go, Flyers!' is...well. I guess since they had nothing else going for them, they had to say that. There was an old lady one row in front of us a little ways down that was pointing and yelling at me, saying we were going to lose the 'first game'. First sweetie, a playoff series is a ROUND. Secondly, I know some badass elderly women in Buffalo who could kick your ass so sit down. Seriously, Ottawa and Montreal was fine regarding opposing fans. Columbus was brutal. Coming from a team who was only in the playoffs once during their ten years as an NHL team, they think they have a lot of firing ammunition against other team's fans. Please get out of here. It was nice to see the Sabres win their first game at Nationwide, though.

The Philadelphia/Buffalo series is bound to be a good one if Friday night's game is any indication. A lot of aggressiveness and goal-scoring I'm sure. I can see the Sabres winning this round because of their playoff surge, let's just hope I'm right.