Playoff Flashback: 2006
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010 9:09 pm by mrenninger
Okay, so this was going to be a double topic blog to make up for my absence for the past month or so (side note, anyone think I reverse-jinxed us on my last post? Because that was what I was totally going for), but after my discussion of one little game worked out to the length of a twelve page paper, I think I will hold off on the second one for a little bit. It will discuss the playoff beard, the team’s new locker room tradition, and of course, discuss our beloved team’s chances in the playoffs (here’s a hint: I don’t have a freaking clue). For now, I’ll take you back to a fond, fond playoff memory while at the same time almost knocking off my top 5 wins of the decade list that I started in, you guessed it, last decade.
NUMBER TWO
Game One, Eastern Conference Semifinals
May 5, 2006
Buffalo Sabres 7
Ottawa Senators 6 (ot)
If you ever get a chance to go to Quad Party weekend at Canisius College, you should go, presuming of course you’re college age, or were at least college age recently. Most colleges have a weekend before spring finals that consists of day drinking, intramural sports and all around debauchery; at Fredonia that’s Fredfest, at Alfred it’s Hot Dog Weekend, and for my alma mater St. Bonaventure it is the much less originally named Spring Weekend. During my college years I hadn’t gotten to see these weekend celebrations at other schools because they always coincided with Spring Weekend, but in 2006, nine days before graduation I got to celebrate one of the greatest Sabres games ever at Quad Party.
If you still can, go to a college's party weekend this month. You will NOT regret it.
I had completed final exams and had been more then content to stay down at school, party with my fellow class of 2006 members, and soak in the last days. There was just one problem: the Sabres were in the second round of the playoffs and the game would be blacked out on campus (the game was televised locally on CBC, and the school’s cable company hadn’t splurged for OLN yet), so I begrudgingly drove the hour and a half back home the night before the game. After a typical Friday night out I got the call from one of my best friend’s around eleven in the morning, asking if I wanted to go to Quad Party with him and watch the game at his buddies house. It was a gorgeous early May day in Western New York, sunny with the temperature in the 70′s so I jumped at the opportunity. His very understanding girlfriend, who was not yet of drinking age, drove us to a street off campus and dropped us off around 12:30. I remember thinking to myself as the afternoon wore on that at least I would have an enjoyable time before the inevitable bloodbath that would be the Ottawa series was to ensue. Remember, this was the team that beat us 5-0, 6-1 and 10-4 early in the regular season, a team that ripped through the conference on its way to 113 points and the top seed in the playoffs. Sure, we had done well getting through a slow Philadelphia team built on brute force, but Ottawa was an unstoppable force, simply extending the series past five games would be something to build on.
Does it even need to be asked anymore why we hate Ottawa?
As game time approached we walked to his friends house, getting stopped by a cop for me breaking the city’s open container law (contrary to my belief at the time, a red plastic cup does not skirt every alcohol law) on the way. It was one of those Buffalo houses with the large balcony on the second floor which looks out on the street, perfect for grilling and having some beers. So we relaxed on the balcony drinking warm, foamy Blue Light from a keg that could not have been properly tapped, and watched some college guys play football in the street below. The minutes leading up to game time saw everyone move inside as the sun began to lower in the sky, everyone angling for the best seats in the living room that had three pieces of furniture for about fifteen people.
It was dreadful, the bias of the Canadian announcing team towards the Senators (an interesting note, Harry Neale was the color guy for this game). Of course by this point every Sabres fan hated just about everything to do with Ottawa, from their goal horn to Zedno Chara. Some bright mind in the Sens P.R. department thought it was a great idea to give the fans thundersticks, as to ensure they could be as annoying as possible. In any case, after getting a nice tan and a nicer buzz, it was time for the game to start.
(NOTE: I have been unable to embed Youtube clips all season, but my favorite clip of this game can be found here)
It took all of thirty-five seconds for the Sabres to score first, a beautiful pass from Roy to Grier with Ray Emery being- surprise!- out of position. The lead would last barely two and a half minutes before Dany Heatley scored, and another fifteen seconds before they would take the lead on a goal by Brian Smolinski (more on him later). This flurry was what we had gotten so used to seeing in the regular season, where Ottawa would simply toy with a team, then decide to turn it on and turn what their opponent felt was a competitive game into a rout. However the ageless Teppo Numminen tied the game a few minutes later, and that’s how the game would stay for the rest of the first period, settling into a less frantic pace, both teams willing to wait for their chances.
Grier, doin' work retro jersey style, son
The is nothing more nerve-racking in sports than playoff hockey, in my mind anyways. I barely speak during play, your heart jumps into your throat with every shot, and every turnover or bad pass is magnified that much more. Earlier this season I was remarking with the same friend I watched this game with that I could wait for the playoffs, take the time to appreciate watching a game and paying 60% attention to what’s going on, be able to b.s about whatever else is going on at the time, not go into every night knowing it’s going to be either an awesome night or a terrible, based on something completely out of your control. This game took that to an entirely different level. As someone who was a high school junior during the 2001 playoffs and a freshman during the 1999 cup run, this was really my first experience with playoff hockey as an adult. I remember standing in the kitchen, talking on the phone to my then-girlfriend, sipping less foamy but still warm beer and saying to myself that this was really a whole new experience, and more than that, we were actually hanging with the Senators. Anyways, back to the game.
Less than two minutes into the second period Ottawa regained the lead, on a breakaway by Martin Havlat off a great home-run pass from Schubert, and twenty-three seconds after that Jay Mckee took a hooking penalty to give Ottawa yet another chance to begin to pull away (going over old games again really shows that the Sabres have LOVED taking timely penalties at the worst times); instead Tim Connolly took a simple broken up play in front of Miller, deked the hell out of a Senators player to get out of the zone, and took it all the way in for a tying goal, shorthanded. Watch it again, it’s a reminder of just how talented Connolly can be, even if one can’t remember the last flash of brilliance similar to that seen in May 2006.
It took less than thirty seconds for Buffalo to take yet another penalty, this time from Pominville to give the Senators a two man advantage. The Sabres did at least have the ability to kill off Mckee’s penalty but before he could get into the defensive zone the Senators best automotive operator Dany Heatley regained the lead for Ottawa.(Disclaimer: I am not pro-killing your best friend in an auto accident. I just got on a huge distasteful joke kick with Heatley in 2005-06, and will never bury it. It’s whimsical and brings me back to my college days. Plus, come on he killed his teammate racing his car and have you ever met a sweet person who races their car? Rest my case).
Celebrating Connolly's tying goal with 10.7 left
Like in the first period, the second period settled down after a frantic start with neither team putting a puck in the net for the following fifteen minutes. It was right before intermission when a harmless break into the Ottawa zone suddenly materialized with two great passes from Grier and Tallinder gave Roy and empty net goal and again the game was tied, with twenty minutes to play. I stepped out to the balcony at the intermission, now beyond what I could call simply a buzz. With every Buffalo goal we would hear the cheers and screams pour out from nearly every house in the block. It was amusing, only a few hours earlier there were hundreds of college students on the lawns, in the streets, on the balconies, and now with the game on there wasn’t a person to be found, except during the intermissions, when fans would filter out for a quick cigarette, or left the living room for a quick game of beer pong. There was an awareness that we were all watching a special game, the way the Sabres had continued to strike back every time Ottawa asserted their strength, but there was still an anxiety that it wouldn’t be the drunk college kids in Buffalo celebrating, it would be the thunderstick-waiving clowns in Kanata.
I liked him a lot better before those awful Celino and Barnes commercial
For the third time the period began with a goal on the first shift. A Sabre missed a chance to clear and the ensuing defensive breakdown- one that looks VERY familiar to the 2010 fan- gave Mike Fisher a goal and the Senators their forth lead of the game. This time, however there would be no quick answer, no early period flurry. The clock kept moving and with it the chances of pulling an upset in game one and with it, any chance- no matter how remote- of entending the season past that round. And when Brian Campbell took a tripping penalty with less than three minutes left (seriously, what’s with this team and ill-timed penalties), all appeared lost, I mean teams don’t score two shorthanded goals in the game game, right?
Roy chipped the puck to Connolly and broke out on a two-on-one against a team that had been pressing for the put away goal. A pass at just the perfect time gave Roy a goal into the open net with 1 minute, 37 seconds left to play. At the house we exploded, screaming, high fiving for yet another clutch goal as I pulled my phone out and dialed my then-girlfriend, who was back at school in the blacked out zone. “Roy scored to tie it shorthanded” I screamed over the cheers which were still carrying on as the puck was dropped, obviously forgetting Ottawa was still on the power play, “we’re going to over-” I stopped the moment Bryan Smolinski buried the puck past a sprawling Miller, all of fourteen seconds after play resumed. “I’ll call you back,” I growled and slammed the phone shut. In hindsight, it was totally a bush league move calling before regulation was over, especially in that game, but some lessons are learned hard. Oh, and this is what happened:
Despite the fact that we won, I will ALWAYS hate this look
Nearly everytime I talk to people about this game, whether its someone I’ve been friends with since high school or some random guy in the smoking section outside the arena, the look on this clown’s face gets brought up. It was the look of finality, the cockiness behind it, that yes, they were just toying with us all along and enough was enough, time for Buffalo to go away. To us in that little-furnished college apartment it was crushing. A couple guys cursed from the house across the street, my friend let out a loud curse of his own and suddenly the warm beer we had been drinking for the last two and a half hours wasn’t sitting so well. Of course it might have just been the thundersticks.
Half the time spent with the goalie pulled Ottawa had possession of the puck. Someone just missed an empty netter, Alfredson took the puck behind the Buffalo net and kicked it back out to burn time. By the time the Sabres got the puck and tossed it into the zone there was barely twenty seconds left. Turned out they barely needed half of that to tie the game, the first of many late game tying goals in the playoffs. Connolly flipped a backhander in the net off a pass from Briere was mishandled by the Emery, and this time there would be no calling the girlfriend until the final whistle had blown and the game was going to overtime. One more delirious call over the cheers in the house, one more refill of my cup and my friend and I stepped outside for some air, as did several other fans in the various houses nearby. Overtime intermission in the playoffs is filled with anxiety, especially after getting used to no intermission before overtime in the regular season. I couldn’t help but laugh and shake my head, despite the fact that Ottawa still had to be considered the favorite to win. The first words out of my friends mouth before I could even turn around to face him: “well, here’s to Drury scoring seventeen seconds in.”
Good Night, Ottawa. Eighteen seconds in is almost as good as seventeen seconds in
Okay, so he wasn’t exactly correct. Volchenkov lugged the puck up the ice after Ottawa won the faceoff, but never made it out of his zone. You know those blue line turnovers by Tallinder and Lydman that have driven you crazy all season? Well, this time, this one time it worked in our favor. Volchenkov completely whiffed on the pass, letting the puck crawl onto Grier’s stick. One quick pass to Drury, one quick wrister past the now diving Ottawa defenseman, and it was over, eighteen seconds into overtime. Whenever I watch the video I just remember Grier skating past Volchenkov’s dejected body as he slid into the boards. In the house…well, it was the same reaction as it was wherever you were if you watched the game with any Sabres fan: cheering, hugging, screaming as many fans- including me- ran outside to high five other random kids out celebrating, not knowing what to do with themselves.
Little did we know the best was still to come, and we were only embarking on what would be a magical couple of weeks in Western New York, a couple that may be surpassed someday, but will never be repeated.
June 1st, 2010 at 10:37 am
I would like to setup a blog like this. Any chance you could email me the webmaster’s info?
August 23rd, 2010 at 3:10 am
My personal opinion,last year was an inspiring season for Buffalo Sabres team.While other teams are paying high prices for incoming players, the Buffalo Sabers have spent the last season retaining their talent and filling in the gaps from with the organization. I see the bond in each player and how they work hard to win every game.