Devils and Kings and Canucks, oh my: eve of the roadtrip
Thursday, January 14th, 2010 12:11 am by mrenninger
So as I am sure is apparent by now, I am not as efficient as I had hoped to be in finishing my top five wins of the decade. Well, if it isn’t apparent to you, it sure as hell is to my friends who showered me with “dude you gotta get that done already,” and the like while taking in the Colorado game Saturday. Of course while this is still a major priority, there is always the pressing need to discuss, you know, the actual season going on currently, especially as the team embarks on their longest road trip of the season. Since it is stretches like this that help management, coaches and fans discern what their team is really made of, I feel it is necessary to discuss this a little bit more.
First, it was encouraging to turn on the news today and see that the team was looking forward to being on the road and spending time with each other, and not being concerned about jet lag, or staying healthy, or being unable to get any decent fried food for two weeks. Of course when one remembers that many of these players are in their early to mid-20’s it becomes more understandable that nights together in strange cities can certainly have benefits which far outbalance any of the detrimental factors previously listed. The same rules that would apply to a high school basketball team travelling to a tournament in Olean apply to an NHL team travelling to play four of the top eight teams in the Western Conference, but either way it is encouraging to hear their enthusiasm.
You know you would buy anything this guy endorsed...
Second, there is nothing wrong with having high expectations. Since Buffalo fans are wired to expect their dreams to be stomped on when things are going well, most are expecting one of the following:
1) Patrick Kaleta and Marshawn Lynch are arrested in L.A. with a truck full of guns, hard drugs and midget porn
2) Mike Grier pulls a Pedro Cerrano from Major League 2, becomes a Buddhist, moves to Haiti to help Earthquake victims, and is never heard from again (I would make a ‘Tallinder becomes a Scientologist’ joke, but that wouldn’t surprise me, he seems kind of weird.)
(side note: whenever Mike Grier does anything positive, my friends and I have taken to exclaiming “doin’ work, son,” in support of whatever he is doing. Grier is such a selfless, scrappy player with a nose for the puck that we expect him to come out with a series of ‘how-to’ DVD’s at anytime. They don’t even have to be hockey-related. You wouldn’t buy a DVD from Mike Grier’s “Doin’ Work” series telling you how to build cabinets, or start a respectable wine collection? Come on.)
3) Ryan Miller gets a tapeworm from eating bad sushi in Vancouver and loses 40lbs, or,
4) Vanek, Macarthur and Connolly get into an argument over a euchre game, resulting in an Gilbert Arenas style altercation, resulting in Bettman suspending them for the season and sending them off to a secret prison he keeps in Eastern Europe
Luckily, none of those four things are going to happen, and with the team sitting near the top of the Eastern Conference, winning nearly 3 of every 4 games, there is nothing wrong with expecting them to come out of the road trip with similar results. Ruff said earlier today that a ’successful’ road trip would be nine or ten points, a number exceeding my preliminary hopes for seven or eight, simply going .500 for the next two weeks. While they are playing some of the best teams the west has to offer, you simply need to remind yourself that we are one of the best the east has to offer. After their last game the Sabres found themselves tied for first in the conference, a position since vacated only due to the team not playing for nearly a week.
Remember how well this team can travel as we embark on the road trip. Also, remember how the Caps didn't have fans 3 years ago?
Another reason to feel optimistic: the Sabres longest road stretch last season was nine of ten games- including six straight- away from HSBC Arena in January-February 2009. The Sabres’ final record emerging from that stretch? 5-5. Even two seasons ago, during a seven game stretch the Sabres went 4-3, another year they failed to make the playoffs. Based on the teams performance to this point I believe we can look at this stretch not with the usual foreboding sense of doom that acutely emerges around this time of year, but with optimism, albeit cautious optimism.
A Couple Quick NHL Notes
- Just how fun is it to check the scores, or standings and see how inept Ottawa has been lately? They are playing themselves out of the playoff picture, losers of five straight, racked with injuries and team strife coming to a head with their recent firing of their goalie coach. I’ve never quite understood the firing of a positional coach in hockey, especially the goalie coach. It isn’t like the goalie coach designs plays or schemes, he simply tells the goalie how best to stop the puck. If a guy is so inept at that, how the hell was he hired to coach goalies in the NHL anyways? Also, my glee about the Sens’ problems has nothing to do with the Sabres’ be unable to beat them. Nothing at all.
- I can understand where some of the Vanek-bashing has been coming from. You look at the salary, you look at the production, and you feel like the team is not getting the results that they should, and perhaps you are right. But the two most important numbers for this team are points and wins. Vanek can put up 36 and 40 goals over two seasons but if the team doesn’t make the playoffs, the year is an unequivocal failure. I’d rather have a playoff team with an underachieving star, than a mediocre team with one bright spot.
Now with that, enjoy the road trip, take in those 10pm starts that may make you a zombie at work, relish the chance to see how good the Western Conference really is, to see if our undefeated start against those teams this season was a result of catching teams on bad nights or teams catching us on good nights. It is stretches like these that serve as a grading period for the full chemistry and tenacity of a team, so get out your grading pencils, here’s hoping for a solid B+.