Chris Kelsay has returned to practice for the Buffalo Bills today after missing yesterday with a knee bruise. It was expected he would miss at least one week after suffering the injury right before halftime Monday night, but his recovery has went well. However, Aaron Schobel is not practicing today. He was forced to watch with a sore back. Chris Brown of BuffaloBills.comconfirms this.
If Schobel misses any playing time on Sunday it could be devasting for the Bills defense. Schobel looked like his old self this past Monday, with a sack and interception return for a touchdown against Tom Brady. He nearly picked off a second pass late in the fourth quarter.
Check back later as we’re working on updates and if anything becomes available we’ll pass it along immediately.
The Niagara women’s hockey team was selected to finish fifth in the 2009-10 CHA Coaches Pre Season Poll announced today from the league’s office.
The 2009-10 season will witness a new coach for the Purple Eagles for only the second time ever in the program history when former Niagara men’s hockey standout Chris MacKenzie begins his first season as a head coach.
Niagara returns a senior laden team as 10 of the 18 players returning are in their fourth year in the program. Niagara will look for key contributions from seniors forwards Frances McPhail (Oakville, Ont.) and Mary McKinnon (Summerside, P.E.I.) and 2008-09 CHA All-Rookie Team member Jocey Kleiber (Edina, Minn.).
Defending league and tournament champions and NCAA Tournament finalist runner-up Mercyhurst was picked first with a total of 16 points and received four out of five first place votes.
Niagara opens the season at St. Cloud State on Oct. 2 at 7:07 p.m.
The Erie Community College men’s golf team won their first tournament of the 2009 fall season, winning the D’Youville College Invitational at Springville Country Club on September 16.
The Kats won the tournament with a team score of 329, just four shots ahead of Medaille College, who finished second with 333. Hilbert and D’Youville finished with 354 and 379 to finish third and fourth respectively.
On the individual side, sophomore Jim Merriman (South Wales/East Aurora) was the tournament medalist with a three-over 74. His round included a one-under 34 on the back nine. He had five birdies on the day.
Rounding out the members of the Erie team scoring was: Kyle Harman (Orchard Park/Orchard Park) 84, Ryan Winkowski (Lancaster/Lancaster) 84, Andrew Faulring (North Tonawanda/North Tonawanda) 87, and Dave Taylor (Buffalo/Timon-St. Jude) 89.
Sophomore Blake Ihrig (Fredonia/Fredonia) was the only other player to break 80, shooting a 79. He competed in only the individual portion of the tournament. Mike Krywcum (Buffalo/St. Joes) and Alex Godfrey (North Tonawanda/North Tonawanda) each shot 81 competing in the individual portion.
The team will next be in action on Wednesday September 26 at Harvest Hill golf course when they host their fall invitational.
Two years ago the Buffalo Sabres were on top of the world and the community had fallen deeply in love with the team. Things have changed considerably since then. The Sabres were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Finals that season by the hated Ottawa Senators. A couple months later the co-captains Danny Briere and Chris Drury left via free agency and now the team has missed the playoffs two consecutive seasons.
The 2008-2009 team was difficult to figure out. They started the season with a four game winning streak and winning six of their first seven. Unfortunately consistency was an issue for them last season. They would often rattle off two or three wins in a row but would follow that up with four or five losses. It was difficult to ever get a gauge on the season.
Despite the lack of consistency this team showed last season; they seemed primed to make the playoffs at the end of February. On February 21 the Sabres were in sixth place and had just won a key game against the New York Rangers. That was the same night that Scott Gomez took out Ryan Miller behind the net and forced him to miss a month with a high ankle sprain.
Clap clap clap. Clappity clap clap clap. My god. If I see Dick Jauron’s left hand hit his right hand one more time after another teeth grinding mistake, I am going to Gus Ferotte myself into my living room wall.
I’ll be honest; Dick Jauron has made me negatively stereotype people whose last names rhyme with a derogatory word. My apologies to Tom Jidiot and Edgar Bassmole; we’ll probably never be friends.
Jauron’s Jurassic Park-like, “don’t move or they’ll detect me” sideline presence infuriates me. I feel like if I went to the sidelines during the game and wandered right in front of him, I’d feel like he was a wax museum character. “Everything looks normal, but his eyes aren’t really fixed on anything. Oh, no! Aha, it’s made of wax.” Mentos shock and smile….and scene.
I already know his postgame comments are “I thought we did some good stuff out there…..I’m going to look at the film….obviously we didn’t like the outcome….He’s a heckva player and he’s got to get better and he will!”
After splitting a pair of games against the Findlay Grrrowl last weekend, Head Coach Dennis Canfield felt he needed more fire power. He turned to a couple of familiar faces to help provide the necessary boost. When the Jets take the ice against Team Ulysee this weekend, Joe Coyne and Dan Igielinski will be wearing a Jets uniform.
Coyne and Igielinski were both key parts of the Jets team that were regular season champions last season. Coyne led the league in points with a record 135 points, including 52 goals. “I felt we needed more offense and physical toughness and we all know what these guys bring to the table” Coach Canfield said. Igielinski brought a physical presence to the lineup with 101 penalty minutes and he added 20 goals along the way.
This will be the first time that Team Ulysee will visit the Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena although Jamestown played their last season. The Jets came away from that game with a 9-5 loss in front of a raucous crowd. The Jets may have been a little surprised by the physical play last season, this time they know what to expect. “I think we may have been caught off guard last year. This season we know they will play a physical game and we will be better prepared” Canfield said.
Niagara Athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and ESPN have announced that the Purple Eagles’ men’s basketball home opener will be a part of ESPN’s second annual 24-Hours of College Basketball Tip-off Marathon on Nov. 17. Niagara and Drexel will tipoff at 8 a.m. in front of a national television audience on ESPN.
“We are so proud that our team can be a part of this national television event,” Niagara head coach Joe Mihalich said. “ESPN is synonymous with college basketball, and for the Gallagher Center to start everyone’s day with a game is priceless.”
The Purple Eagles will be one of three MAAC teams participating in the event, which is being represented by 20 conferences. Saint Peter’s and Siena will also host contests on ESPN.
For those anxious to see Nic Harris in the starting lineup at linebacker, your wait is going to continue.With starting middle linebacker Paul Posluszny out for the several weeks with a broken arm (his surgery today was successful- thanks for asking), the team indicated today Marcus Buggs will move up the depth chart and start in his place.
Even though Kawika Mitchell has played middle linebacker in the past as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs, head coach Dick Jauron has elected to stick with Mitchell and Keith Ellison on the outside and give Buggs his chance to start inside.
If Buggs is injured or plays poorly, the backup plan is to slide Ellison to the middle and put Harris in his outside spot.
Also of note; tight end Derek Fine returned to practice today — no surprise after the Jonathan Stupar release earlier.
Jauron said today he hopes Posluszny will be able to return before the mid point of the season.
At approximately 9am this past Monday morning my life forever changed. You see, it was at this moment with the launch of Buffalo Sports Daily, and after months of intense negotiations finally sealed with a twelve pack of Piels, that I agreed to turn in my face paint and foam fingers for a press pass and lap-top. While I am excited to be blogging live from various events for the site, it was a bitter sweet Saturday afternoon for this long-time Buffalo sports sufferer. Here’s a recap from Saturday’s Puck Drop events and the biggest college football game played in WNY in recent memory…the day I will forever remember as My Last Day as a Fan.
Puck Drop 2009 (9:30am)
The scene was set outside of HSBC Arena with hockey’s version of the Gus Macker Tournament and the all too familiar stench emanating from the sewers at the corner of Perry & Washington streets. I will never understand why anyone would set up a hotdog stand on that corner. Regardless, we remained unfazed as we headed for the entrance…hockey season was here!!!
But not so fast. I spoke to a source in Philadelphia today, and according to the source the Eagles still don’t intend on bringing back Runyan, a 13-year veteran. I’m told the Eagles are ready to plug Winston Justice to right tackle full time, and were heartedly impressed with his performance against Carolina last week.
Runyan worked out with the Eagles last Thursday, and has also worked out with the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs over the past week.
After each Buffalo Bills regular season game, we’ll do a film review session in which we look back at the game to pick out some minor details that we may have missed while watching the games live. This is your film session for the Bills’ 25-24 Monday Night Football loss to the New England Patriots.
Offense still missing a key ingredient. As surprisingly efficient as Buffalo’s offense was in New England, the team was still missing a significant key to fielding a potent attack – and that was getting their receivers involved. Terrell Owens and Lee Evans need more looks. Yes, each dropped passes, and yes, Trent Edwards was able to find big gainers to Fred Jackson underneath, but particularly in the case of Owens, he’s your money maker. He’s your best player on offense. I don’t blame Edwards for throwing where he threw, because the Pats did a good job of taking away his top option on most non-screen passes. The Bills just need to draw up more plays designed specifically for Owens and Evans. Perhaps they had that up their sleeves for the final, ice-the-clock drive that never materialized. It’d be nice to see both involved earlier in next week’s game.
More defensive adjustments needed. The Patriots were able to string together long, time-consuming drives in the second half because roughly 4 out of every 5 Tom Brady passes came at the back end of a three-step drop. A defensive line consisting of Dwight Freeney, Mario Williams, Kevin Williams and Albert Haynesworth couldn’t have pressured Brady in that situation. Perry Fewell did dial up a few blitzes that forced Brady into some incompletions and bad passes, but those were so few and far between that it hardly mattered. True, Brady should never have had the opportunity to win that game after the Bills took the 24-13 lead. But we need much more out of Fewell’s scheming in that situation. (The one positive adjustment Fewell made, by the way, was against the run; NE’s rushing attack was a non-factor for much of the game after the Bills gave up a few early runs.)
On Monday, the Bills traded Jonathan Stupar for Justin Jenkins. With Derek Fine injured and unready to go and the Bills needing tight ends, Stupar was elevated from the practice squad and to make room Jenkins was released.
48 hours later, Jenkins is back in– and Stupar is once again out.
The Bills have resigned Jenkins and to make room Stupar is gone. The move was made for two reasons; Derek Fine is close to returning after missing the New England game, and Jenkins is a solid special teamer and the Bills struggled on kickoff coverage Monday.
Assuming Stupar will once again clear waivers (he did when he was cut on September 5) he is likely to be reassigned to the practice squad.
As reporter Dan Herbeck reports, “Holmes admitted to helping other people file bogus federal tax returns.” Herbeck writes that according to the government, the refunds totaled $70,000 and prosecutors are seeking $53,000 in restitution.
For those of you that can’t get enough, here is the video highlowlights of the Bills Monday night heartbreaking 25-24 loss to New England. It was really was the kicker who recovered McKelvin’s fumble.
* Jerry Sullivan of the Buffalo News pens a column, questioning Terrell Owens’ leadership for refusing to speak to the media after the Bills opening night loss at New England.
The Buffalo Sabres will be rolling out the red carpet for their second home pre-season game against the Toronto Maple Leafs at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, September 23 at HSBC Arena.
Pre-game festivities will take place in the HSBC Arena Plaza beginning at 5 p.m. Fans will be able to cheer on their favorite players as they walk the red carpet prior to the game. Kevin Sylvester and Maria Genero will host the event, which will also include live music from McCarthyizm.
The Sabres first home preseason game will take place this Thursday, September 17 at 7 p.m. versus Washington.
Tickets are still available for both games, with prices ranging from $20 to $45. All children 12 and under will receive 50 percent off all price levels with the purchase of an adult ticket. (Limit of four children’s tickets for each adult ticket purchased.) To purchase tickets by phone, call 1-888-223-6000, or visit www.sabres.com or www.tickets.com to purchase online.
The Sabres are also offering Family Packs for both games. Family Packs are offered in the 100, 200 and 300 levels and include four game tickets along with four hot dogs, four sodas, and one bag of popcorn. The package price for 100/200 level seats is $125. The 300 level package price is just $85. For more information or to order call 1-888-467-2273, or log on to www.sabres.com. Packages based upon ticket availability.
The news isn’t great, but it’s not dire either regarding Bills defensive end Chris Kelsay.He injured his knee near the end of the first half Monday night against New England and didn’t return. It was feared he suffered ligament damage but a MRI revealed his knee just has a deep bruise.
Wawrow points out that Kelsay was hurt when he collided with teamamte Ryan Denney.
The Bills aren’t particularly deep at many positions on the team, but they’re not thin at defensive end. Some would argue with only 4.5 sacks over the past two seasons that Kelsay shouldn’t be starting anyway.
This moves Aaron Maybin up the depth chart, at least for the short term. Maybin played sparringly against the Patriots and struggled generating any pressure on Tom Brady. The Bills will need him to more like he did against Pittsburgh and Detroit at the end of the preseason, when he had a sack against each.
Chris Ellis also impressed this summer but was inactive for the New England game. He’ll be in uniform Sunday for the Bills home opener against Tampa Bay.
Training camps have gotten underway across the NHL. The Buffalo Sabres have opened their camp at HSBC Arena in upstate NY with their roster and their AHL affiliate, the Portland Pirates are already beginning to take shape.
While the main camp is working on building this year’s version of the Buffalo Sabres, the Portland Pirates are also slowly coming together, but will have to wait until they open camp on Sept. 24 to see what they fully have for talent.
Several players who could potentially call Portland home have been skating for over a week now as rookies needed to report last Tuesday.
The Sabres have high expectations for Tyler Ennis – Buffalo’s first round pick in 2008 – after he’s done nothing, but impress Sabres’ General Manager Darcy Regier to date. He’s still skating without a contract, but Regier isn’t too concerned that will be an issue.
“My expectations are that we will get him to Portland,” Regier said. “He’s a player that fans will love to watch, very skilled and very agile, and someone who can make plays in very tight confines. He’s been good (in camp) and fans will enjoy.”
It will be a drastically different roster for the Pirates, compared to last year’s team. Gone are Marek Zagrapan, Tyler Bouck, Colin Murphy, Colin Fretter and Mathieu Darche, all who played a vital role on the Pirates, but the Sabres believe they’ve filled those holes with signings such as Phillip Gogulla, Paul Byron and veterans Joe DiPenta, Cody McCormick and Jeff Cowan. The Sabres have also inked Brad Larsen to an AHL contract and with those signings believe the Pirates will have a more grit on the roster, something that was missing from last year’s team.
Tony Schiappa’s (Amherst/Williamsville East) penalty kick goal in the 11th minute was enough for Buffalo State (4-3) to defeat visiting Roberts Wesleyan (1-4), 1-0, in a non-conference soccer game Tuesday at Coyer Field.
Buffalo State was awarded the penalty kick after Peter Anthony (Sudan, Kenya/Tully) was taken down from behind in the box. Schiappa calmly placed the shot inside the right post as the goalkeeper dove the opposite direction.
The Bengals then held on the rest of the way, despite the Raiders holding a 14-4 advantage in shots. Brian Dudek (Niskayuna/Cheshire Academy) made four stops for the shutout.
Buffalo State will open SUNYAC play on Saturday when it welcomes Fredonia to Coyer Field for a 1 p.m. match.
The University at Buffalo volleyball team attempted to fight off a two-set deficit on Wednesday night, winning two straight sets, before falling 3-2 to Syracuse at Alumni Arena. The loss drops UB to 6-4 on the season.
Syracuse took the match 25-23, 25-18, 24-26, 15-25, 15-10 as the Orange narrowly out hit Buffalo, .175 to .172. The first set was tightly contested as the Bulls nearly pulled off a comeback in the opening set.
The second set also went Syracuse¹s way by a 25-18 margin. The Bulls started to fight back in the third set and scored a 26-24 victory after staving off a Syracuse match point.
The Bulls had a much easier time in the fourth set scoring a 25-15 victory. UB got off to a solid start in the fifth set matching Syracuse point for point before the Orange went on a run and never relinquished their lead.
“I am pleased with the way we fought back in the match, but we still have a lot of things that we need to work on as we prepare for MAC play, said head coach Todd Kress.”
“We committed too many errors tonight and you won’t win too many matches when you do that.”
The Buffalo Bills have confirmed that the front lawn of the home of cornerback Leodis McKelvin was vandalized.
LB Kawika Mitchell, a defensive captain for the Bills, tweeted the news earlier today, but did not mention which of his teammates was victimized at that time. His tweets, in full, are below.
“A teammate of ours had his house vandalized last nite or this morn. Its def not a game to b playin. W/ all the safety issues n the NFL… its not funny at all. We have Fam at our homes to protect. If u show ur face on my prop Ill make sure I do everythin to keep my… Fam safe. So dont come around thinkin, oh we’ll just leave a message on his lawn or wall, b/c Im goin to take it as a threat. Its my… job to protect my home as it is the job of all home owners. Dont push the limit.”
McKelvin fumbled a kickoff return late in the Bills’ 25-24 loss to the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football. New England recovered the fumble and scored the winning touchdown on the ensuing possession.
A source tells me the arm injury to Paul Posluszny will keep him out of the lineup for the next 4-6 weeks. The source said that although Marcus Buggs is listed as the backup middle linebacker, the club is more likely to move Keith Ellison or Kawika Mitchell to the middle and insert Nic Harris as a starting outside backer.The club is highly considering resigning linebacker Pat Thomas, who was released two weeks ago. Thomas was a part-time starter at middle linebacker with Kansas City last year.
If they sign Thomas or another linebacker, they’ll have to release a player since Posluszny will be not be placed on injured reserve. If they don’t, Ashlee Palmer will be active on game days.
It’s rare when a known national media member heaps any praise on the Buffalo Bills. Hell, these days it’s sporadic when the local media doles out an accolade. But mainly, it’s the national media. If you’re not convinced, find some clips of the two hour ESPN pre game coronation of the Patriots last night. Or listen to their game coverage. Thurman Thomas said today on WGR-550 he was waiting for the announcers to come down on the field and kiss Tom Brady.
So recognizable faces praising the Bills is few and far between. But that didn’t stop Peter King of SI.com today from giving out some props to the Bills, and Alex Van Pelt in particular.
“Considering, of course, the mayhem Buffalo went through in the past two weeks. When Buffalo whacked offensive coordinator Turk Schonert and went to Van Pelt, a former NFL third-string quarterback, radio voice and position coach, the pressure was on with three first-time starters on the offensive line and a no-huddle scheme that wasn’t his own. But Van Pelt got a feel for the offense early, capitalizing on Fred Jackson’s terrific matchups against the New England linebackers, and he called a good game. “
Trent Edwards is on the hot seat. He’s sitting there next to head coach Dick Jauron, who has been on the hot seat pretty much since he began coaching the Buffalo Bills. Edwards – 12-11 as a starter entering the 2009 season, with plenty of up-and-down performances to define hi as a player – suffered through a miserable pre-season, which culminated with a 46.9 quarterback rating, his offensive coordinator getting fired, and his left tackle was released. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the term “crisis of confidence” thrown around more in my life than I did in the three weeks leading up to the Bills’ season opener.
If Edwards’ performance on Monday Night Football – even in defeat – is a crisis of confidence, well, pass me the crisis, please. Coming off of that horrendous pre-season, Edwards completed 15 of 25 passes for 212 yards, with two touchdown throws, zero interceptions and a quarterback rating of 114.1. He was sacked four times.
Edwards was not perfect in New England as he and the Bills fell 25-24 to the Patriots. That much is clear. What’s also clear, however, is that the young quarterback much of this fan base was so quick to dump on can really play the game of football. There is work to do – and Edwards is the first to admit that – but his 2009 season is off to a great start.
Chris Kelsay has returned to practice for the Buffalo Bills today after missing yesterday with a knee bruise. It was expected he would miss at least one week after suffering the injury right before halftime Monday night, but his recovery has went well. However, Aaron Schobel is not practicing today. He was forced to watch with a sore back. Chris Brown of BuffaloBills.com confirms this.
The Niagara women’s hockey team was selected to finish fifth in the 2009-10 CHA Coaches Pre Season Poll announced today from the league’s office.
The Erie Community College men’s golf team won their first tournament of the 2009 fall season, winning the D’Youville College Invitational at Springville Country Club on September 16.
Two years ago the Buffalo Sabres were on top of the world and the community had fallen deeply in love with the team. Things have changed considerably since then. The Sabres were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Finals that season by the hated Ottawa Senators. A couple months later the co-captains Danny Briere and Chris Drury left via free agency and now the team has missed the playoffs two consecutive seasons. 
Clap clap clap. Clappity clap clap clap. My god. If I see Dick Jauron’s left hand hit his right hand one more time after another teeth grinding mistake, I am going to Gus Ferotte myself into my living room wall.
After splitting a pair of games against the Findlay Grrrowl last weekend, Head Coach Dennis Canfield felt he needed more fire power. He turned to a couple of familiar faces to help provide the necessary boost. When the Jets take the ice against Team Ulysee this weekend, Joe Coyne and Dan Igielinski will be wearing a Jets uniform.
Niagara Athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and ESPN have announced that the Purple Eagles’ men’s basketball home opener will be a part of ESPN’s 
For those anxious to see Nic Harris in the starting lineup at linebacker, your wait is going to continue.
At approximately 9am this past Monday morning my life forever changed. You see, it was at this moment with the launch of Buffalo Sports Daily, and after months of intense negotiations finally sealed with a twelve pack of Piels, that I agreed to turn in my face paint and foam fingers for a press pass and lap-top. While I am excited to be blogging live from various events for the site, it was a bitter sweet Saturday afternoon for this long-time Buffalo sports sufferer. Here’s a recap from Saturday’s Puck Drop events and the biggest college football game played in WNY in recent memory…the day I will forever remember as My Last Day as a Fan.
After each Buffalo Bills regular season game, we’ll do a film review session in which we look back at the game to pick out some minor details that we may have missed while watching the games live. This is your film session for the Bills’ 25-24 Monday Night Football loss to the New England Patriots.
On Monday, the Bills traded Jonathan Stupar for Justin Jenkins. With Derek Fine injured and unready to go and the Bills needing tight ends, Stupar was elevated from the practice squad and to make room Jenkins was released.
Darrick Holmes wore a Buffalo Bills uniform from 1995-98. Pretty soon, he may be dressing in an uniform for different sorts; a prison one.
The Buffalo Sabres will be rolling out the red carpet for their second home pre-season game against the Toronto Maple Leafs at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, September 23 at HSBC Arena.
The news isn’t great, but it’s not dire either regarding Bills defensive end Chris Kelsay.
Training camps have gotten underway across the NHL. The Buffalo Sabres have opened their camp at HSBC Arena in upstate NY with their roster and their AHL affiliate, the Portland Pirates are already beginning to take shape.
Tony Schiappa’s (Amherst/Williamsville East) penalty kick goal in the 11th minute was enough for Buffalo State (4-3) to defeat visiting Roberts Wesleyan (1-4), 1-0, in a non-conference soccer game Tuesday at Coyer Field.
The University at Buffalo volleyball team attempted to fight off a two-set deficit on Wednesday night, winning two straight sets, before falling 3-2 to Syracuse at Alumni Arena. The loss drops UB to 6-4 on the season.
The Buffalo Bills have confirmed that the front lawn of the home of cornerback Leodis McKelvin was vandalized.
A source tells me the arm injury to Paul Posluszny will keep him out of the lineup for the next 4-6 weeks. The source said that although Marcus Buggs is listed as the backup middle linebacker, the club is more likely to move Keith Ellison or Kawika Mitchell to the middle and insert Nic Harris as a starting outside backer.
It’s rare when a known national media member heaps any praise on the Buffalo Bills. Hell, these days it’s sporadic when the local media doles out an accolade. But mainly, it’s the national media. If you’re not convinced, find some clips of the two hour ESPN pre game coronation of the Patriots last night. Or listen to their game coverage. Thurman Thomas said today on 
Trent Edwards is on the hot seat. He’s sitting there next to head coach Dick Jauron, who has been on the hot seat pretty much since he began coaching the Buffalo Bills. Edwards – 12-11 as a starter entering the 2009 season, with plenty of up-and-down performances to define hi as a player – suffered through a miserable pre-season, which culminated with a 46.9 quarterback rating, his offensive coordinator getting fired, and his left tackle was released. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the term “crisis of confidence” thrown around more in my life than I did in the three weeks leading up to the Bills’ season opener.
