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for October 2009
 If the Sabres had their way, every period would be as easy as the early goings of last night’s 5-2 rout of the Florida Panthers. Early goals by Mike Grier and Jason Pominville chased Scott Clemmensen from his net, while Matt Ellis, Tyler Myers and Thomas Vanek put three more pucks past Clemmensen’s replacement, Tomas Vokoun, all in the first period. After scoring five goals, Buffalo’s attack cooled, and Ryan Miller held strong, stopping forty one of forty three shots.
The Upswing
After a disappointing loss to the Atlanta Thrashers on Saturday, the Sabres rebounded nicely, stopping their losing streak at a game, and victimized a team that clearly was not prepared to play when the puck dropped.
Buffalo also managed to break their habit of making backup goalies look all-world, as the two goals in the first against Clemmensen had Florida coach Peter DeBoer calling to his bullpen.
The Sabres absolutely imposed their will on the Panthers in the first ten minutes, with all four forward lines generating scoring chance after scoring chance. Buffalo came out guns blazing in the early going, and it was impossible for Florida to stop the Sabres’ relentless forecheck.
Continue reading ‘Strong Start Propels Sabres to Victory in Florida’
 Although Dick Jauron said that “officially” the Bills don’t have to list the full injury report until later in the week, he indirectly made it quite clear that Ryan Fitzpatrick will be making his first Bills start at quarterback when Buffalo travels to Carolina on Sunday.
According to Jauron, Edwards isn’t even ready to return phone calls or texts, let alone return to the football field. Jauron said he’s yet to talk to him, which according to him is “part of the protocol”.
 The Buffalo Sabres came into their contest against the Panthers seething after their first regulation loss of the season to Atlanta this past Saturday. They next go to Tampa Bay on Friday playing as hot as the Florida sun.
 University at Buffalo freshman Tori Beckman was one of 11 players named as a Collegiate Volleyball Update Top Performer for her play this past weekend, the website announced this morning. The award is a first for the UB volleyball program.
Beckman, who was the only freshman honored this week, averaged 33.5 digs per match as she became the first UB player to record 30 digs in a match since 2006 as she had 31 in the loss to Northern Illinois. That career high lasted for all of a day as she had 36 digs in UB’s five-set win over Western Michigan. The 36 digs were the most by a UB player since Rebecca Meade had 33 digs against Youngstown State on Sept. 5, 1999.
Continue reading ‘Tori Beckman Named To Collegiate Volleyball Top Performer List’
 Buffalo Bills quarterback Trent Edwards missed practice on Wednesday as he continues to deal with the effects of the second career concussion he sustained in the Bills’ Week 6 victory over the New York Jets.
Edwards, who suffered a concussion in a Week 5 loss to the Arizona Cardinals in 2008, was not even on the sidelines today as the Bills began prep work for their Week 7 tilt with the Carolina Panthers. Backup quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick took all of the first-team reps at quarterback, and considering the facts currently present, the chances that Fitzpatrick makes his first career start at quarterback for the Bills are enormous.
Continue reading ‘Bills’ Edwards misses practice Wednesday’
 Niagara Athletics has announced a new exclusive partnership for men’s basketball games with WGR SportsRadio 550.
The award-winning radio station will broadcast all Purple Eagle contests on either WGR 550 AM or its sister station, WWKB 1520 AM. Todd Callen returns to the airwaves for his fourth season as “The Voice of the Purple Eagles”.
Continue reading ‘Niagara Announces Men’s Basketball Radio Partnership With WGR’
 Like the words of the Sam Cooke song read, “It’s been a long time coming, but a change is gonna come.”
James Hardy returns to the practice field for the Buffalo Bills Wednesday for the first time in nine months since having major ACL knee surgery.
Hardy was the second round draft pick (41st overall) of the Bills last year. He enjoyed early success, scoring the game winning touchdown in week two as Buffalo won at Jacksonville. But his contributions were few and far between after that, catching only nine passes for 87 yards and a pair of touchdowns before having his season cut short with the major knee injury suffered against the New York Jets late in his rookie season.
Continue reading ‘He’s baaaack. James Hardy returns’
 The Buffalo Sabres announced they have traded Daniel Paille to the Boston Bruins for a third round draft pick and a conditional draft pick. The move effectively alleviates the Sabres roster dilemma when Andrej Sekera returns to the lineup.There are always going to be positives and negatives when you make a trade.
The trade means that Tyler Myers and Tim Kennedy should remain with the team for the season and that is good news. It also means the Sabres gave up on a former first round draft pick that was never really given a chance. It also gives a division rival a capable player that might be capable of more than we have ever seen out of him. That’s not so good.
Continue reading ‘On the Sabres trade of Paille’
 How proficient is Buffalo’s defense? Will we ever know? How good could it have been without all the injuries? This unit, run by much maligned Perry Fewell, can’t seem to make up its mind. Stop the run or stop the pass? Watching them week to week is almost as fun as watching a kid decide on an ice cream flavor.
Over the first two weeks, the opposing team had 674 passing yards (337 per game) and 130 running yards (65 per game). The next four games were the complete reverse: 429 passing yards (107 per game) and 961 rushing yards (240 per game) allowed.
Continue reading ‘The Two Faces of the Buffalo Defense’
 The Minnesota Timberwolves have had a rough 3 games, losing the Chicago Bulls twice and to the Milwaukee Bucks once over the weekend, but Timberwolves rookie/WNY native Jonny Flynn has played well despite the final scores.
Friday took Flynn and the Timberwolves to Chicago to take on the Bulls for a second time, unfortunately the results were about the same. The Bulls won by four (94-90) despite Flynn coming out on top of the Timberwolves heap for the second game in a row. Flynn is continuing to prove that despite his young age and relative inexperience, even being down by several points in the fourth quarter can’t rattle him. Flynn started and played a total of 23 minutes, scoring 10 points. In the same game, second year Timberwolves guard Kevin Love injured his hand, forcing Flynn to step up and cover the hole on the roster left by Love.
On Wednesday October 14th the Timberwolves took on the Chicago Bulls at the Target Center in Minneapolis, but even the home town crowd couldn’t help them. Flynn saw over 23 minutes of playing time and scored 13 points. In the fourth quarter with a tight lead, Flynn sunk two crucial free throws that would have insured a Timberwolves victory, if the Bulls offense wouldn’t have answered back with several key baskets down the stretch to ensure a Chicago win.
Continue reading ‘Flynn shines as Wolve’s struggle in preseason’
 The Buffalo Sabres have traded winger Daniel Paille to the Boston Bruins. In exchange the Sabres will receive a 2010 third round pick and another conditional pick.
Paille was the Sabres first round (20th overall) pick in the 2002 entry draft. He netted 35 goals and 77 points with the Sabres over the course of his 182 games with the club. His career-best was 19 goals scored in 2007-08.
He played in only two games so far this year for Buffalo, tallying an assist.
Continue reading ‘Sabres trade Paille to Boston’
 Finally, mercifully, re-watching a Buffalo Bills game was worth the time investment this week. Considering the length of the game and the fact that it’s a busy week for me, I didn’t get through all of the tape this week – my apologies. There are still several talking points to bring up from the Bills’ 16-13 overtime victory over the New York Jets on Sunday.
Topics of conversation that you’ll find after the jump: Dick Jauron; Ryan Fitzpatrick; the offensive line; the non-no-huddle offense; linebacker play against the run, and how opponents are exploiting them; Drayton Florence; team mistakes. Enjoy!
Continue reading ‘Buffalo Bills: Week 6 Film Session’
 According to Adam Caplan of Scout.com, the Buffalo Bills are working out defensive tackle Antwan Lake this Tuesday afternoon.The Bills do not make official comments on player workouts per team policy.
Lake spent the past three seasons with the New Orleans Saints. Last year he played in 11 games, totaling five tackles and zero sacks.The 30-year old former undrafted free agent from 2002 has also seen time with Detroit and Atlanta. He has 5.5 sacks in his 79 game career.
Continue reading ‘Report: Bills work out Antwwan Lake’
 If Terrell Owens was hopeful worried about getting traded today, he’s certainly not letting you in on it.
The Buffalo Bills are off today, and T.O. has been moonlighting in New York City. No, he’s not lobbying to become the newest receiver for the NY Giants. According to him, he’s been shopping, taping the Wendy Williams show and trying to become a Ford Model.
Follow his silliness on twitter… and we’ll see ya tomorrow back in Buffalo, big guy..
 Here’s what I’m thinking on this Tuesday while still thanking God for Mark Sanchez…
♣ Today is the big day, sort of. It’s the NFL trade deadline and by 4pm this afternoon any trades must be consummated. Some Bills fans, for whatever reason are holding out hope the Bills will move Terrell Owens, especially since Baltimore is rumored, and quite possibly flirted with tampering.
It’s not going to happen. There is next-to-no chance the Bills are going to move Owens. Even if Owens and the Bills have struggled on the field, he’s by large a success for the team off it. Trading him after only six weeks may make football sense, especially considering the Bills are seemingly going nowhere, but moving him would be a direct slap in the face to many of the masses who bought Owens merchandise, not to mention season tickets immediately following his acquisition.
Continue reading ‘Buffalo Bills- ‘Bullets & Bits’’
 Contrary to the belief of many Sabres fans, Saturday was not the worst game the Sabres have played this season. That game in fact would be the 6-3 victory versus the New York Islanders the night before.
There were players that struggled, Derek Roy and Tim Connolly to name a few, but this game was decided by goaltending. Johan Hedberg made the big saves and Patrick Lalime did not.
It’s difficult to blame a goalie when the team comes out flat, but the Sabres were the better team over the final 40 minutes. Buffalo outshot Atlanta 42 -27, including 20-4 in the third period. The Sabres were never able to get back in the game because Atlanta answered both Sabres goals.
Continue reading ‘Number Crunching: Behind Sabres first loss’
 After recording the ninth hat trick in the program’s Division I history, junior Cory Conacher was honored as the Atlantic Hockey Player of the Week.
With the Griffs facing a 3-0 deficit against Lake Superior State, Conacher led a Canisius rally by tallying the next three goals to knot the game. The natural hat trick was the second in school history, joining Chris Duggan who scored three-straight goals against Sacred Heart on Feb. 19, 1999.
Continue reading ‘Conacher Named Atlantic Hockey Player of the Week’
 Buffalo State freshman linebacker Eddie Weiser (Grand Island/Grand Island) was named the NJAC Defensive Rookie of the Week for the third time in four weeks after his performance in Saturday’s loss against Montclair State.
Weiser, a criminal justice major, played a major role on a defense that forced four Montclair turnovers and limited the Red Hawks to just 128 passing yards. Weiser notched a pair interceptions and added five tackles. He currently leads the Bengals with three interceptions and is second with 42 tackles in six games.
Buffalo State will travel to NJAC-rival Rowan this Saturday for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
University at Buffalo senior tight end Jesse Rack has been named as one of 22 student-athletes from across the country to the 2009 John Mackey Award Midseason Watch List released today by the Nassau County Sports Commission.
Rack, a senior from Maspeth, NY, has accumulated 15 catches and five touchdowns thus far on the season and is a dominant blocker at his position. Rack is the only Mid-American Conference player named to the 22-man watch list and one of only four players that do not hail from BCS conference teams.
Continue reading ‘Rack Named To John Mackey Award Watch List’
 The Harvard Cup League’s top two teams further separated themselves from the rest of the pack with a pair of lopsided victories this weekend in action from historic All High Stadium. Amir Shanks put on a clinic for Burgard while quarterback David Drayton and wide out Donnie “Air” Bender of Riverside dismantled the Hutch-Tech Engineers.
Listen to Riverside’s dominating performance courtesy of the Intense Milk Harvard Cup Radio Game of the Week on 1440 AM WJJL
Continue reading ‘Harvard Cup Week Six Recap’
 While Adam Schefter’s ESPN comments revolved this past week on rationalizing a Terrell Owens trade, the Buffalo Bills are very likely to move a receiver within the next 48 hours. That receiver however, will not be Owens.
I spoke to someone knowledgeably close to the organization and the Bills are looking to cut ties with disgruntled wide receiver/kick returner Roscoe Parrish, and a move will be coming by the middle of the week at the latest. I’m told the team has absolutely no plans to trade Owens.
But I’m told that Parrish is “finished” as a Buffalo Bill.
Continue reading ‘Source: Parrish is “finished” in Buffalo’
 Mike Newton was named Mid-American Conference East Division Defensive Player of Week on Monday for his performance in the Bulls’ 21-17 win over Akron on Saturday.
The senior safety had eight tackles, a fumble recovery, an interception and a pass breakup against the Zips. Newton’s turnovers were very timely as he recovered a fumble at the Buffalo six-yard line and intercepted a pass in the Buffalo end zone to keep Akron off the scoreboard.
Continue reading ‘Newton Named MAC Defensive Player of the Week’
 The Buffalo Bills overtime victory over the Jets Sunday did little in the way of influencing FireDickJauron.wordpress.com creator Ryan Abshagen’s thinking. As scheduled, the billboard, paid for by its site’s donations went up for anyone driving the Interstate-190 South to see at exactly 12:01am this morning.
The advertisement, which encourages Bills owner Ralph Wilson to “clean house” by firing head coach Dick Jauron along with Tom Modrak and John Guy, will flash up to 5,000 times per day for the next week. Site organizers are still soliciting donations in hopes of either extending the life of the billboard, or to add another one.
Multiple recent reports by local and national media saw the billboard story pick up a lot of steam, especially following the Cleveland debacle last week.
Continue reading ‘Jauron Isn’t Thinking About Billboard’
 An ugly weekend just turned uglier for the Portland Pirates after they were handed a 7-2 drubbing by the Providence Bruins in front of 3,338 at the Dunkin Donuts Center on Sunday afternoon.
The Pirates once again found themselves in trouble with special teams as they gave up four power play goals including the game winner to Bruins’ defenseman Andy Wozniewski late in the first period.
Continue reading ‘Bruins’ special teams overpower the Pirates’
 No matter what your feelings about the 2009 Buffalo Bills – what your viewpoints of the future of the franchise are, or the coaching staff, or the quarterback, or anything else – it’s still fun to see Rex Ryan’s sad face.
Buffalo ended a three-game losing streak, as well as an eight-game losing streak in the AFC East, by scraping a 16-13 overtime win over Ryan’s New York Jets in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Continue reading ‘Bills scrape out improbable road win over Jets’
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