The Buffalo Bisons announced Wednesday that they will be installing the LARGEST High-Definition Light Emitting Diode (LED) Video Display in all of Minor League Baseball at Coca-Cola Field before the start of the 2011 season. The new signature 80′ x 33′ LED HD Video Display from Daktronics, Inc. will add an unparalleled level of enjoyment to the Bisons Baseball Experience.
The new $2.5 million BisonsTV HD board will be funded completely by the Bisons organization and will once again demonstrate the team’s private investment in providing the ultimate fan experience and value at every game. Earlier this off-season, the Bisons financed the replacement of the ballpark’s field drainage system and playing surface in a project that exceeded $970,000.
Seven home games and three contests against 2010 NCAA Tournament teams highlight the 2011 Canisius College women’s lacrosse schedule, announced by head coach Scott Teeter on Tuesday.
“This is one of our most challenging schedules that we have put together,” Teeter said. “The non-conference schedule will help us for our conference season and will better prepare us for reaching our goal of a MAAC Championship.”
Canisius opens the season on Feb. 22, playing at Vanderbilt. The Griffs and Commodores, who finished 10th in the IWLCA national poll last season, are meeting for the first time on the lacrosse field.
This is a story about two generations and two visions of Buffalo sports. It’s about a father and a son who ache for just one day of greatness for this once-bustling city on the lake.
They have the same dream but they feel they are powerless to make it a reality.
The history of major-league Buffalo sports is wrapped in frustration — there aren’t many Western New York natives who would dispute that assertion. We’ve seen it all: From Ronnie Harmon and the Drop to Wide Right to No Goal to the Music City Miracle.
As a longtime, now-jaded Buffalo sports booster, I am still clinging to hope that one day I will see either a National Football League or National Hockey League world-championship pennant flying over the steps of Buffalo City Hall.
Bishop Timon St. Jude was expected to receive its first real test of the season Tuesday evening when the undefeated Tigers traveled to Williamsville East. The Flames came into the game with a record of 7-1, including an upset win over Clarence in the Amherst Tournament last month.
For the Tigers, considered this test aced.
Junior guard Kyle Kobis was outstanding, nearly single-handedly carrying the Timon offense in the first half as they overcame a sluggish start on both ends of the floor to rout Williamsville East in their own gym, 72-43.
Kobis scored 19 points and had six rebounds, including five on the offensive end… all before the teams went into the locker room for halftime.
If the Buffalo Sabres have any serious aspirations of making the playoffs this year, they can’t afford to have more letdowns like Tuesday night. The Philadelphia Flyers spotted the Sabres a two goal lead on the road before roaring back to score five unanswered as Philadelphia handed Buffalo an embarrassing loss, 5-2.
Coupled with Montreal’s victory over the New York Rangers, the Sabres find themselves a full 10 points out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
A large part of that hole has been dug with poor home play as Buffalo fell to 9-11-1 on their HSBC Arena ice. Only Edmonton, New Jersey and Ottawa have been worse.
The participants for the 2011 NHL All-Star game were revealed Tuesday morning and as expected, no member of the Buffalo Sabres made the cut.
Buffalo was just one of four teams not having an All-Star chosen. Florida, New York (Islanders) and Phoenix were the other three.
There is a change in All-Star format. For the first time, there will be a fantasy draft between the two captains picked that will form the two teams as the league ended the East vs. West format. The top six vote getters chosen by fans were automatically named All-Stars while the remaining 36 players were named by the NHL Hockey Operations Department. The two captains will be picked by the players.
The game will be played on January 30 at the RBC Center in Carolina.
No NCAA Tournament in Buffalo this year? No problem. In one of the wildest weekends in local college basketball memory, the Big 4 gave us a little taste of March here in the second week of January.
Two multiple-overtime games, two one-point games decided on the last possession, an upset and even the return of arguably the area’s greatest college basketball player ever. All in three days around Western New York.
Friday the Canisius Golden Griffins revived a season long derailed — more on that to come — with a 62-61 over Siena capped by a frantic final few minutes. A game Siena led throughout, Canisius went on a 12-4 run to take a 60-57 lead with two minutes play. After four unanswered Ryan Rossiter points, Gaby Belardo made a runner in the lane with 8.8 seconds to go to give the Griffs the lead. Griffs defensive stud Tomas Vazquez-Simmons blocked an ensuing shot by Rossiter to end a 10-game losing streak to the Saints.
I spoke to Buffalo Bills offensive lineman Cordaro Howard this morning and learned the shoulder surgery he had scheduled has been pushed back a week.
Howard told me he was due to have surgery today in Atlanta, Georgia to repair his labrum and rotator cuff. The procedure however, has been pushed back until next week because of bad weather conditions that have struck the city.
Howard suffered the injury while playing right tackle in Kansas City on October 31 in what was his secon career start. Howard attempted to play through the injury but the pain progressed and worsened to the point he was eventually placed on Injured Reserve for the final two games.
An undrafted free agent out of Georgia Tech where he once played for current Bills head coach Chan Gailey, Howard had impressive mini and training camps that saw him soar up the depth chart and eventually surpass veterans Kirk Chambers and Jamon Meredith.
We’re exactly at the midpoint of the 2010-11 NHL regular season and for the Buffalo Sabres, they’re literally right back where they started. A recent hot streak that saw them win four of their last five games has them sitting exactly .500 at 18-18-5; a percentage they haven’t seen since the second game of the season.
After winning the Northeast Division last year, it’s been quite the let down for an organization now in the midst of an uphill battle to reach the playoffs entering the second half of the season.
“We did it to ourselves in the first month and a half.” Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller said in his usual blunt manner.
For Buffalo Bills fans counting down the days until NFL free agency begins in hopes that Buddy Nix is going to do some serious window shopping, I have a piece of relatively sound advice for you…
Don’t hold your breath.
That’s not meant to beat the dead horse who’s critics portray Ralph Wilson as a cheapskate owner that doesn’t place winning as his top priority. Rather, there’s a series of mitigating factors that will most likely exclude the Bills from being a major player in free agency, regardless of how the new collective bargaining agreement eventually plays out.
For starters, Buffalo has the inevitable task of doing something only two other teams in the league will find pricier; signing their top draft pick. Whether a new CBA will contain a rookie wage scale or not, it’s going to cost Wilson more than a few meals at Denny’s to ink whomever they draft third overall, assuming of course they even keep the pick.
It’s borderline absurd to put all your chips into a pot that amounts to one football game, but in my eyes at least, two things popped out at me as Auburn squeaked by Oregon to win the BSC National Championship.
One is that Nick Fairley is more than just a little top-three overall draft pick worthy. The other is that Cam Newton is not.
Before going any further, I want to state that I wanted Newton to play great. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I was more excited to watch a college football game. I wanted Newton to be spectacular enough that Buffalo Bills general manager Buddy Nix would be rendered unable to resist rolling the dice with him on draft day.
Unfortunately, I just can’t be sold on him. I’ll get more into that momentarily.
Mark Gaughan of the Buffalo News was able to obtain more details of Shawne Merriman’s recent contract extension, and the Buffalo Bills linebacker stands to get more guaranteed money than originally thought.
When Merriman signed his extension it was reported he’d receive about $2.5 million in guaranteed money. Turns out that figure is significantly more. According to Gaughan, Merriman’s deal includes a $1.5 million signing bonus and $3 million in base salary in 2011 that is guaranteed as long as his injury from the 2010 season doesn’t keep him off the field.
Gaughan writes that because the Bills did the deal before the end of the 2010 season, Buffalo can spread out his signing bonus over the next three seasons. His base salary next season is $2.75 million and he’ll receive reporting bonuses of a half-million each for reporting and workouts.
For the second time this season, senior Bryan Haczyk has been named the Atlantic Hockey Association’s Player of the Week, after a strong performance against the Holy Cross Crusaders this past weekend.
Haczyk scored his first career hat-trick, tying his career-high in points in a 5-2 victory over Holy Cross on Friday night. The Nutley, N.J. native went on to score Niagara’s lone goal on Saturday, accounting for four of the six goals scored by the Purple Eagles during the weekend series. Haczyk finished the weekend with four points, pushing his consecutive games points streak to 16.
Haczyk’s latest AHA Player of the Week award is Niagara’s fifth of the season, the most of any other team in the conference. The Purple Eagles are back in action when they visit Massachusetts for the second straight week, when they take on American International.
One of the all-time Buffalo Bills greats has passed away. Former running back Cookie Gilchrist is dead at the age of 75 after losing his fight with cancer. According to the Buffalo News, Gilchrist died early Monday while living in an assisted care facility in Pittsburgh.
Gilchrist only played in Buffalo for three years but is regarded as one of the best Bills players to ever put on a uniform. He was the leading rusher on Buffalo’s first-ever AFL Championship team in 1964. As a Bill, Gilchrist gained 3,056 yards and rushed for 31 touchdowns and his 243 rushing yards against the New York Titans in 1962 was a then-AFL record.
That year he became the first AFL running back to rush for 1,000 yards in a season and his 13 rushing touchdowns that season was also a league record.
Before coming to Buffalo he was a six-time All-Star in the Canadian Football League. He also played with Denver and Miami of the AFL after leaving Buffalo following the championship 1964 season.
“He was a Bill in every sense of the word.” Former Bills receiver Andre Reed said.
There’s not too many things in life you can consider a safe bet. One of them however, will be Buffalo Bills general manager Buddy Nix having a very close eye on tonight’s NCAA championship football game between Auburn and Oregon.
Tigers defensive lineman Nick Fairley and quarterback Cam Newton could project to be very high draft picks come April and I suspect Nix, along with countless Bills fans, will be paying extra attention to how they perform on a national championship stage.
Perhaps no one benefited more from Andrew Luck’s surprising decision to stay for another year at Stanford than Newton. By default he moves up the quarterback ladder in a draft with many teams in need of one, and a strong showing in a pressure-packed championship game could go a long way towards cementing his status as the new top quarterback prospect in the draft.
While the Bills have once again been long gone from the NFL playoff picture, Buffalo was very well represented this weekend in Wild Card postseason action.
The biggest story, of course, is former Niagara Falls High School and University at Buffalo running back James Starks. The sixth-round rookie was the difference for the Green Bay Packers in their 21-16 victory over Philadelphia, rushing for a game-high 123 yards on 23 carries. The rushing total was also a Green Bay rookie postseason record.
“He (Starks) had a great night tonight,” Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. ” The offensive line did a great job.”
Despite missing his senior season at UB with a shoulder injury, Starks still set a school career rushing record with 3,140 yards to go with 40 total touchdowns. Before that he was a former All-Western New York quarterback at Niagara Falls, where he threw for over 1,000 yards and ran for 600 more in 2005.
It was a very busy weekend for boy’s high school basketball in Western New York over the past weekend, particularly on Friday. Let’s just right into some highlights.
Connor Rehbaum scored a season-high 27 points as St. Joes had no trouble improving to 8-4 on the season with a 77-56 dismantling of Lockport (4-4). First-Team All-Western New York football star Chad Kelly added 12 points for St. Joes, who will face off next Thursday against undefeated Timon in an early season key Monsignor Martin Association conference game.
Speaking of Timon, the Tigers destroyed Walsh on Friday night in South Buffalo, 88-35. Junior swingman Jordan Williams led the way again for Timon with a game-high 18 points. Junior guard Kyle Kobis added 16 points, including four three-pointers as the Tigers outscored Walsh in the second quarter, 24-0.
If you didn’t watch the New Orleans vs. Seattle playoff game Saturday because you’re either from another planet or just assumed it wouldn’t be worth viewing like most of us, here is a replay via YouTube of that absurd 67-yard touchdown run by former Buffalo Bills running back Marshawn Lynch.
He literally makes eight different Saints defenders miss and throws last year’s Super Bowl hero, Tracy Porter, out of the way like he was yesterday’s garbage.
Folks, “Beast Mode” is back in effect. By the way, Matt Hasselbeck got away with a block in the back at the 28-yard line, but oh well– it wasn’t like he was going to stop Lynch anyway.
Senior Anthony Nelson’s fourth career double-double inspired Niagara to a 69-55 win over the Siena Saints on Sunday at the Gallagher Center.
“We are very pleased with the outcome today,” head coach Joe Mihalich said. ”The outcome was because of the way we competed and how hard we worked out there. It was a good feeling in that locker room and I am happy for these guys.”
Niagara (4-13, 1-4 MAAC) clamped down on Siena (5-10, 2-3 MAAC) in the second half en route to picking up its first conference win of the season, while halting its six-game skid. NU has won the last three meetings against Siena at home by an average score of 14 points . The Purple Eagles, who led 23-21 at halftime, held the Saints to their fewest points total in the series since Jan. 19, 1996 when Niagara won 52-50.
Rider junior Novar Gadson’s offensive put-back as the horn sounded allowed the visiting Broncs to take down the Canisius College men’s basketball team by a final score of 77-76 Sunday afternoon in the Koessler Athletic Center. The win is Rider’s sixth-straight and improved the team to 12-5 overall and 4-1 in the MAAC, while the Golden Griffins slipped to 7-8 overall and 1-4 in league play.
Gadson, who scored 16 points in the win for Rider, picked up a loose ball in the lane and laid it over the front iron as the horn sounded to give his team the victory. His basket ended a furious four seconds of action as the Broncs missed two close-range shots. After the final horn sounded, the officials reviewed the play on a court side monitor to insure the ball was shot before time had expired, and the video showed Gadson did in fact let the ball go before time ran out.
Calvin Murphy was back in town Friday night on his annual trip up to Monteagle Ridge at Niagara to watch his Purple Eagles take on the Rider Broncs.
If only head coach Joe Mihalich could have had him suit up against Rider, Niagara would’ve been just fine.
Murphy, a 1970 graduate was honored by the school at halftime on a nationally-televised broadcast on ESPNU. The Niagara athletic department decided to set up a meet and greet open to the public two hours before tip to let Murphy talk about his legendary Niagara career. Murphy led a discussion that included a short film of pictures and video clips of his playing days. There were about 25 fans and media members in attendance.
“Whenever I come back, I always want to stress it’s what Niagara University did for me,” Murphy said. “It’s not what I did for Niagara University.”
The Portland Pirates earned their third straight win as Dennis McCauley and Max Legault scored two goals each in a 4-3 win over the Manchester Monarchs in front 4,597 people at the Cumberland County Civic Center on Saturday night.
The win moved the Pirates (21-11-4-1) to within three points of the Monarchs (24-14-1-1) for top spot in the AHL’s Atlantic Division.
“The bulls eye is on them,” said McCauley. “When the boys came in tonight on a mission for the two points and we’ve got some games in hand so this game was just that much more important for us.”
“We felt like we came in and got the job done tonight.”
The University at Buffalo men’s basketball team fell to Bowling Green, 74-71, in double-overtime in the Mid-American Conference opener at Alumni Arena on Saturday night.
Heading into Saturday’s contest, the Bulls sat atop the MAC rankings in field goal percentage and field goal percentage defense. However, on this night Buffalo struggled to find its rhythm offensively, shooting just 39 percent from the field and allowed the Falcons to shoot 52 percent from the floor.
Tracey Kelusky was a Calgary Roughneck for eight years before he was traded to the Buffalo Bandits this past offseason. He won two championships and was the team’s captain for much of his time with Calgary. The Roughnecks showed how much he meant to the organization with a pregame ceremony which included a White Hat ceremony; given to dignitaries and special guests when they arrive in Calgary, and a plaque presented by Roughnecks owner Brad Banister.
The Roughnecks went and spoiled Kelusky’s return with a 10-9 victory over Buffalo in the NLL opener. Scott Ranger was the star of the game for the Roughnecks with five goals, including four straight in the second quarter. Curtis Dickson, the highly touted rookie for the Roughnecks, scored two goals as well.
For the Bandits, Roger Vyse was the offensive hero with two goals and four assists. Kelusky scored one and registered three assists. Mike Thompson made 27 saves on 37 shots while Mike Poulin got the win for Calgary with 38 saves on 47 shots.
The Bandits look to pick up their first win of the season against the Philadelphia Wings on Saturday January 15th.
Drew Stafford scored with 1:48 left in overtime to give the Buffalo Sabres two big points via a 2-1 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes to wrap up a successful three-game road trip.
Stafford took possession of the puck in his own zone after it went off Jordan Leopold’s skate. He skated through the neutral zone and inside the Phoenix blue line before taking a wrist shot between defensemen Ed Jovanovski’s legs and past Coyotes goaltender Jason LaBarbera for his 14th goal of the season.
The Buffalo Bisons announced Wednesday that they will be installing the LARGEST High-Definition Light Emitting Diode (LED) Video Display in all of Minor League Baseball at Coca-Cola Field before the start of the 2011 season. The new signature 80′ x 33′ LED HD Video Display from Daktronics, Inc. will add an unparalleled level of enjoyment to the Bisons Baseball Experience.
Seven home games and three contests against 2010 NCAA Tournament teams highlight the 2011 Canisius College women’s lacrosse schedule, announced by head coach Scott Teeter on Tuesday.
This is a story about two generations and two visions of Buffalo sports. It’s about a father and a son who ache for just one day of greatness for this once-bustling city on the lake.
Bishop Timon St. Jude was expected to receive its first real test of the season Tuesday evening when the undefeated Tigers traveled to Williamsville East. The Flames came into the game with a record of 7-1, including an upset win over Clarence in the Amherst Tournament last month.
If the Buffalo Sabres have any serious aspirations of making the playoffs this year, they can’t afford to have more letdowns like Tuesday night. The Philadelphia Flyers spotted the Sabres a two goal lead on the road before roaring back to score five unanswered as Philadelphia handed Buffalo an embarrassing loss, 5-2.
The participants for the 2011 NHL All-Star game were revealed Tuesday morning and as expected, no member of the Buffalo Sabres made the cut.
No NCAA Tournament in Buffalo this year? No problem. In one of the wildest weekends in local college basketball memory, the Big 4 gave us a little taste of March here in the second week of January.
I spoke to Buffalo Bills offensive lineman Cordaro Howard this morning and learned the shoulder surgery he had scheduled has been pushed back a week.
We’re exactly at the midpoint of the 2010-11 NHL regular season and for the Buffalo Sabres, they’re literally right back where they started. A recent hot streak that saw them win four of their last five games has them sitting exactly .500 at 18-18-5; a percentage they haven’t seen since the second game of the season.
For Buffalo Bills fans counting down the days until NFL free agency begins in hopes that Buddy Nix is going to do some serious window shopping, I have a piece of relatively sound advice for you…
It’s borderline absurd to put all your chips into a pot that amounts to one football game, but in my eyes at least, two things popped out at me as Auburn squeaked by Oregon to win the BSC National Championship.
Mark Gaughan of the Buffalo News was able to obtain more details of Shawne Merriman’s recent contract extension, and the Buffalo Bills linebacker stands to get more guaranteed money than originally thought.
For the second time this season, senior Bryan Haczyk has been named the Atlantic Hockey Association’s Player of the Week, after a strong performance against the Holy Cross Crusaders this past weekend.
One of the all-time Buffalo Bills greats has passed away. Former running back Cookie Gilchrist is dead at the age of 75 after losing his fight with cancer. According to the Buffalo News, Gilchrist died early Monday while living in an assisted care facility in Pittsburgh.
There’s not too many things in life you can consider a safe bet. One of them however, will be Buffalo Bills general manager Buddy Nix having a very close eye on tonight’s NCAA championship football game between Auburn and Oregon.
While the Bills have once again been long gone from the NFL playoff picture, Buffalo was very well represented this weekend in Wild Card postseason action.
It was a very busy weekend for boy’s high school basketball in Western New York over the past weekend, particularly on Friday. Let’s just right into some highlights.
Senior Anthony Nelson’s fourth career double-double inspired Niagara to a 69-55 win over the Siena Saints on Sunday at the Gallagher Center.
Rider junior Novar Gadson’s offensive put-back as the horn sounded allowed the visiting Broncs to take down the Canisius College men’s basketball team by a final score of 77-76 Sunday afternoon in the Koessler Athletic Center. The win is Rider’s sixth-straight and improved the team to 12-5 overall and 4-1 in the MAAC, while the Golden Griffins slipped to 7-8 overall and 1-4 in league play.
Calvin Murphy was back in town Friday night on his annual trip up to Monteagle Ridge at Niagara to watch his Purple Eagles take on the Rider Broncs.
The Portland Pirates earned their third straight win as Dennis McCauley and Max Legault scored two goals each in a 4-3 win over the Manchester Monarchs in front 4,597 people at the Cumberland County Civic Center on Saturday night.
The University at Buffalo men’s basketball team fell to Bowling Green, 74-71, in double-overtime in the Mid-American Conference opener at Alumni Arena on Saturday night.
Tracey Kelusky was a Calgary Roughneck for eight years before he was traded to the Buffalo Bandits this past offseason. He won two championships and was the team’s captain for much of his time with Calgary. The Roughnecks showed how much he meant to the organization with a pregame ceremony which included a White Hat ceremony; given to dignitaries and special guests when they arrive in Calgary, and a plaque presented by Roughnecks owner Brad Banister.
Drew Stafford scored with 1:48 left in overtime to give the Buffalo Sabres two big points via a 2-1 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes to wrap up a successful three-game road trip.
