|
PAGES
BSD FAVS
|
You are currently browsing the archives
for February 2011
 You might say it was a case of identity crisis.
Entering the 2010 season with a brand new coaching regime, many Bills players found themselves in alternate roles and with different responsibilities. No unit was more affected than the defensive front seven, as they were informed over the offseason that the team was switching to the illustrious 3-4 scheme under new coordinator George Edwards.
The ambitious move was supposed to signal an end to the Dick Jauron Cover 2, a defensive philosophy that featured a “bend-but-don’t-break” approach to stopping the opposition. With a 3-4 in place, the Bills were finally stylizing themselves after the notorious defenses run by smash mouth juggernauts like Baltimore and Pittsburgh.
Continue reading ‘Bills Linebackers Have Long Way to Go’
 The Buffalo Sabres today announced the 7th annual Scotty Bowman Showcase will take place on Thursday, April 7 at HSBC Arena. The Scotty Bowman Showcase consists of two all-star hockey games between high school aged players from Buffalo against their rivals from Rochester. Admission for the games is $5.
The first game will be at 6 p.m. with juniors from each city facing off against one another, followed by a game at 8 p.m. between seniors from each city. The winner of the second game will be awarded the Scotty Bowman Cup. The Buffalo seniors won last year’s Bowman Cup, and hold a 5-1 advantage in the event’s six-year history.
The event is named after the legendary Scotty Bowman, the winningest coach in NHL history. He will be in attendance to present the Bowman Cup to the victorious senior team.
Continue reading ‘Scotty Bowman Showcase Set For April 7′
 It all seemed to be going perfectly. Perhaps, a bit too much.
The UB Bulls (15-8, 7-3 MAC) looked invincible, beating teams by an average of 15.3 points per game over an eight game stretch where they went 7-1. The lone loss was a one-point, road slip-up at Western Division front-runner Ball State. UB even smacked conference favorite Kent State by 25.
So Saturday’s trip to Ypsilanti, Mich. to face the Eastern Michigan Eagles; a six-win team one spot above the MAC cellar, should be no contest, right?
Not so.
Continue reading ‘College Corner: Sky Isn’t Falling On UB Just Yet’
 Game of the Week – Niagara Falls @ St. Joe’s on Friday, February 18th
In a week when Canisius visits its rival on Kenmore Avenue, there’s a game that has this blogger even more excited. It’s been a few weeks since the Wolverines have had to pass a test, but they’ll face a big one on Friday when they put their undefeated record on the line. The Marauders are as hot as any team in WNY, currently amidst a 13 game win streak. If they can complete a sweep of the Crusaders, they would enter Friday’s game as unbeaten league champs. The last time any team ran the table in the Monsignor Martin was 2006, the same year that St. Joe’s beat the Jonny Flynn led NFHS, 62-61.
The Wolverines will be looking to solidify their number one ranking both locally and statewide, and enter sectional play with a full head of steam. Falls is number one for a reason, including an early season win over Aquinas, a team viewed by many as the top team in all of Section V, who handed the Marauders an 81-58 loss.
Continue reading ‘Top H.S. Hoops Games This Week’
 Every so often we’re able to add some writers to the Buffalo Sports Daily staff and generally it does under the radar. Briefly on this Monday morning, I wanted to introduce you to a couple of solid, new regular contributors as we continue to expand and hopefully better fulfill all your Buffalo sports cravings.
Joe Charlton is a talented new writer currently in college who is doing some Buffalo Bills stuff for us. He’s been published twice now here, including his latest article on the Bills linebacker situation. We hope that his bloodlines prove him to be as good as we think he’ll become. His uncle is widely respected and long-time Bills reporter from the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Sal Maiorana.
Monica Ulrich is specializing in special interest type of stories. Since joining us a few weeks ago she already provided us with a good look at local women’s roller derby and previewed the Labatt’s Pond Hockey Tournament that took place this weekend. Look for a Powder Keg recap from her over the next few days.
Continue reading ‘An Intro To New BSD Writers’
 A collection of results and summaries from a busy Sunday of local college sports.
Late Run Stops Niagara Basketball At Rider, 61-50
The Niagara men’s basketball team saw its two-game win streak come to an end in a 61-50 defeat to the Rider Broncs on Sunday at Alumni Gym.
Tough shooting and costly turnovers plagued both teams, but it was Niagara (6-21, 3-12 MAAC) that went through a critical rough patch in the latter part of the second half to be swept by Rider (18-9, 10-5 MAAC) for the second straight season.
Continue reading ‘Local College Sunday Results’
 D’Youville College men’s volleyball player Jeremy Sajdak (Rochester, NY/Churchville-Chili) earned his first-ever weekly conference award when he was namd United Volleyball Conference Player of the Week. Two hours later Sajdak received his first career national award when he named the by the American Volleyball Coaches Association as their Sport Imports/Division III National Player of the Week.
Sajdak had a match-high 22 kills to go with 12 digs and one service ace in the D’Youville four-set win over #15 SUNY New Paltz February 6th. One day earlier against Bard College, Sajdak went for 19 kills, seven blocks, and six digs in the Spartan’s five-set win.
D’Youville currently sits tied for first in the UVC standings with a 2-0 record, 6-6 overall.
This marks the 10th time a D’Youville College player has been named an AVCA Division III National Player of the Week. The last time a Spartan received this award was the week of March 19, 2007 when John Colosi (Grand Island, NY) won it. The Head coach of D’Youville in his 15th season is John Hutton.
 If you’re reading this, Lindy Ruff… it’s time to give Ryan Miller some time away from the ice.
Miller won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goaltender last year. This season, Tom Barrasso has a better chance of coming out of retirement and winning it before Miller. The New York Islanders peppered Miller with seven goals and not all of them were pretty as the Buffalo Sabres fell in overtime, 7-6 despite yet another hat trick from red-hot Drew Stafford, his NHL-leading fourth of the season.
Last season Miller allowed four goals or more in game seven times. This year that number is at 14 and counting. Sunday afternoon was Miller’s 31st straight start. He stopped just 19 of 26 New York shots. It’s time to give Patrick Lalime or Jhonas Enroth a night or two behind the pipes.
Continue reading ‘Miller Terrible In Sabres OT Loss’
 The New York State DEC is accepting applications for the Day-old Pheasant Release Program. This program, which is just over one hundred years old, has recently been enthusiastically attempting to counter the 90% decline in the ringed-neck pheasant population in the state since 1970.
WNY holds the most pheasants within the state. The many farms of this region provide perfect habitat for the colorful birds but the numbers do not even compare to the quantities in the sixties and seventies. To boast the population the DEC developed a ten year management plan in 1999 and a new plan was adopted last year to continue increasing the numbers of pheasants available for hunters.
There are several factors that have contributed to the decline in the ringed-neck pheasants. The most significant is the loss of land suitable for bird survival. With the decline in farming state wide and abundant development the uncultivated grass lands that provide cover have disappeared leaving the birds easy targets for the highly adaptive and ever increasing coyote populace.
Continue reading ‘DEC Pheasant Release Applications Being Accepted’
 Saturday night saw a sold out crowd welcome the fighters of the Strikeforce heavyweight Gran Prix to The Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. This event is a three night tournament taking place over several months that will see eight of the world’s best fighters compete for heavyweight supremacy.
The two featured tournament bouts on the evening were Fedor Emelianenko taking on Antonio “Big foot” Silva, and Andrei Arlovski against Sergei Kharitonov. All eyes were on “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko as he came into this fight on the rebound of his first career loss in over a decade. Fans and critics alike wondered if the great Fedor would deliver and bounce back. Unfortunately, Fedor left his legion of fans disappointed once again.
For the first time in his career, Emelianenko, has tasted defeat in back to back bouts. Round one saw Fedor and Silva trading punches on the feet as the round stayed even with one takedown a piece. Fedor worked some of his signature ground and pound on Silva before Silva took down Fedor with just seconds left in the first.
Continue reading ‘Strikeforce Report: Emelianenko’s Future In Doubt’
 As we head down the stretch of the 2010-11 Western New York high school basketball season and into the playoffs, we did a little research to find out how some of the biggest stars from last year’s teams are doing in their first year of college.
Will Regan (Nichols): The WNY 2010 Co-Player of the Year, 2009 Player of the Year and three-time All-WNY selection took his talents to the University of Virginia after leading Nichols to a state title as a high school senior.
For his high school career, Regan set a Monsignor Martin Association record with 2,008 points.
He’s yet to get the chance to play a prominent role as a freshman for Virginia. Regan has appeared in 18 of the team’s 24 games, played an average of just 7.1 minutes per contest and is averaging only 1.4 points per game. He’s hit 11-of-26 shots from the field and 2-of-5 from the free throw line. Regan has pulled down 18 rebounds, eight on the offensive end and blocked five shots. He hasn’t appeared in a game since having a cameo against Maryland on January 27.
Continue reading ‘Last Year’s H.S. Hoops Stars: Where Are They Now?’
 An overtime goal by freshman Ryan Rashid gave the Niagara men’s hockey team (16-11-3, 13-9-1 AHA) a 5-4 victory over the host Air Force Falcons (12-11-6, 10-7-6 AHA) at a sold out Cadet Ice Arena on Saturday night.
Rashid was in the right place at the right time for the Purple Eagles, firing a one-timer from the slot that beat sliding Falcons netminder Jason Torf five-hole at the 2:54 mark to seal the victory.
“Divjak [Patrick] rolled high and found me in the slot,” Rashid said. “I let go of a one-timer that beat the goalie five-hole. It was a great goal to score, especially in the playoff like atmosphere tonight.”
In a game that went back and forth, Niagara hung in there and earned two points, something that has Niagara Head Coach Dave Burkholder rather happy.
Continue reading ‘Niagara Hockey Grounds Falcons In Overtime’
 When Jamestown and Williamsville North met last Tuesday, freshman guard Sterling Taplin was dismantling the Red Raiders with 34 points as North handed them their first ECIC I loss of the season in overtime. In the rematch Saturday evening, Jamestown made sure there’d be no encore performance.
Taplin was held to just five points Saturday and Jamestown junior Jaysean Paige, who didn’t play in the first game, scored 22 points as the Red Raiders got their revenge in a 79-51 blowout victory.
Jamestown led at the half, 32-29 but outscored the Spartans over the final two quarters 47-22 to earn the easy win.
Continue reading ‘Jamestown Destroys North In Rematch’
 The University at Buffalo men’s basketball team dropped a 78-65 decision at Eastern Michigan on Saturday afternoon. Javon McCrea led three Bulls in double-figures with 17 points and added seven rebounds and a pair of steals.
Zach Filzen scored 14 points and Dave Barnett chipped in with 13 points and seven rebounds.
Eastern Michigan led for most of the first half. With the Eagles leading 29-26, McCrea scored six straight points for the Bulls and his steal and breakaway dunk gave the Bulls a 32-29 lead with 1:35 left in the half. Eastern Michigan closed the half on a 5-2 scoring run and led 35-34 at the break.
Continue reading ‘UB Stumbles at Eastern Michigan, 78-65′
 Andrew Nicholson paced the Bonnies (13-10, 5-5 Atlantic 10) with 24 points, Marquise Simmons recorded a new career high 18 and Demitrius Conger added 15 in the second half as St. Bonaventure cruised to an 82-61 win over La Salle (12-14, 4-7) Saturday afternoon at the Reilly Center.
Simmons notched nine points and tied a career high with nine rebounds in nine first-half minutes to pace the Bonnies to a 10-point lead, 37-27, at the break. Conger came alive in the final stanza – scoring 13 of the Bonnies’ first 15 second-half points – to help SBU gain a key conference victory.
Bonnies’ senior Ogo Adegboye chipped in 13 points, eight rebounds and seven assists with no turnovers in 36 minutes. La Salle’s Aaric Murray finished with a team-high 20, but shot 5-for-20 from the field, including 1-of-8 in the second half.
Continue reading ‘Bonnies Upend La Salle on Homecoming’
 Buffalo Bandits star John Tavares has had an illustrious 19-year career in the National Lacrosse League. He added to that with his 700th career goal scored at the 9:37 mark of the first period in a clash against the Philadelphia Wings Saturday night.
Tavares had five goals and four assists in the game which also brings him closer to the 1,500 career points mark with 1,499 total. The Bandits played a complete game in a 16-7 win over the Wings.
The Bandits started the first of many runs in this game with four goals in the first quarter after the Wings scored the first goal of the game. From that point on, the Bandits never looked back in the game, with the Wings only tying the game once in the second quarter. Buffalo outscored the Wings 9-2 in the second half and played a complete game.
Continue reading ‘Tavares Hits Milestone As Bandits Clip Wings’
 The University at Buffalo softball team dropped a pair of games on Saturday at the Jacksonville Invitational, hanging tough with North Carolina, the 25th ranked team in the country heading into the season.
The Bulls began this morning with a 12-1 loss to Bethune-Cookman as UB had four errors in the game. Bethune-Cookman scored the first 12 runs of the game before the Bulls finally crossed the plate in the bottom of the fifth. Freshman Holly Luciano reached on an error to start the inning and then stole second. She advanced to third on a groundout and then scored on a single by freshman Sammi Gallardo.
Junior Haylee Land picked up the loss for the Bulls, while fellow junior Holly Johnson pitched 2.2 innings, striking out five.
Continue reading ‘UB Softball Loses Pair in Florida’
 After Niagara took its only lead of the game with 16:37 remaining, the Canisius College women’s basketball team used a 14-2 run to take control en route to a 56-49 over its rival Purple Eagles in the Gallagher Center on Saturday afternoon. The Golden Griffins improve to 8-16 overall and 4-9 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
Freshman Jamie Ruttle tied for the team lead with 11 points in just 19 minutes after being saddled with foul trouble in the first half. Senior Micayla Drysdale had 11 points, six rebounds and four assists while freshman Courtney VandeBovenkamp had eight points, six rebounds and three assists in 23 minutes off the bench.
“It doesn’t matter what the records are for these teams, you know it’s going to be a close, grind it out game, especially here in the Gallagher Center,” Canisius coach Terry Zeh said. “This win came from a great week of practice. We raised our energy level, answered Niagara’s run and put the game away down the stretch.”
Continue reading ‘Canisius Pulls Away From Niagara in Women’s Hoops’
 Jamestown is the site Saturday night for one of the most anticipated high school basketball rematches of the year when the Red Raiders attempt to seek revenge against Williamsville North at the McElrath Gymnasium. The Spartans upset Jamestown in overtime this past Tuesday, 79-75, handing the second-ranked large school in Western New York their first league loss of the season.
Of course, most know by now Jamestown played that contest without Western New York Player of the Year candidate Jaysean Paige. The junior was suspended by head coach Ben Drake from the game for what was termed a violation of team rules, though a source says Paige skipped practice the day before the game.
An email to Drake regarding Paige’s status for tonight went unreturned as of Friday evening, so his availability to the team remains in question.
Continue reading ‘Preview: Willamsville North At Jamestown’
 Tuscarora State Park’s frozen waters looked like an Inuit village last week with the amazing turnout of 235 anglers for The Wilson Harbor Ice Contest. Before the sun broke the horizon contestants had their huts up, holes poked and gear down for a morning of some tough fishing.
Although we had some pretty cold temps the sun made it tolerable for the 35 boys and girls who participated with their dads and uncles and easy on the guys who did not use a shelter. As always the spirit of sportsmanship was alive and well with immediate and ongoing chatter throughout the morning. Guys were offering tips and suggestions on where to fish and making talk as outdoorsman so naturally do. Hey, they don’t call them “fish tales” for nothing.
The majority of fishermen had a sketchy day on the ice. Most of us guys on the west end had only a couple of fish to speak of but mostly dinks and herring from the view of the underwater cameras. By 10 am some were moving to the east end of the harbor where the keepers were being caught. Unfortunately my cousin Don and I had only two fish to account for our morning, a perch for myself and a bluegill for Don. I have never seen fish so finicky. Tom Croop of North Tonawanda and his son Collin who were camped next to us had the same fate only Colin’s fish placed at the weigh in.
Continue reading ‘The Wilson Harbor Ice Contest’
 The Buffalo Bills will have two less linebackers in the mix for 2011. The team announced Friday afternoon via Twitter that they’ve released linebackers Pierre Woods and Mike Balogun.
Woods had one defensive and three special teams tackles for the team after being claimed off waivers on December 6 from New England.
Balogun dressed for five games and saw the field for two. He didn’t record any defensive or special teams statistics. He was signed from the Tampa Bay practice squad and also spent time on the Redskins practice squad after being but by San Francisco during training camp.
 ♦ Tuesday night, Williamsville East was at the free throw line in its game against the Billies. A Williamsville South cheerleader began performing a series of back flips on the opposite end and made it all the way to half court. The Flames’ Trenton Miller, who was facing the free throw situation on the middle of the court at the center line, realized she was coming at him a second before she would have taken him out, and moved. Definitely one of the crazier things I’ve seen this season.
♦ It was upset Thursday in the Yale Cup yesterday, as three ranked schools fell to unranked league opponents, with two of the games having a major impact on the league race. Ninth ranked large school Bennett was beaten by Riverside, sixth ranked large school East lost at Hutch Tech, and sixth ranked small school OTC Middle College fell to City Honors. The league implications are that East falls back into a tie with McKinley in Division I, while I-Prep at Grover can now clinch the Division II title with a win at MST Seneca on Tuesday.
♦ On Thursday night, JFK held Eden to four points in the second half, while scoring 44.
Continue reading ‘H.S. Hoops Random Smatterings’
 The Super Bowl is finally over, but for many football fans across the nation, the offseason began several weeks ago. With Ralph Wilson Stadium lying dormant for yet another January, Bills fanatics are seeing plenty of extra time on their hands to speculate about the immediate future.
So far, the offseason has begun with some pleasant surprises. Dave Wannstedt’s addition to the coaching staff and the announcement of a uniform overhaul are a step in the right direction. Nevertheless, the organization must navigate additional savvy moves to begin pumping more life back into a fan base growing more flustered with each losing season. Chiefly among concern is the upcoming NFL Draft, and how the Bills will address a painfully obvious assortment of needs.
Entering the 2010 draft, there were serious questions marks at a variety of positions for a Bills team that finished 6-10 the year before. Quarterback play, the malaise that accompanied an inexperienced offensive line and a virtually non-existent pass rush on defense were all legitimate concerns. Yet Buddy Nix and newly-hired Chan Gailey wasted little time in snatching up running back C.J. Spiller with the ninth overall pick, despite the position being one of the deepest on the team.
Continue reading ‘Can the Bills Afford Another Luxury Pick in 2011?’
 He didn’t have the longest career, but former Buffalo Sabres tough guy Andrew Peters was one of the era’s more popular players. The six-year veteran who also had a cup of coffee with the New Jersey Devils has officially announced his retirement from the NHL.
“While it is hard to retire from the game I have loved since I was a child, I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to play with and against the best players in the world over the course of my career,” said Peters. “Playing hockey in the NHL was the ultimate accomplishment for me and I want to thank my teammates, coaches, fans, and the media for helping make it a special experience.”
Peters played in 229 NHL games, 200 with the Sabres since breaking into the league in 2003-04. He scored four goals and had three assists but was obviously known for his toughness. He accumulated 650 penalty minutes and was always known to be the first to stick up for a teammate on or off the ice.
Sabres fans will most fondly remember Peters because of the beating he gave Ottawa Senators goaltender Ray Emery just minutes after Emery pounded Martin Biron following what became essentially a brawl after Chris Neil hit Chris Drury with a cheap shot.
 If you slept in a bit late this Friday morning, you woke up to find that the Buffalo Bills have made their first offseason transaction by re-signing safety Jon Corto. More than likely, your reaction was “so what”.
The Orchard Park native would’ve become a restricted free agent whenever a CBA is reached if it doesn’t happen before March 4. He’s been with the team since 2007 and has appeared in 43 games, mostly as a special teams player and has made 22 special team tackles.
Corto had five special team tackles in 2010, tied for fifth on the team.
Although Corto is highly unlikely to be in the Bills plans defensively, he is a safety and at worst an extra body at the position during training camp. Current safeties Donte Whitner and George Wilson will be free agents and it’s uncertain if both or either will be back.
|
|
