fire bucky gleason, it's about time edition

I'm surprised it took until the end of November, but we finally got the column we were all expecting. Before I get started, I'd just like to point out that in the Sabres' first 17 games they were 12-4-1 and led the the Northeast Division. Again, going in to last week they were in first place and positioned to take the overall points lead in the Eastern Conference. Got it? Good.

If you withstood the damp breeze and waited at the foot of Washington Street until the puck was dropped Friday night, you had a pretty good chance to talk the scalpers outside HSBC Arena into coughing up a couple of Sabres' tickets for little more than a few bucks and a song.

If you wait until the puck drops you can generally talk scalpers into giving you tickets for nothing regardless of how the team's playing. It's not because the Sabres are lousy, it's because those tickets are very rapidly losing value by the second. I got a seat to Buffalo-Carolina Game 6 in '06 for $80 by waiting. That ticket was worth three times that, at least.

Gone are the days when 18,690 was a given downtown for a Friday night game against anybody, let alone a longtime rival and the defending division champ. After all, the Bruins were in town, not the Blue Jackets, yet blocks of seats remained vacant in the 300 level for a silver game.

I really don't know what to say to this. The Bruins are the defending division champ, true, but they're also struggling mightily this season. Two of their best players were injured. Plus, it's a silver game making it that much more expensive. Hell, the Blue Jackets probably would have packed the house because it would've been a bronze game and Rick Nash isn't on the shelf. In conclusion, this paragraph (and the paragraph I wrote about it) stole five minutes of your life.

It's hardly a sign of doom,

Then why the hell are you being so damn ominous about it?

but a few years ago fans would have lined up for any ticket.

Because everybody was surprised with how good the Sabres were coming out of the lockout. The 2006-07 regular season was a pretty magical ride.

People have become more judicious with their buck and more skeptical about their team.

I'm going to pause here for a moment to remind everyone that the Sabres were 12-4-1 entering last week. Caught up? OK.

Perhaps you can blame a slow economy

Probably a pretty good excuse. All we hear all damn day long is how the economy's in the toilet, nobody has any money, and there's no hope in sight. So, naturally, people are going to be scared about how they're spending their money. $150 for a pair of Sabres tickets are a luxury a lot of people can't afford right now.

or the Bills

The Bills are 3-7, and everybody's really pissed off about them. I doubt they're stealing fans. Especially on a Friday night.

or the time of year with Thanksgiving around the corner and Christmas five weeks away.

Meaning, on top of the slow economy, most folks are even more acutely aware of their bottom line since they need to set aside a pretty healthy amount of their income for holiday expenses.

With two legitimate reasons as to why ticket sales are slow (even the mighty NFL is seeing a drop off in attendance, at games for teams that don't suck; but as a consequence, their TV ratings are through the roof so people still care), and one lousy reason, I'm sure the issue is pretty well resolved. I'm surprised this column is so short, because we've really explored-

Or perhaps it says something about the Sabres.

Oh.

Buffalo had had another uneventful night Friday before getting what they had coming, a 2-1 overtime loss to a patient Boston team.

So, people didn't go to the game Friday because they expected the Sabres to lose? What? They started off 12-4-1, and were 12-5-1 going into Friday. The wheels fell off after one loss??

It was a predictable ending considering how Buffalo played for much of the game before Patrice Bergeron deflected Zdeno Chara's shot from the blue line past Ryan Miller.

Didn't see the game. Can't confirm. But it was in overtime. So, if the Sabres were really that uneventful, forcing OT and getting a point is actually a pretty decent outcome all things considered.

It's funny how Buffalo has humbly plodded along and taken over first place in the division without the unmistakable buzz that accompanies local teams with promise.

This may, or may not, have something to do with the fact that local media outlets jump down the team's throat after one overtime loss, apparently. I was excited about their division lead, but I also realized that there's still a lot of hockey left to play.

Fans are optimistic while proceeding with caution, reluctant to completely jump on board.

Because all they hear all offseason ever is how stupid the general manager is, and how lousy all the players not born in South Buffalo are. I think fans are on board, but aren't ready to throw around "Stanley Cup contender" after 20 games, because if you do you're insane. Remember when the Jets were 3-0, had the AFC East by the throat, and Mark Sanchez was a brilliant manchild with the full complement of NFL quarterback skills? How'd the work out? They're 1-6 since and all the playoff talk turned out to be premature? Oh.

You can't blame them.

For not jumping off the deep end twenty games in? No, not at all. What's your excuse?

That's what happens when a team misses the playoffs for two straight seasons.

Oh god. Cut that out. If fans are allowed to be pessimistic ninnies after barely missing the playoffs for two years, then they shouldn't be allowed to get excited if the Sabres make the Conference Finals and then win their first ten games the following season.

The Sabres were only about 400 fans short of a sellout, but it sounded more like 4,000.

Hold on... I thought tickets were so easy to come by you could hoodwink even the most skilled scalper? Now we discover that approximately 18,290 people showed up. That's a pretty solid number. Percentage-wise it's even closer. Canadian (Canadian!) are seeing thousands of tickets go unsold, so by comparison (a really stupid comparison, but a comparison still) we're in great shape. Especially considering the economy, and how everybody likes to harp on how Buffalo apparently only has two nickels to rub together. And they're both at M&T Bank.

Heck, fans couldn't even muster up enough rage to greet winger Daniel Paille with the customary boos reserved for ex-Sabres making their returns.

Holy. Freaking. Crap. I thought we were supposed to give returning players standing ovations?

He was treated largely with indifference,

Maybe because he's Daniel Paille. Doug Janik didn't take any heat when he returned with the Lightning, nor did Michael Ryan. Dan Paille was treated with indifference because he's a guy who couldn't get on the ice, and spent much of recent seasons watching from the press box. Fans didn't get to know him well enough to care.

which was basically how fans reacted for most of the game before hitting the streets and trying to make sense of another disappointing effort.

Just to be clear, after this game Buffalo had still won almost two-thirds of their games this season. If fans were "trying to make sense of another disappointing effort" it's because it's very uncharacteristic of these Sabres this season.

It's hard to figure out this team, really.

Not really. They're a good hockey team with a lot of talent. There are 82 games in the season. We're not going to win all of them. Boston also happens to have talent. They beat us. It happens.

Right when it appears they're ready to make a surge, they take a step back. The game Friday night wasn't quite the insufferable snoozer they played Wednesday night against the Panthers, but there wasn't much to get people out of their seats, either. The loss to Florida could be discarded as a clunker, an aberration considering how well they had played.

Crucial Admission No. 1: through the first seventeen games the Sabres played well. So well even Bucky Gleason was forced to admit they're a good hockey team. With that in mind, a bad game here or there is forgivable since it's an aberration¹.

This one was better,

Meaning, of course, the Panthers game really was an aberration.

but the Sabres still failed to establish themselves as the hungrier team. They generated little offense and few scoring chances.

Judging by the low score, neither did Boston. And, if Boston did generate a lot of offense, hats off to the Sabres' D and Miller for shutting it down most of the night.

They were outshot, 14-3, in the second period

They're always outshot in the second period.

against a Boston team that traveled Thursday night after beating Atlanta in a shootout.

Meh. Usually that should be an advantage, but Boston's starting to find itself. Also, under that logic Buffalo should never win the second game of a back-to-back set.

Buffalo played better in the third

Because for whatever reason they tend to take the second period off. What you're saying here is that this is a good hockey team that met a pretty strong opponent. It happens. 82 games, remember.

but overall it lacked, well, the necessary oomph that resonates throughout the building.

Translation: "I couldn't find anything actually wrong with their performance in the third period, but because they didn't win something was lacking and I'm going to blast them for not winning, which should be criminal in Buffalo and Erie County."

For all the excitement they generated while going 12-4-1 in their first 17 games,

For the record, it's not until we're two-thirds through the entire column that we learn just how well the Sabres played to start the season. Pathetic. But, it gets even better...

you couldn't help but wonder if their last two were more indicative of them needing to claw their way through the season.

There you have it, folks. 2 game sample size of one bad game and one strong game where Buffalo just came up short > 17 game sample size including lots of excellent hockey. This in a column where he openly wonders why fans get convinced their local teams are lousy.

Paul Gaustad proved he was a gamer once again, and not just because he scored after parking his sturdy frame just outside the crease. He and Patrick Kaleta showed up with the same intensity and snarl people have come to expect. Just about every other forward was MIA.

"Just about every other forward" means everybody but Tim Kennedy, natch.

Thomas Vanek had a few weak scoring chances but for the most part lacked energy and emotion for another evening.

But he had scoring chances. According to last week's column, just having scoring opportunities is enough. Remember that? When you worshipped Tim Kennedy for where he was putting his fanny? Even though he still has only five points?

Tim Connolly, who hasn't scored in nine games, was noticeable only when he was giving away the puck.

Shenanigans. Shenanigans, shenanigans, shenanigans. You are deliberately misleading. True, Connolly has not scored a goal in what is now ten games. But in that ten game stretch he has seven (7!) assists for seven points. Points (and assists, for that matter) happen to be a statistical category in which he currently leads all Sabres. To compare, Tim Kennedy during that ten game stretch also has zero goals, but only one assist for one point. So, in sum, it's OK for Tim Kennedy to not score points because he's from South Buffalo and plays a puck possession style. But it's not OK for Tim Connolly to not score goals because he's from Syracuse and plays a better style of puck possession. Got it? Me neither. If you do follow that logic you're probably the guy I hate sitting next to at Sabres' games.

I honestly do not know what Bucky Gleason has against Tim Connolly, other than that he wasn't traded last year. Whenever Connolly generates a point (which he does a lot, to the tune of 17 in 20 games), I picture Bucky sitting there like this, mumbling to himself angrily about how this is what Tim should be doing:


The core of veteran players who should be leading the Sabres inhibited them.

The core of veteran players also gave up one regulation goal. You just said last week that scoring goals is not more important than preventing them. Do you remember anything you write at all, ever?

Let's remember,

Why start now?

too, that the Bruins were without Marc Savard. Backup Tuukka Rask was hardly forced to stand on his head. Milan Lucic was playing just his second game after missing 14 games, but he was his usual miserable self before scoring a goal off a two-on-one with the Sabres slow getting back.

Speechless. Again.

Tonight's game against the Senators marks the 20th of the season, the proverbial quarter pole.

I've come to hate the word "proverbial." The word you're actually looking for here is "metaphorical" but for some reason, that word doesn't have any popular usage. And it's barely a metaphorical quarter pole, since 20 is roughly 25% of 82. It actually is the approximate end to the first quarter of the season.

It's over the next 20 games that the Sabres can turn a strong start into a good season and make a case for themselves as a viable playoff team.

And it's over the following 20 games that the Sabres can solidify their playoff chances. And it's over the final 20 games that the Sabres can clinch their playoff spot. Stop writing stupid things.

For now, I'm still not sold.

Again, I just want to make sure we're all entirely clear what Bucky Gleason is saying here. The Sabres started off strong, going 12-4-1 and taking the lead in their division. They struggled to 12-6-2 to finish out the first twenty, but are still very much in control of the Northeast. However, the 12-4-1 start counts for absolutely nothing and we should really look at their 0-2-1 week to see what the "Real Sabres" are. I really can't comprehend how galactically stupid this is. Of course Buffalo's fortunes can change, it's a long season. But until they play as badly for a stretch long enough to actually contradict how well they started I won't be sold on what you're trying to sell here ("These guys suck!"). This is so extreme it qualifies as buckyperbole.

¹ - Many thanks go out to Roget's Thesaurus for helping Bucky learn the word "aberration" which I do not believe he would've come up with on his own.