Taro T

Someone from Philly viewing area could answer more definitively, but apparently the reason that Phlyer feeds of games don't end up on DirecTV is due to some war that Comcast has with satellite providers. The Philly Comcast is one of the very few RSN's that aren't on the DirecTV sports package. As mentioned, I don't have many details about that one, perhaps Clements22 or one of the other people in Filly could give a better answer.

Sorry, BiB, but that one is fake.

The front of the shirt is plain. No logo. No text.

Who cares if she can sing?!? She's hot and she likes hockey!

Well, not when you're calling in air strikes.

Not only is she hot, she's a hockey fan!

Actually, as much as I like to believe in conspiracy theories against Buffalo teams, the other 2 (not so) subtle differences are why he didn't get suspended this time. 1. Wellwood did end up injured, Thomas didn't. While I think the discipline should be based on intent far more than outcome, the league has NEVER looked at it that way. Had Vanek been hurt like Cole was (or worse), then Gauthier would have received a suspension (in all likelihood). 2. As (IIRC) Colie Campbell stated, in reference to Varada being headbutted in the Finals, "the playoffs are different". While discipline shouldn't be less severe for actions that have legitimate chances to injure players AND also appear to have been intents TO injure in the playoffs, the league has never agreed with me on that one. I can't recall anyone ever getting suspended in the playoffs (at least under the current regime) for a play that DIDN'T injure someone. Even though it send the completely wrong message to players, the league doesn't suspend people unless someone is injured; especially in the playoffs. Unfortunately, in this situation, the best the Sabres realistically could have hoped for was Vanek not being injured and the refs calling the game the way it should be called. They did get that. They also get to play against one extra pylon for (hopefully only) 2 more games.

Well, they definitely have the a-dope part down. Not sure what they plan to do for the rope. (But I do have some ideas for what they could do WITH a rope!)

Team with the best seeding gets home ice. By virtue of "winning" the Atlantic Division, NJ is considered the 3rd seed and will have home ice over anyone but Carolina or Ottawa in the East. Assuming Buffalo and NJ both win, if Carolina and Ottawa win, Buffalo plays Otters next round. If 1 of higher seeds wins and one loses, Buffalo plays in Joisey. If both top seeds are knocked off, Buffalo hosts Moe-ray-aal. Home ice for the SC finals is based on record.

TSN is owned primarily by Bell Globemedia. (ESPN has a minority stake, thus all the sets on Sportscentre looking like Sportscenter.) OLN in the US is owned by Comcast which also owns the Phlyers. OLN Canada, which does not show NHL games, is apparently owned by Bell Globemedia, Rogers Media (which owns Rogers Sports Net), and Comcast. Though TSN and Comcast both share ownership of OLN Canada, I do not believe that the same people would be running TSN and OLN (US). As near as I can tell, the NHL owns the "Center Ice" franchise. I personally would lay blame for CI NOT showing a game they were supposed to show with them. You would think that it wouldn't be too expensive for them to give some kid $10 bucks to watch the games and tell someone to switch the #$!@%! feeds if one of them has "technical difficulties" or just does what TSN did and switches away from the game. (I'm certain they can work out rights fee issues as posters here have stated that eventually the TSN feed was replaced by the MSG feed.) IIRC, this kind of happened on NFL Sunday Ticket when the Bills beat NE 31-0. A friend of mine watching the game in the NYC market couldn't watch the game on ST because the game was being shown over air in NYC. When the game became a blowout, the NYC station switched to something else, and my friend couldn't watch the end of the game because ST had blacked out the ST feed because the game was being broadcast (theoretically) in NYC.

And this is a bad thing because ...?

Gauthier got a game misconduct to go with his 5 minute major for hitting Vanek from behind. Eager was a little over eager and got a 10 minute misconduct in the 2nd and another after he finally got out of the box in the 3rd. Neither is scheduled to miss Wednesday's game as of my writing this, but I do expect Gauthier's hit to be reviewed and he MAY (or may not, this is the NHL) receive additional discipline.

Doesn't matter, as long as they keep icing teams that the Sabres can win 10 of 12 from during the regular season, they can do whatever they want!

Not quite true. Bruins fans hate the new NHL as well.

If you are in Buffalo or Rochester (and probably a few other places in NY), during the 1st round (definitely) and the 2nd round (most likely) the OLN Sabres games will be blacked out because MSG has the broadcast rights for the region. On DirecTV, the game will typically be on 627 (although there could be some sort of perfect storm of NYC based games going on and the game could move to 625). MSG will definitely show all the round 1 games except game 5. That is an NBC game. OLN and NBC have the final 2 rounds exclusively, so CI goes away and so does MSG coverage of the Sabres (assuming they get there).

That's how it went.

Putting Peters out there actually works to the Phlyers benefit. Sabres rolling their lines (or at least trying to, it's hard to do when you have ~25 minutes of powerplay time a game) is one of the things that is killing Filly. Putting Peters in the game does 2 things for Filly: it gives them an opportunity to CLAIM that it's the Sabres that want to goon things up and it also forces Buffalo to double shift Hecht (of course that is assuming the Sabres don't spend 1/2 the game on the powerplay).

Actually there is at least one Phlyer that IS that stupid. Not sure which Phlyer it was (have it on tape so I could figure it out if I cared, they're all idiots), but when Eager went after Vanek, McKee was tied up with a guy. McKee pulled him forward and the guy kicked his leg backwards over the boards into the Sabres bench and hit Grier right in the Shatanic Goathead.

I was just reading the latest THN (Vol 59 #31) and in it there was a disturbing article about video replay. (Sorry, I have the issue in print, so didn't check to see if it is on the web.) They stated that the digital recorders used in the different rinks in the NHL use too low of a frame / second to be able to always see a puck in the net (they didn't see it in an Edmonton Minnesota game recently). So the in-rink official may not be able to correctly state that a puck is in the net when it in fact is in the net. Well, that's why they have the high tech stuff in the "war room" in Toronto, right? Wrong. The guys in Toronto ONLY SEE THE OVER AIR BROADCAST OF THE GAMES. They don't get any of the backfeeds and can't call to production trucks to get specific replays. In the particular game in question, the network broadcasting the game didn't buy the overhead video feed (apparently they have to pay extra for that one) and didn't show a side angle view that would have shown the puck in the net until AFTER the play resumed. I can understand the league trying to save money, but this is ridiculous. They are definitely setting themselves up for another "No Goal" situation. Just when I think they are getting their act together, they prove that they aren't.

I think it officially ends when the Phlyers season ends, so this year you have about a week left.

While that wouldn't surprise me, Clements22 stated that the radio show HOST was saying he wants Sabres injured. For some reason that strikes me as being far worse.

Thanks for the explanation. I still have no idea why Morganti would make something like that up. That is bordering on mind-numbingly pointless. Oh, well.

"Doctor said she'll be OK. I guess she just won't be able to eat any spicy foods for a while. hehe"

Here's what I posted yesterday over on TSR about the showing of the hit. Apologies to anyone that already read it over there. Just another aside about the hit. Over on the Phlyers Phan board, there was a lot of whining about the hit being shown multiple times on the Jumbotron. (5+ times seems to be a common perception.) I was at the game and just watched the MSG version of that portion of the game and can honestly state I would like to know what drugs those guys (and the OLN guys that goaded them on) were smoking because it must be some reeeaaally incredible stuff. The Jumbotron shows the game in real time, so the hit (most likely) made it to the jumbotron when it occurred. The hit was repeated ONCE about 4 minutes after Umberger went down (which was actually about 2 minutes after he skated off the ice) as the game was being delayed by Captain Kangaroo's continued discussion with the referees. Apparently, the hit was then reshown during the intermission on the Jumbotron during the MSG intermission simulcast. (I was talking with some friends in the concourse and didn't see the simulcast.) Assuming the feed in the rink is the same one that went out to the home viewers, the hit was shown exactly 1 more time. About 4 seconds after showing the hit, Kevin Sylvester said (and this is paraphrasing) "Just so everyone knows, we were told Umberger is alright. We would not have shown that if he was injured." So, I have no idea what the OLN guys (and Phlyer Phans) are whining about; as the hit (if you include showing it real time) was shown on the Jumbotron exactly 3 times. (Once real time, once during a Phlyer induced delay in the action, and once 15 minutes later with a disclaimer.) Also, if there are any Phlyer Lurkers out there, the Sabre fans DID cheer for Umberger when he got up.

She also was Woody's girlfriend from back in Hanover on Cheers. EDIT: She also dumped Brad in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.