WNY and Buffalo NY Hockey Coverage
Offseason Edition
Sam Reinhart played nine games with the Sabres earlier this season. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – The Sabres will give top prospect Sam Reinhart another crack at the pro game this season.
With Reinhart’s junior season and career over, the No. 2 pick was assigned to the AHL Rochester Americans on Wednesday, according to the Kootenay Ice’s website.
The Calgary Hitmen eliminated the Ice on Monday in a seven-game first-round Western Hockey League playoff matchup
Reinhart started the season with the Sabres, registering one assist in nine ... Read the full article
Matt Hackett has played five games this season. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Instead of a regular practice today, the Sabres held a three-on-three scrimmage officiated by assistant coach Tom Coolen, who barked out orders in a full referee outfit in front of a crowd of veterans invited by the team.
Players gleefully challenged his calls.
“We could actually tell what we really feel against one of our own,” Sabres coach Ted Nolan joked inside the First Niagara Center.
Nolan, whose team had Tuesday off, held ... Read the full article
The Sabres selected Nick Baptiste in the third round in 2013. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
Joining a loaded Erie Otters team featuring Connor McDavid and two other slick 100-point scorers earlier this season has allowed Buffalo Sabres prospect Nick Baptiste to sharpen and expand his game before he begins his pro career.
The Ontario Hockey League powerhouse doesn’t rely on the winger’s offense.
The Otters have McDavid, hockey’s biggest prospect in a decade; Dylan Strome, the league’s leading scorer; and Alex DeBrincat, who quietly scored 51 goals, more than ... Read the full article
Mikhail Grigorenko celebrates his first-period goal Monday. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Emotionally, the Sabres’ 4-3 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes was a difficult game to play in, coach Ted Nolan said.
The bottom-feeders were skating for pride Monday. They Sabres were trying to stave off clinching 30th place for the second consecutive season.
“When you’re out of the playoffs and you’re trying to lift that emotional level up, it’s quite a challenge,” Nolan said following the Sabres’ third win in the last five ... Read the full article
Marcus Foligno has been playing big minutes. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – For about 24 hours, Marcus Foligno enjoyed the family’s bragging rights. The Sabres winger felt good after scoring twice Friday, his first goals in 24 games.
Then Foligno’s older brother, Nick, a breakout star with the Columbus Blue Jackets, outdid him Saturday, scoring his first NHL hat trick and hitting the prestigious 30-goal, 70-point marks.
“He had to go out and one-up me,” Marcus Foligno joked Monday prior to the Sabres’ 4-3 win ... Read the full article
The Sabres picked Eric Cornel 44th in June. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – The Rochester Americans, a team decimated by recalls, have signed 18-year-old Sabres draft picks Eric Cornel and Brycen Martin to amateur tryouts.
Cornel, a center selected 44th in June, had 14 goals and 52 points in 66 games this season with the Ontario Hockey League’s Peterborough Petes. He has 43 goals and 130 points in 197 OHL games.
Martin, a defenseman picked 74th in June, had seven goals and a ... Read the full article
Matt Moulson will return tonight after missing two games. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – For weeks, even months, the Sabres have gone all-out most nights, refusing to check out of their lost season.
They’re 2-3-1 in their last six games. On Saturday, they lost 3-0 to the New York Islanders, a game closer than the score indicated. On Friday, they fell 4-3 to the Chicago Blackhawks after blowing a late lead.
The Sabres, who host the Carolina Hurricanes tonight, just took two strong playoff teams to the ... Read the full article
Andrey Makarov played well in his NHL debut Saturday. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Finally – or perhaps a more appropriate word would be “mercifully” – the end of the Sabres’ long, trying season is in sight.
Three games are left. A regulation loss tonight at home to the Carolina Hurricanes or later this week will cement 30th place, ending probably the oddest campaign in the franchise’s 45-year history.
Hours after the Sabres’ 3-0 loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday, the 29th-place ... Read the full article
Johan Larsson tips the puck past Chicago goalie Scott Darling on Friday. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – In 47 seconds late Friday, the mood inside the First Niagara Center changed dramatically. The Sabres fans worrying their team would pull its most unlikely upset this trying season felt relieved as mighty Chicago Blackhawks quickly roared back.
When Chicago star Jonathan Toews tied it with 1:43 left, the building, which was filled with red Blackhawks jerseys, erupted.
Some hometown fans who had remained quiet as the Sabres erased an early 2-0 deficit ... Read the full article
Bryan Trottier is one of the New York Islanders’ all-time greats. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – New York Islanders legend Bryan Trottier remembers the noise. The roar inside Nassau Coliseum would become deafening, funneling down from the stands to the ice.
“To the point where you’re reading lips,” Trottier, a Sabres assistant coach, said Friday. “Until you actually experience it, it’s just fantastic.”
The Isles are moving to bigger and better digs 24 miles away next season, the shiny Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Trottier, a Hall of Famer who ... Read the full article