WNY and Buffalo NY Hockey Coverage
October Edition
Tyler Ennis was hurt Wednesday. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Struggling Sabres winger Tyler Ennis is week-to-week with an upper-body injury, coach Dan Bylsma said this morning.
Ennis, who absorbed a big hit Wednesday from Washington’s Alex Ovechkin, is enduring a miserable season. The 26-year-old recently missed 14 games with an upper-body injury that is unrelated to his current one, Bylsma said. He has only three goals and 11 points in 23 games and hasn’t scored since Oct. 27, a 14-game stretch.
“He ... Read the full article
Brian Gionta has four goals this season. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Just weeks before his 37th birthday, Sabres captain Brian Gionta owns a coveted spot on the right wing beside slick rookie center Jack Eichel.
At an age when most players are either retired or reduced to supporting roles, the Sabres still lean heavily on Gionta in his 15th season, skating him more than 18 minutes a game in every situation.
“I feel the overall game is there,” Gionta said Friday ... Read the full article
Jamie McGinn has celebrated a lot of goals this season. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Right away, Jamie McGinn could hear the excitement in Ryan O’Reilly’s voice. It was June 26, and the two friends had just been traded from the Colorado Avalanche, only they didn’t know they would be joining the Sabres together.
So McGinn and O’Reilly called each other when they learned the full details of the blockbuster deal from television.
The two forwards had grown close over the years, and they knew moving to ... Read the full article
Mike Babcock has an eight-year contract from Toronto. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – As decision day approached, it appeared Mike Babcock, the prized free agent coach, had whittled his choices down to two teams: Detroit, where he had spent 10 seasons guiding the Red Wings, or the rebuilding Sabres, a team stocked with young talent and willing to break to the bank.
By most accounts, the Toronto Maple Leafs, one of about five teams Babcock had spoken to, had fallen out of the picture.
But the ... Read the full article
Mike Babcock got a reported $50 million from Toronto. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – As decision day approached, it appeared Mike Babcock, the prized free agent coach, had whittled his choices down to two teams: Detroit, where he had spent 10 seasons guiding the Red Wings, or the rebuilding Sabres, a team stocked with young talent and willing to break to the bank.
By most accounts, the Toronto Maple Leafs, one of about five teams Babcock had spoken to, had fallen out of the picture by Tuesday.... Read the full article
Tom McCollum won his first NHL game Sunday. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Tom McCollum’s career was heading down the minor-league journeyman’s path, going nowhere fast.
Three years into professional hockey, the goalie was still shuttling between the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins and the ECHL Toledo Walleye. After his fourth season, the Detroit Red Wings declined to give him a two-way contract.
Instead, Detroit offered McCollum, the 30th pick in 2008, an AHL deal prior to the 2013-14 campaign. The Cambria native wasn’t even eligible ... Read the full article
Sabres goalie Michal Neuvirth makes a stick save Tuesday. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Not even watching legendary goalie Dominik Hasek, one of hockey’s all-time greats, have his No. 39 raised to the rafters could jumpstart the hapless Sabres, who have now lost a franchise-record eight consecutive games in regulation.
Right now, having dropped 12 of the last 13 contests, the Sabres are mired in perhaps the worst rut in their 44-year history.
The Sabres showcased more ugliness in Tuesday’s 3-1 defeat to Detroit Red Wings, getting ... Read the full article
Dominik Hasek (right) is greeted by Rene Robert (14) and Danny Gare (18) prior to having his number retired Tuesday. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Goalie Dominik Hasek had never picked his own number before the Sabres acquired him in 1992.
Back home in the Czech Republic, he was given No. 9 as a 16-year-old when a player got sick. When he came to North America in 1990, the Chicago Blackhawks gave him Nos. 31 and 34.
So shortly after he arrived, Hasek was shocked when equipment manager Rip Simonick approached him at a late-summer workout at Sabreland ... Read the full article
Dominik Hasek speaks to the media this morning. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Legendary Sabres goalie Dominik Hasek had never chosen his own number.
Back home in the Czech Republic, he was given No. 9 as a 16-year-old when a player got sick. When he came to North America in 1990, the Chicago Blackhawks gave him Nos. 31 and 34.
So shortly after the Sabres acquired him in 1992, Hasek was shocked when equipment manager Rip Simonick approached him at a late-summer workout at Sabreland in ... Read the full article
Dominik Hasek will have his No. 39 retired tonight. ©2015, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – One story about Dominik Hasek’s famously intense practice habits has become part of hockey folklore.
“I heard about it,” said Red Wings star Henrik Zetterberg, the Hall of Fame goalie’s teammate after the Sabres traded him to Detroit in 2001. “I’m not sure if it’s true.”
Legend has it Hasek was once so upset following a particularly bad practice, he spent the night in the training room. Never went home. Just stayed at ... Read the full article