WNY and Buffalo NY Hockey Coverage
2026-27 Season Edition
The frustration has often been visible on Ryan Miller’s face this season ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Forget about merely making the playoffs. Forty-six days ago, a long postseason run felt like a real possibility following the Sabres’ season-opening 5-2 home victory over Philadelphia.
The next day, a 2-1 road triumph in Toronto only strengthened the belief the veteran club could be an Eastern Conference heavyweight.
The Sabres possessed offensive firepower, a deep defense corps, unyielding muscle and a franchise goalie, right?
Well …
The 13th-place Sabres ... Read the full article
Marcus Foligno hasn’t scored since Jan. 27. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – It was more of a learning tool than a true benching. When Ron Rolston scratched Marcus Foligno on Thursday, the interim Sabres coach took his surprised rookie aside.
Instead of simply telling Foligno, “You’re not playing tonight,” Rolston analyzed the winger’s play with him.
“He showed me a lot, what I could bring, where my good things I do on the ice and things that I got to start doing,” Foligno said ... Read the full article
Brian Flynn skated 8:50 on Saturday. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – In Brian Flynn’s mind, he “had no business getting drafted.” Getting bypassed during two consecutive NHL Entry Drafts was no slight.
“I wasn’t very good,” the 24-year-old Flynn acknowledged Saturday afternoon prior to making his NHL debut in the Sabres’ 4-3 shootout win over the New Jersey Devils inside the First Niagara Center. “I was undersized. But I think that helped me a lot. Ever since then I’ve gotten better every year.”
Flynn ... Read the full article
Brian Flynn will make his NHL debut this afternoon. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – When Thomas Vanek sat out practice as a maintenance day Friday, interim Sabres coach Ron Rolston thought his leading scorer would play today against the New Jersey Devils.
“Coming back this morning, he still was sore,” Rolston said earlier this afternoon inside the First Niagara Center.
Vanek (upper body) will sit today, although Rolston believes it’s just a short-term injury. The slick winger could return Sunday in New York versus the Rangers.
Meanwhile, ... Read the full article
Marcus Foligno has one goal this season. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
If the Buffalo Sabres had some better options, Marcus Foligno could’ve been benched weeks ago.
Instead, the 21-year-old power forward, a healthy scratch tonight against the Florida Panthers, kept struggling right beside the rest of the Sabres’ anemic offense.
It’s often cliché to talk about the “sophomore jinx,” but Foligno’s certainly experiencing an epic slump during his first full NHL season.
Twenty contests into the 48-game campaign, Foligno has just one goal and eight points. ... Read the full article
Ryan Miller was angry following the Sabres’ fourth straight loss. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Nothing has changed. The Sabres are still a mess, perhaps the NHL’s worst team. Since firing Lindy Ruff on Wednesday and naming Ron Rolston interim coach, they’ve lost both games and scored one goal.
The disenchanted crowd inside the First Niagara Center booed and moaned Saturday throughout an ugly 4-0 loss to the New York Islanders, just like they did during Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat to Winnipeg, Ruff’s final game as coach.... Read the full article
James van Riemsdyk fires in his second goal of the game past Tyler Myers and Ryan Miller on Thursday. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
TORONTO – Well, maybe it wasn’t Lindy Ruff’s fault after all. Perhaps the Buffalo Sabres are simply a bad hockey club.
If they couldn’t cobble together a strong, 60-minute effort Thursday, a day after the Sabres axed the NHL’s longest-tenured coach, will they ever?
With the franchise reeling and Ron Rolston making his debut as interim coach, the Sabres played another terrible second period, allowing two goals, the difference in the 3-1 loss ... Read the full article
Ron Rolston coaches his first NHL game Thursday. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
TORONTO – Ron Rolston walked to a podium Thursday afternoon inside the Air Canada Centre, surveyed the landscape before him – about 30 reporters and a dozen cameras – and immediately cracked his first joke as the Buffalo Sabres’ interim coach.
“It looks like the same media coverage as Rochester,” joked Rolston, who replaced Lindy Ruff on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, Rolston was preparing his Rochester Americans for an AHL tilt against the Texas Stars. ... Read the full article
Thomas Vanek said this afternoon he keeps “waiting for Lindy to come back.” ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
TORONTO – A day later, Lindy Ruff’s dismissal as coach of the Buffalo Sabres after 15 seasons still hadn’t sunk in for some of his former players. For 13 current Sabres, Ruff was the only NHL coach they had even known before Ron Rolston took over on an interim basis Wednesday.
Ruff’s firing following the Sabres’ terrible 6-10-1 start stunned them. He had just led a 90-minute practice. But when Ruff boarded the team bus ... Read the full article
Lindy Ruff began coaching the Sabres in 1997. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Darcy Regier walked in looking shaken. The Sabres general manager broke down a couple times while discussing the difficult decision to fire his close friend Lindy Ruff, the NHL’s longest-tenured coach.
Regier and Ruff had been synonymous with each other since 1997, when a rookie GM gave a young coaching prospect his dream job. Together, they experienced all the highs and lows of the NHL, somehow managing to keep their gigs despite limited ... Read the full article