WNY and Buffalo NY Hockey Coverage
February Edition
Zach Benson has scored three goals during the preseason. ©2023, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – As Sabres prospect Zach Benson quickly became the talk of training camp and began pushing for a roster spot, his exploits hardly surprised center Peyton Krebs.
Krebs, after all, has watched him do it before. Three seasons ago, the Winnipeg Ice expected Benson, then a 15-year-old rookie, would mostly practice when he joined the junior team for its truncated bubble schedule in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Instead, the diminutive winger impressed the Ice so ... Read the full article
A smiling Zach Benson talks to the media Wednesday. ©2023
NASHVILLE – Winger Zach Benson had been a Buffalo Sabres prospect for about 20 minutes, but as a sat there smiling wearing a No. 23 blue jersey in Bridgestone Arena, he already seemed comfortable in his new organization.
Benson, the 13th overall pick at Wednesday’s NHL Draft, formed half of a lethal duo with Sabres center prospect Matt Savoie last season, combining for a whopping 74 goals goals and 193 points. As a 15-year-old Western ... Read the full article
Zach Benson played with Buffalo prospect Matt Savoie in Winnipeg. ©2023, Micheline Veluvolu
NASHVILLE – The Buffalo Sabres tonight selected Winnipeg Ice winger Zach Benson at the NHL Draft.
The 5-foot-10, 170-pound Benson scored 36 goals and 98 points in 60 games last season while forming a dynamic duo with Sabres center prospect Matt Savoie. Benson added seven goals and 17 points in 15 Western Hockey League playoff outings.
Benson, 18, has compiled 71 goals and 181 points in 142 career WHL outings over three seasons.... Read the full article
Zach Benson goes through fitness testing June 10 at the NHL Scouting Combine. ©2023, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – When the Winnipeg Ice reconvened to begin an abbreviated season in 2021, James Patrick figured Zach Benson would mostly practice with the junior team. If things went well, the coach hoped the diminutive 15-year-old might play about five games.
In the Western Hockey League, the 5-foot-5, 140-pound rookie winger would be facing opponents four or five years older and nearly a foot taller and 50 or 60 pounds heavier.
Patrick still laughs recalling ... Read the full article
Peyton Krebs joined Buffalo almost a year ago. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – For now, Peyton Krebs has settled in at left wing, a spot he often played down the stretch as a rookie for the Sabres last season.
On another team, Krebs, 21, might be utilized at center, his natural position. But the Sabres, having built up impressive depth down the middle, can construct a lineup featuring about six centers. So a couple must be moved to a wing.
Besides Krebs, three other centers – ... Read the full article
Matthew Savoie talks to the media after Buffalo drafted him ninth overall on July 7 in Montreal. ©2022
The arrangement was unusual. Matthew Savoie would spend most of the 2019-20 season practicing with the Winnipeg Ice, learning the rigors of major junior hockey at the tender age of 15. But the phenom would be permitted to play just half of the team’s games.
Savoie, the ninth overall pick by the Buffalo Sabres on July 7, had applied to Hockey Canada for exceptional status, which would’ve allowed the ultra-talented center to join the Ice ... Read the full article
Matthew Savoie was all smiles Thursday. ©2022
MONTREAL – Centers are perhaps the most precious commodity in hockey, and the Buffalo Sabres had built up an impressive stockpile of them before they selected Matthew Savoie ninth overall, Noah Ostlund 16th and Jiri Kulich 28th at the NHL Draft on Thursday.
In 18-year-old youngsters, the Sabres picked three of the most talented pivots in the draft and added to perhaps the league’s deepest group.
In the NHL, the Sabres have skilled centers Dylan ... Read the full article
©2022, NHL
MONTREAL – The Buffalo Sabres tonight selected Matthew Savoie, a center with the Western Hockey League’s Winnipeg Ice, ninth overall at the NHL Draft.
The 5-foot-9, 170-pound Savoie compiled 35 goals and 90 points in 65 games last season.
“My offensive abilities, my skating ability, I think is what makes me stand out as a player,” Savoie said at the NHL Scouting Combine last month in Buffalo.” I think I have good vision in the ... Read the full article
NHL Draft prospects Matthew Savoie (left) and Conor Geekie talk Friday in LECOM Harborcenter. ©2022
BUFFALO – Center Conor Geekie, an NHL Draft prospect the Sabres could be interested in taking ninth or 16th overall, hails from the tiny prairie town of Strathclair, Manitoba, population 709.
Well, that number from the 2016 Canadian Census is a little misleading. It includes the population of the surrounding area. Strathclair proper is much smaller.
“Um, 137, I think,” Geekie replied Friday when asked how many people live in his hometown. “Just in the ... Read the full article
Matt Ellis (pictured) played for Lindy Ruff before coaching against him. ©2021, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – Of all the coaches the Sabres’ Matt Ellis could’ve faced in his first game filling in for Don Granato, it turned out to be the one he knows best, Lindy Ruff.
These days, Ruff, 61, coaches the New Jersey Devils, the Sabres’ opponent Wednesday at KeyBank Center.
Ellis, 40, played under Ruff for parts of five seasons, growing from a forward the Sabres plucked off waivers into an NHL regular. ... Read the full article