More Puck Drop thoughts

Looking through a notebook after spending a couple hours waiting for players to get through their autograph sessions:

----The game: The Blue team won the scrimmage, 7-4, with Mark Mancari getting two goals. He was the only player on either side with more than one. ... Pretty funny seeing Henrik Tallinder checking 5-5 Nathan Gerbe. ... Couple soft goals given up by Jhonas Enroth, including a slapshot Tim Connolly blew by him. Great shot but gotta make the save in the NHL. ... Connolly looked decent with no problems from his hip surgery. ... Patrick Kaleta entertained the front-row fans with some leaps into the glass during the post-scrimmage wind sprints. I wasn't looking at his first collision but you could almost tell by the sound that it was Kaleta hitting the wall.

----The new third jerseys (left): They'll obviously be a big seller. The classic circular crest looks great with the 21st-century update of the numbers on the front. A darker shade of blue than the 70s version, clearly to match the current blue. ... Nice presentation by the Sabres as well with the players being introduced individually through the dry ice smoke via the zamboni entrance. Huge cheers for Ryan Miller, Jason Pominville, Teppo Numminen. ...The jerseys were introduced with a neat video that harkened back to the days of the Aud. Showed Norty and Seymour Knox and Tom Golisano. (No John Rigas though. Don't think I saw any goatheads either.)

---Injuries: Thomas Vanek (pinched nerve in the knee) and Paul Gaustad (bruised shoulder) are going to sit out the exhibition games Monday at Toronto and Tuesday against Montreal in Roberval, Quebec. Vanek's injury actually happened during his physical Friday while Gaustad was injured in Saturday's scrimmage. ... Teppo Numminen did not play in the scrimmage but practiced after it. ... Adam Mair (knee) skated on his own and coach Lindy Ruff said he may be ready for the final preseason game and could potentially be in the lineup for the opener.

Pretty good day overall. A crowd of about 7,000 or so on hand. Heard there was lots and lots of crowds for the autograph session which can be tough. Some nice new graphics on the ribbon board. Couple minor quibbles I heard from fans: Would have liked to see names on the players' practice jerseys for this one and maybe use PA man Jay Moran to announce the goal scorers.

---Mike Harrington

(Photo: Ryan Miller and Tim Connolly show off the new jerseys/Mark Mulville-Buffalo News)

Comments

[cak]

dcs, ITA!!!

[dcs]

NHL needs to go back with the Whites at home.
Sabres just need to go back to their originals...colors included.
Lastly, why am I paying for Connolly to play 10 games again this year?

[Morning Joe]

Beat it Kevin.

Love the return of the classic logo and jersey style. Hope they make it their ONLY jersey soon.

[Kevin O]

The third jerseys look just like the original jerseys. What a scam! $179 for the original jersey with stripes on the side and ties on the neck? There's no way this jersey becomes a top seller in this economy. I could have made that in an hour or two on PhotoShop. Much rather buy something new if I'm going to spend money. Sluggalos forward in 2008.

[Rob]

quote: "Couple minor quibbles I heard from fans: Would have liked to see names on the players' practice jerseys for this one and maybe use PA man Jay Moran to announce the goal scorers." /quote

a random sabres fan that sat down next handed me a line up for the day that included all the players names and practice numbers for the day. on the opposite side of the paper it had the entire team line up with all the future portland players too + full stats for them. Last year they handed this out at the gate. the guy that sat next to me said he picked them up at member services. *note to team* hand them out at the front gate again like you used to so we know who is who for the day. I HAD AN AWESOME TIME!!!

[David R]

Now just get rid of the slug logo and we're good.

[bean]

Of course you won't see the goathead. That wasn't created by Quinn. Not a fan of the goathead, but it certainly was better than Quinn's banana slug. Of course you won't see Rigas, he fired Quinn, even though every document you ever read put out by the team is that "Quinn left the team after the Knox family sold the franchise". Funny, the term "left" implies he quit. The whole Rigas debacle wasn't good, but they did do one good thing, and that was recognize that this guy is a big bag of bull and should stick to building sporting goods stores. Like piping in sound to drown out boos, crafting language that distorts (eliminates?) the truth and butchering contracts until this past summer, if we've learned anything with this team, NOTHING is ever what it seems to be. Now, let's drop the puck and the BS and play some hockey. Go Sabres!