497 days till Vancouver

The NHL regular season starts in one week for the Sabres, but today is opening day of the ticketing process for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. That's merely expected to contain the greatest hockey tournament of all time.

Tickets for all events are not being handled on a first-come, first-serve basis. Spectators must place a request between now and Nov. 7, and a lottery will be conducted to determine who gets what. It's an attempt to limit scalping.

U.S. residents interested in tickets must visit www.cosport.com. Canadians should go to www.vancouver2010.com.

It's a good bet Ryan Miller, Patrick Kane and Jason Pominville won't need to order tickets. They'll be flying via USA Hockey. It's possible Lee Stempniak and Drew Stafford could join them. Jochen Hecht will likely be suiting up for the Germans, Derek Roy has a chance to make Team Canada, while Ales Kotalik (Czech Republic), Maxim Afinogenov (Russia), Toni Lydman (Finland) and a few other Sabres will be auditioning for their countries.

---John Vogl