Sabres Edge

Suddenly, a hockey game against the NHL's best team doesn't seem all that important. It was a somber scene this morning at HSBC Arena as the Sabres went through their usual gameday skate to prep for tonight's visit from the San Jose Sharks. There are a lot of low voices and blank faces in the locker room because several players live in Clarence and guys like Teppo Numminen, Jaroslav Spacek and Patrick Lalime actually heard the noise and saw the flames from the crash of Continental 3407. (See story here.) 

"You think about how big the country is and something happens like that 800 yards from your home," Spacek said. "You've got to think about it. Everything stops. It's not about hockey. It's about the lives and about the people here in Buffalo first."

""It's an incredibly sad day for our city and we've talked about it that this is going to reach and touch a lot of people," said coach Lindy Ruff, who lives in Clarence a couple miles from the site.  "You've got to get through it. It's an area where a lot of us live. Everybody is going to know somebody that's touched by this. It's a tough day for Buffalo."

Longtime observers here said the red-eyed Ruff was about as emotional as anytime they've ever seen him in his 12 seasons here. Hard not to be. The game will go on tonight but so many of us are waiting for word on who was on that plane. It's going to be a hard night.

(As for hockey, Numminen said he had a migraine Wednesday night and is fine and Andrej Sekera should be back from his ankle injury. Nathan Paetsch and Andrew Peters will be scratches. Ryan Miller will be in goal again).

---Mike Harrington