Toast and Bananas
The Buffalo “Bananas” are in town and will be donning their new jerseys (see above) tonight when they take on the Carolina Hurricanes in a rematch of the 2005-06 Eastern Conference Finals. So far this season, the Slugs have a record of 3-4 and are currently in last place in the Northeast Division. They have yet to win a single game on the road, (0-2), so let’s hope they don’t break that streak against the Canes tonight! Just in case any of you weren’t paying attention this offseason, Buffalo lost their two co-captains and best players of last year to free agency. Daniel Briere is now playing for the Flyers and of course Chris Drury is on the Rangers. Their leading scorer right now is defenseman Brian Campbell who has 10 points. That’s right Caniacs, there are some defensemen out there who actually score! The highest paid player on the team, Thomas Vanek, (who is cashing 10 million dollars of paychecks this year), currently has a whopping 5 points. That doesn’t sound like a good value, does it? Not when Justin Williams and Rod Brind’Amour, who have 11 points each, are making less put together than what Vanek will average over the life of his 7 year contract. (7.1M) You might want to label that “mismanagement of epic proportions”. Jim Rutherford has made a few mistakes in his career as general manager, but at least he always seems to be able to get the franchise’s RFA’s under contract before other teams have the capability to offer outrageous offer sheets. Hopefully, JR can continue his trend and Buffalo’s management continues with their bungling.
Sabres fans will be happy to hear that the Canes are a bit injury struck at the moment and will be missing some important players. Erik Cole is still out along with Scott Walker, who is now officially on the injured reserve list. (Cole might be able to play Friday night.) Andrew Ladd is still fighting his sprained ankle and is unavailable. Dennis Seidenberg is nursing a sore knee and will also be in the pressbox. More importantly though, Cam Ward will be in net. “Wardo” has a record of 5-0-2, a GAA of 1.83, and a save percentage of .937. Not too shabby! The Albany dudes, Keith Aucoin and Ryan Bayda will be filling in as needed again tonight. I expect that the Canes will use the same lineup they did on Monday night against the Canucks. Obviously, Carolina has been on a roll and has played very well most of this season. Their powerplay percentage is ranked among the league leaders. They need to continue this because while Buffalo has lost their star forwards and has started off a bit slowly, they are still a very dangerous team. Ryan Miller is always decent between the pipes and the rest of the team is all capable of lighting the lamp regularly. Plus, you just know that Linda Ruff will have them all fired up and ready to go. Perhaps he’ll use the old “they have champagne on ice in their locker room” lie. Ruff has more tricks up his sleeve than David Copperfield, so who knows what he will tell them. In any event, you know they will be ready. For a Buffalo perspective, you can check Sabre Rattling, Bleeding Blue and Gold, or Bfloblog. This game should be another good one!
I’ll post more at lunchtime if there is anything new to report.
Blink 182
About the Author: Bubba is a hockey fan/citizen journalist who has always wanted to be a sportswriter and is pursuing his dream. He also writes a Hurricanes blog for 
fredwiAtSAS | Oct 24, 2007 | Reply
I read more details about Cole’s injury on SportingNews. I haven’t heard this info anywhere else - N&O, Luke, Lorenzo.
Quote:….
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The players often play a game of knockout — in which players can touch the ball only twice before passing to another teammate. If they touch the ball three times, they’re eliminated. Cole was trying to keep the ball alive when he kicked a cinder block inside the loading dock of the Wachovia Center.
According to those who saw the incident, Cole began screaming in pain and had to be helped by teammates into the dressing room. An X-ray on Sunday showed no fracture, but Cole could miss a week of action with a bad sprain.
Carolina forward Cory Stillman said he thought Cole broke his foot.
So did Flyers forward Scott Hartnell, who also heard the commotion outside the visiting dressing room.
Last season, with about seven weeks remaining on the schedule, Hartnell broke his foot doing the same thing before a game with the Nashville Predators.
“I was just trying to save the ball and my bone snapped,” said Hartnell, who missed the next six weeks with the injury. “I went to the trainer before the game and said, ‘I think I broke my foot’ and the x-rays showed I did.”
Care to take a guess who was warming up with a soccer ball with a small group of teammates Saturday night? Hartnell.
Bubba | Oct 24, 2007 | Reply
Wow, I hadn’t heard that about Hartnell before. That injury really hurt the Preds last year.
Thanks for the info Fred.
John | Oct 24, 2007 | Reply
Whenever a soccer player gets hurt and is writhing on the pitch, clutching his shin and screaming with the agony of a thousand hells, the trainers come on to the field and spray a magic spray on the player. After that, the player gets up and continues to play. Why didn’t they just use some of that on Erik Cole?