Buffalo Sabres backup goaltender Patrick Lalime was able to secure his 1st win of the year in a 2-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks Friday night at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, NY.  Lalime now has 6 wins in 28 games played as a Sabre, and which is not too impressive, but he looked really good last night.  It was also nice to see some goals, even though it was two (2), it was enough to help Lalime out.  Thomas Vanek (9g, 10a) and Clarke MacArthur (9g, 6a) were able to pick up two (2) goals in the 2nd period with assists coming from rookie Tyler Myers (3g, 13a), Tim Connolly (6g, 16a), and Tim Kennedy (3g, 6a).  Lalime played extremely well stopping 39 of 40 shots faced.

South Buffalo native Patrick Kane (9g, 20a) of the Chicago Blackhawks was able to pick up an assist on an early 3rd period goal by Patrick Sharp (9g, 14a).

Sabres will travel to Madison Square Gardens tonight at 700pm to face the New York Rangers.

(Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

The Buffalo Sabres keep putting the puck in the net…at least in the 1st period against the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night.  Panthers goaltender Scott Clemmenson was pulled just 1:56 into the 1st period making it his shortest appearance in his NHL career.  After the 1st, Florida kept the Sabres on their toes playing them tough the remaining 40 minutes.  Sabres are off until Saturday when the face the Lightning of Tampa Bay.

The Buffalo Bills still suck, and will suck until changes are made in the Front Office.  Fire Jauron, trade TO, and can we start throwing the ball long!?

We (Bills fans) all know now, that the Buffalo Bills are going to make this an extremely long year. Dick Jauron should be fired. Trent Edwards should be benched, and Rory Fitzpatrick should finish out the season. Yesterday’s 38-10 loss to the Miami Dolphins was embarrassing, to say the least. The offense was just plain terrible, and the defense did all they could do in the 37:09 while they were on the field. Just going to have to start writing about the Sabres, and have an occassional post here and there. Bills play the Cleveland Browns next week who are 0-4…wanna bet the Bills lose?

(Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images)

I have asked this question all week long. I feel it will be a long year, and will be a few years before we make it to the Playoffs with a legitimate team. I don’t see the Buffalo Bills making the Playoffs until Dick Jauron is gone. Jauron is what, 7-9 in three (3) straight years? He hasn’t changed a thing since his first year, and nothing will change until its his last. With the signing of Terrell Owens, I even thought he was going to help out the offensive game…that is not going to happen. The Bills Offensive line is terrible, and ultimately I am losing all interest, and hope in Trent Edwards being the starting QB for this team. Edwards isn’t terrible, and to be honest, he might be one split end gray hair away from being above average. We have to start realizing that Buffalo will be very lucky to win four (4) games, and two (2) out of the four (4) will be by 3pts or less. Lets hope Fred Jackson can give Bills fan a little hope for the first couple of weeks. I will think of more stuff after we get demolished by the New England Patriots tomorrow.

Ok, where to begin?  Day started off when I went to Dick’s to spend the remaining $44.00 on the gift card from my brother from Christmas, which somehow I found, and forgot I had.  I already have waaaay to many plastics, but decided to pick up Strike Kings ‘Shaws’ grubs (package of 10 for $1.99).  I usually get GYCB, but the durability on them is horrible…maybe 2 fish at most before the grub is total ripped apart.

Buddy sent me a text and wanted to head towards the mouth of Catt Creek and Lake Erie for more Walleye…but I told him I really wasn’t interested in catching any today as I wanted my best friend (besides my daughter) in the world… Mr. Smallmouth.  We met up with another buddy and fished a hole we usually hit each trip out (3x a week) since there are several nice spots with boulders an downed trees for them to find cover.  We spent about 2 hours, and between the 3 of us, we landed 9 1-2 pounders.

After that I asked they wanted to fish as I had the evening off, and usually get home and in bed by 8pm as I get up at 2am for work.  I take them to spot about a 1 to 1.5 miles upstream, and usually a good 3-5 fishing holes.  Well, upon getting there, this last winter, and heavy rains in the beginning of the year totally changed the whole area… not a problem, my favorite 2 holes were surprisingly a little bigger :muahaha: they tied up, and by the time my Shaw grub hit the water :fishing: BAM! hit our first fish in what ended up being a nice, and amazing 3 hour tour of the 2 holes, which are about 30-35 yards apart.  I let the first 1 go, and decide to let them finish tying up, and toss in before I take another chance.  By the time they both casted in, they both had 1 on in the time it took them to cast… after that, I knew we were in for an awesome day.

When we fish together, we usually have a small tournament for bragging rights… but today was something else.  I knew there would be fish, but wasn’t sure how many.  The holes are about the size of a small above ground pool, but these holes ranged from 3′ – 5′ deep and had a little flow coming into them, but not bad since the rushing rapids on the side which several people come to the Catt Creek to canoe, kayak, and raft down.

I believe on each of our 1st 10 casts, we each hooked into one, with a landing percentage of about 80…with half of them hitting, running, and diving into the rapids made it very difficult for 1 of my buddies and myself as we both used 4lb flouro (the other used 12lb – his steelhead rig), but enough of the excuses.  I by far had my best outing of the year, and well, my life with smallies.  I landed a little over 30 in about 3 hours last year which I thought was ridiculous, but this year, so early in the season (being in New York State), we totally destroyed that total yesterday.

All in all, I landed 46 (and won some more bragging rights, and easily lost 15+ with them running into the rapids, and taking off way downstream.  As a group, we landed a total of 93, and lost close to 40 (no joking).  Below are a few pictures of the ones I caught that were worth taking (even though, all bass are worth taking pictures of, but my Crackberry is filling up fast with all the fish I have caught).

My total smallmouths on the year is now sitting at 67, which is just under a 3rd of what I landed last year (207)…and the season is just beginning.  I also came home from work, and had my new St. Croix Bass Mojo waiting for me try her out

Well, I was finally able to to thee creek today, perfect weather 68 degrees, and some what clear water.  Started off slow being that steelhead are still up, so I grabbed my 7ft med action for them, and my 5′6 light action for the smallies.  After about 20min of tosses several colored little cleos into some nice pools, I decided enough was enough and grabbed to bass rod.

It was a looong wait this winter to get back into the smallie action, but it was worth the wait…well, not at first as I lost three (3) nice ones around 2lbs each. I enjoyed it, as soon as I landed the first one, then the second, third, fourth… I was pumped, as the first outing was a successful one as the pictures will prove.

The Buffalo News is reporting Patrick Kaleta will miss tonight’s game against the Detroit Red Wings, and backup goaltender Patrick Lalime will be out for the remainder of the season.  Many believe the Sabres still have a chance for the 8th and final spot in the Eastern Division.  Well, the Sabres will be pretty much done, especially since the play the Red Wings tonight who have scored 51 more goals than the Sabres, and who have only lost 19 games all year.  Good Luck Buffalo.

The Buffalo Sabres remain confident they can make a push for the playoffs, but they’ll have to do it without a couple of players. Forward Patrick Kaleta will miss at least tonight’s home game against Detroit, and backup goaltender Patrick Lalime is done for the season with a hip injury.

Kaleta, who missed 24 games earlier this season with a head and neck injury, suffered a similar injury March 28 in Montreal. He played in the next three games but left Saturday’s loss to New Jersey with a migraine. It was related to the previous problems, and although Kaleta skated this morning in HSBC Arena, he isn’t well enough to play.

“He deals with lingering effects from the neck from before, and he gets migraines that he’s dealt with,” coach Lindy Ruff said after the morning skate. “He’s still not quite right. Our hope is a couple more days he’ll feel good enough. He didn’t do very good yesterday. He’s doing a lot better today, but it’s going to take a couple more days.”

Lalime has not dressed for the past three games because of his hip problem. Ruff said it’s reasonable to say Lalime is done for the season, partly because the Sabres have a healthy Mikael Tellqvist available to back up starter Ryan Miller.

“Patty’s injury is not a good one,” Ruff said, “but we’ll talk about that at a later point.”

(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, J.P. Moczulski, File)

The Buffalo Sabres travel to Atlanta tonight to face the Thrashers, and attempt to make it 4 straight wins.  We can beat them easily… as long as the offense keeps producing the way they have in the past 3 games.  Ryan Miller has been very good since returning from an ankle injury, but he isn’t the only reason we are winning some key games.  We are winning because guys who weren’t producing, are producing when we need them the most.  We need these games, but we also need the teams we are battling for a playoff spot to start losing as well.  I see us continuing this winning streak, but I have a feeling we will fall short with all the teams winning, when we need them to lose.  Good Luck Sabres.

(AP Photo/David Duprey)

The Florida Panthers are in town to face the Buffalo Sabres tonight at 7pm at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, NY.  A lot of people believe the Sabres still have a chance to make the Playoffs, but with them needing to win about 8 of the last 10… that’s a tough thing to do.  Buffalo needs to win tonight, but Florida has given the Sabres a tough time all year.  Yeah the Sabres are 2-1, but the games have been close except the most recent 3-1 win by the Sabres back on March 12th.  Mikael Tellqvist will get the start tonight, with the possibility of Ryan Miller making his comeback.  Sabres need to take each game at a time, and if they try to look past tonight’s game… they will lose.

(Photo by unknown)

The Buffalo Bills will travel to Foxborough to play the New England Patriots on September 14th for a Monday Night game starting at 7pm.  WGR550 reports;

It’s official. The Bills and Patriots will be the Monday Night match-up for week one of the NFL Season. The game will be played at 7 p.m. on September 14th in Foxborough. The teams are expected to wear throw-back AFL uniforms for the game. It’s the 50th annivesary of the American Football League.

Both teams are attractive options for primetime with WR Terrell Owens now a Bill and QB Tom Brady returning from knee injury.

The NFL also released the opening game of 2009. The Superbowl Champion Steelers will play Tennessee on Thursday, September 10th. The first Sunday night game will feature the Bears and Packers. Both of these games will be televised on NBC.

ESPN gets a double-header Monday night. First, the Bills and Patriots. After that, the Chargers play the Raiders in Oakland.

The Thanksgiving schedule was also released by the league.
The Lions host the Packers in the early game on Fox  Dallas will host the Oakland Raiders on CBS. The late game features the Giants and Broncos in Denver on the NFL Network.

(Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty Images)