*RRRRRRRING* The alarm goes off. I start my computer. It's 1 AM in the morning and this usually means its a Sabres game on TV. At this point I would like to thank the "Internet". It's a great place and without it, it would be impossible for me to follow the NHL.
So the Season has started pretty much a month ago and I wanted to start this blog earlier, but I couldn't find any time. Now that I am on a 2 1/2 train ride I finally have some time to do so.
Game 1
The Buffalo Sabres started their season in Helsinki, Finland against Teemu Selanne and his Anaheim (Mighty) Ducks. For me its always gonna be the Mighty Ducks... When you grew up with that name you can't just erase it from your mind.
The Sabres played a real good first game of the season and beat the Ducks 4-1. Thomas Vanek, Buffalo's leathal Weapon, scored his first goal of the season and the newly aquired Ville Leino scored in his home-country as well. So all in all a very good start for the Buffalo Sabres. One day later they were taking on the Los Angeles Kings in Berlin, Germany.
Game 2
The game against the Kings was something special for me. I gotta explain why. I am not living in Buffalo. And no I am not living in the US or Canada either. I'm living in Berlin, Germany so the game versus the Kings was my first chance to see them play live. In 2008 I traveled to New York and the Sabres played the Rangers, but when I entered the MSG the only tickets left were the one's for round-about 9000$. So it didnt work out back then, but I saw many many Sabres Fans and it was a great atmosphere and pretty much like a "pre-game" for me. The down side is that it took more than 3 years to get the real game going.
When I heard the Sabres will play in Germany I immediatly called the O2 World (the arena they played in against the Kings) and asked when it will be possible to buy tickets. When the guy on the phone told me friday morning 9 am, I asked him if its is possible that he gives me his number, so that I could call at 8.30. He wasnt amused and hung up the phone. It was worth a try wasn't it? When I called them at 8.58 am on friday the phone was dead. The website wasn't working either and I started to panic. End of the story is that I was able to purchase a front row ticket and I knew that it would only be a couple of months until I a going to see the Sabres play.
Most of you guys, were sitting in the US and had to watch the game at 1pm in the afternoon. So although its not exactly the same....welcome to my world. For those of you who couldnt make it to the game I am going to describe it a little. The arena opened at 6pm. 2 hours prior to the game. My plan was to arrive there at 5.15pm in order to be the early bird. When I arrived, I could already see roughly 5000 people waiting outside and the waiting line at every entrance had a length of roughly 50 meters. I entered the arena and sat down. They showed an old game of the Sabres and Kings on the jumbotron. They showed the first period and the Sabres had the lead 2-1 until that point. With exactly one hour to go until puck-drop I turned around and looked behind me. The place was packed. I couldnt spot an empty seat. Sixty minutes to go and everyone was waiting for the game already. So the next question I asked myself was "Will it be more Sabres or more Kings Fans." They showed a sabres intro video on the jubotron. (I am still looking for that video today and if you know where to find it tell me. The Song in the video was Adele's rolling in the deep.)
Nevertheless after that video was over the arena yelling and chanting. "Let's Go Buffalo". I had my answer. It's a Sabres arena tonight. The game went by very quickly but I guess thats how it always is when you enjoying something that much. During the interission I went through the arena for a few minutes and met like 4000 Austrians. Thomas Vanek could have been the reason for that. Lot's of Ehrhoff and Vanek chants throughout the entire game and the atmosphere was good. It wasn't fantastic but good enough. On Twitter I predicted Luke Adam to score in that game. He did so twice and the Sabres walked off with a 4-2 victory. The crowd was applauding and everyone had a good time. So NHL you better come back next year and please take the Sabres with you again.
Game 3
Two games in europe and two wins in the bag. Time for the Season Home Opener against the Carolina Hurricanes. They played two very good games in europe and things were looking good up to that point. The PP was clicking, the PK was decent as well and Miller was stellar between the pipes. The game against the Hurricanes was an akward one. The Sabres didn't play a terrible game at all but they had some huge errors in the defence (which includes forwards not backchecking hard enough) that lead to several chances for Carolina. Cam Ward gave Carolina chance to win the game and they did so. They scored two shorthanded goals and were able to take the lead in the second to make it a 3-2 hockey game. Drew Stafford and Tyler Myers powered their way through in the dying minutes of the third and tied the game up but Thoas Vanek took a penalty only seconds after that and Jeff Skinner scored the GWG on the PP. You gotta rebound from those games and the Sabres had a chance to prove that this game was just one game that no one will ever talk about again. They traveled to Pittsburgh to play their conference rivals from Pennsylvania.
Game 4
In the past Pittsburgh had Buffalo's number picked and they found ways to beat Buffalo even with or without Malkin and/or Crosby. Jonas Enroth had his first start of the year and stopped the pens on several great chances. Buffalo had a perfect first period and lead after goals by Gerbe and Adam. The Pens cut the lead to one when a puck bounced in off Regehr in the second but the sabres continued to play their good road game and Stafford gave Buffalo the two goal lead back again. Jordan Staal scored for Pittsburgh again but it wasn't enough and Buffalo walked away with a win and a perfect reaction after the loss to Carolina.
Game 5
Another Road Game but for the first time this year the opponent was a team from Canada. The Sabres were heading to Montreal to play the Canadiens who didnt had the start they were hoping for. If you would have to describe this game with one word, the word would be "Miller". Ryan Miller had a stellar performance and was the main reason for Buffalo's win. Ryan Miller was like a character from a computer game who has just been told that he is a superhero. And in addition to that he found and unlocked a beast mode item. The Sabres were badly outshot and Miller gave them a chance to remain in the game. Raphael Diaz however scored his first NHL goal early in the second to give Montreal the 1-0 lead. THe lead was well deserved as the Sabres got outshot 14-3 in the first period. The goal was some kind of wakeup call for Buffalo and Leopold was able to tie the game midway through the second stanza. With 5 seconds to guy on the period the Canadiens iced the puck. What followed was one of the sweetest goals, the Sabres had scored in ages. Vanek ripped home a slapshot with 3 seconds to go to stun the crowd. The play that lead to that goal was even sweeter. Clean faceoff win and Gragnani with the pass pack to Pominville who found an "hide-and-seek" playing Thomas Vanek. He won that play and gave Buffalo the lead despite being badly outshot 30-15. Buffalo played a better third period and Ehrhoff scored his first as a Sabres with an empty netter to win the 4th game of the season.
