Last night the Sabres played the Canadiens in a little rink in Canada. Apart from the fact they lost to a team The Hockey News said should be number 1 in the East, it means one thing... one really awesome thing.
HOCKEY IS BACK!!!!
This is a great time. Hockey is gaining respect again and partly because the league got off their asses and started doing something about it. No two line passing rule, no obstruction, letting players score goals for once.
Though this means the Florida Panthers will have the Amerks as a farm club. This is sad since the Sabres and the Amerks could not agree to terms for a what should have been an affiliation for life. Instead most fans might not want anything from the Amerks since the affiliation for Buffalo is no longer a local connection but rather Portland, Maine. I'm hear to tell you guys to keep supporting the Amerks.
Hockey has always had a special tie with this city. RIT went from a dominant D-III program to a full fledged D-I team in the playoffs most years. Don Cherry came here and coached strong Amerks teams with Gerry Cheevers in net. Don Stevens on the mic... timeless. The Old War Memorial and Blue Cross Arena have been the staple for years. Even local kids getting a chance to play in the NHL now, Marty Reasoner, Brian Gionta and Ryan Callahan are showing that believe it or not New York state is developing a lot of strong American pro hockey players. If this continues we could challenge Minnesota and Michigan.
The thing is the players may have contracts with the Panthers and if we don't support the Amerks and go to game (which are fun, might I add), then what kind of attitude are we showing them. We still have professional hockey in Rochester. This isn't an IHL team or an ECHL team. No, this is a bona fide AHL team, no franchise that has been ingrained in the games history.
Buy tickets for the home opener Oct 10th. I assure you, I will be there.
Sal Says: Go Amerks! Also, bring back Sean Mc Morrow.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment