In The Crease

Under pressure, Babs and Therrien laugh it off

Shocker — Pittsburgh Penguins forward Maxime Talbot had nothing funny to say Friday at practice, the second off day between Games 3 and 4 of the Stanley Cup final.

But it still seemed like a late-night comedy club inside Mellon Arena, courtesy of coaches Mike Babcock and Michel Therrien:

Babcock:

Q.  Will you give us your understanding of Holmstrom's injury and his chances of playing tomorrow?
    
COACH MIKE BABCOCK:  What are the rules?  Do we have to talk about the injury or just what part of the body or what do we have to do? (Babcock turns to Frank Brown, VP of NHL media relations.)
   
Q:  The type. (Brown responds)
    
COACH MIKE BABCOCK:  I do a lot of stuff with kids cancer, and there's a thing called HIPAA compliance where you can never reveal anything about the person, (Babcock speeds up here) how come we have to do it in the League?  (Laughter.)
    
Oh, anyway, Holmer's just got — Holmer's got the back of his leg, the hamstring.  He's got a little problem there.  We think he'll be fine. He's a tough guy.

Therrien's turn:

Q.  You mentioned before the nervousness of 19  and 20 year olds in the Stanley Cup Final.  Do you think your team maybe gets more of a boost by the crowd here than maybe Detroit does at home?
    
COACH MICHEL THERRIEN:  It's tough to say.  It's tough to say.  It seems like we skate well.  The last game, before the game I was complaining about the obstruction.  And for good reason.  For good reason.
    
I can't sit here and say there's no obstruction.  I'm not going to lie.  If there's obstruction, there's obstruction.  If there's no obstruction, there's no obstruction.
    
When I see this about 13, 14 clips that I've seen that I could tell there should be a penalty regarding the book, I'm expecting   I know how it is.  I'm not expecting they're going to call 14.
    
The last game was a little bit better.  But there's still places to improve.  But that's the truth.  It's not something that I'm preaching.  It's something that we base our team with speed.  And if we can allow us to use our speed, we're going to get effect.  And that's normal.
    
I'm expecting next game the obstruction call, they're going to call it.  I still believe there's some space to improve again.  Because I saw when you break down the game, I know it's a fast game.  When you break down the game, you'll see that there's a few times that they should have been called.  And calls are important. You need those calls.
    
If you don't get those calls at the right time, it could change the momentum of the game.  And you could send a power play at the right time.  If the right call is made and you could get that big goal, get some momentum to your team.  When you don't have it, it could be tough.  And that's why it's crucial. You need breaks to win hockey games.  Obviously you need effort and all those types of things.  But in the meantime, you need to get the right calls.

Q.  I appreciate that answer.  I was asking more about do you think your team, being as young as they are, get a boost from the crowd here at Mellon arena as opposed to maybe Detroit feeding off that at home?
    
COACH MICHEL THERRIEN:  I understand your question, but I want to say my point, too.  (Laughter. Huge smile from Therrien.)
    
We like our crowd.  (Laughter.)

   

Okay, so it's really better seeing it on video. Regardless, it's been amazing to watch Mike Babcock's press conference transformation in these playoffs. Every series he's gotten more refreshingly honest, relaxed and confident. Experience, right?

It was also great seeing Therrien have a little fun out there. He looked dazed and confused in his post-game pressers in Detroit, but he was a gem today.

Hopefully Talbot is back to his old self tomorrow, too...

Even the Final can be funny

Okay, so a SCF where only one team scores is not that funny. But these two moments - from the last two days - keep me laughing:

Memorial Cup Presentation: I've seen this at least five times now, and I've laughed every time.

Marc-Andre Fleury's spill: I was there. And I loved hearing how funny his teammates thought it was, too.

So keep your head up. The Finals aren't over yet — there's still some more fun to be had.

Detroit: Hockeytown or not? The Freep can't decide

Mitch Albom's column ("Wings come out big, so why don't the fans?") on Wednesday attracted a lot of attention, especially on sports talk radio here in the Motor City.

Albom didn't have any earth-shattering statistics to back up his opinions. They weren't even original — writers took shots at the Red Wings all season as rows of empty seats piled up faster than the $9 tickets sold (the marketing tool the Wings were using to woo fans back).

Those tickets, like the slap-in-the-fan's-face "Joe Bucks" post lockout, didn't work. For the first time in memory, Red Wings are pushing season tickets sales. According to the boxscores, every Wings playoff game in 2008 — unlike 2007 — have been sold out. But there's been empty seats, too many seats to use the excuse that people are in The Olympia Room boozing.

Album summed up his disgust with the fans after Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals against Dallas this way:

"OK. End of lecture. I don't know if those tickets weren't sold (bad) or just not used (worse). I know only that if the Wings win seven more games, if they capture the Cup, if they keep up this excellence and they do it with this many empty seats, we don't deserve the name Hockeytown. And it'll be our loss."

But who would they be losing the title to? Yea, the Minnesota Wild have sold out every season at the Xcel Energy Center. Buffalo tried to grab away the title of Hockeytown, but hockey fizzled slightly there this year. (Maybe once the Bills leave for Toronto that will change...)

But it's increasingly difficult to bill Detroit as Hockeytown. It's not the town it used to be. It's a Tigers-sometimes Pistons-maybe Michigan or Michigan State football-but rarely Lions-and occasionally Hockey-town now.

As a hockey fan, this is troubling. It speaks not only to problems in Detroit, but also the league at large. But more ridiculous than empty seats at playoff time is the story The Detroit Free Press ran the next day on A1:

"Hockeytown is having a rebirth. ...

Thursday night, Joe Louis was nearly full by the end of the first period. A free T-shirt promotion had created long lines at the entrances and the crowd arrived unusually late. Yes, there were empty seats, but nothing like the recent past.

No one is suggesting this team is shoving aside the Hall of Fame-laden squad of 2002 in the pantheon of Detroit's memorable championship runs. That was the year the team had Scotty Bowman as its coach, and players including Yzerman, Brett Hull, Brendan Shanahan, Luc Robitaille, Sergei Fedorov and Dominik Hasek.

But consider: Playoff ticket sales are up by about 1,000 per game compared with last year. The Wings were the No. 1 page on freep.com in April and gathered twice as many page views as the Pistons. They even beat the Lions.

And for the first time in five years, Detroit's FSN affiliate reported an upswing in the ratings. Last year, the station averaged a 3.6 rating during Wings games in the regular season, the lowest in the history of the station. This year, the number jumped 34% to 4.7.

TV ratings for NHL games have jumped 30% across the country on all of FSN's affiliates. Not so stunningly, said Greg Hammaren, FSN Detroit's senior vice president and general manager, the biggest rating came for a Wings game.

'And it's not even close,' he said. 'It's hard not to like this team.'"

This is disgusting. Yes, Albom is a columnist and the aforementioned story ran in the news section. But this feels wrong. The Freep hasn't been immune from the Wings ticket bashing this season. Running that column and then that front page story the next day just reeks of a phone call made from a dark office in Joe Louis Arena to the Free Press brass.

Either way, the jury is still out on whether Detroit still merits being called Hockeytown, USA. It didn't look good yesterday, when Versus TV crews had to round up fans outside the Joe to produce the "crowd" shot you saw before the game. And the storied octopus is oddly thrown from the same spot in the arena at the same point during the anthem every playoff game.

But the Wings are up 2-0 in their series against Dallas. The Tigers are struggling. And the Pistons aren't garnering the same buzz, either. The Lions are still the Lions.

So maybe there is hope for Hockeytown yet.

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SHOW PHILLY SOME BROTHERLY LOVE: I'm not even fighting it any more — I'm a Sabres fan cheering for the Flyers.

Need another reason? Elliotte Friedman just did a Marty Biron profile on "Inside Hockey" prior to Game 2 between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia on CBC. Best quote? Biron, talking about his son, Jacob. His son tells him the same thing before each game — tell Danny Briere to score a goal, have another shutout and bring me home a puck. He talked about Game 1 against Montreal when that didn't happen, and Jacob wouldn't even talk to him.

Great stuff! Sabres fans have to love the Briere-Biron connection; Biron also mentioned how Brian Campbell used to hide his goaltender pads in the locker room, while Marty would hide Campbell's stuff in the ceiling tiles.

In Tom and Larry We Trust?

Buffalo Sabres fans — pretty much any professional sports fans — want desperately to trust their team's front office. Those suits have a lot of say in whether a team wins or loses during the season, postseason and offseason. And just like coaches, they rarely get praise when things go well — usually the players steal the limelight then. But when things go south, poor draft choices, poor trades or poor contract negotiations are to blame.

Most franchises have their share of good and bad. I'm bias, but the Sabres franchise has joined the dark side on more than one occasion in recent memory. Former owner John Rigas is now in jail. The team almost left Buffalo and went through bankruptcy under the watch of Gary Bettman. Buffalo businessman Mark Hamister was supposed to save the franchise, only to back out at the last minute.

Like an angel from heaven, Tom Golisano flew in, bought the franchise and kept the Sabres from fleeing to southern Ontario, Las Vegas... wherever. He also brought in Larry Quinn as managing partner. Quinn, who was president and CEO of the Sabres prior to the Rigas era, "oversaw" the Ted Nolan/John Muckler debacle and was fired when Rigas assumed control. (Not up on Quinn's antics? Business First ran a great feature on him in 2004.)

We didn't know much about Golisano in spring 2003. Now, we know he's a good businessman (Forbes estimates the franchise worth at $162 million, while Golisano reportedly bought the franchise for $92 million). But questions about his hockey decisions came to the forefront once Daniel Briere and Chris Drury skipped town last summer, and Brian Campbell was traded this spring.

When the team went to back-to-back Eastern Conference finals in 2006 and 2007, Golisano was everywhere, always on the jumbotron at Sabres games. This year?

"I’m still wondering who appeared at more Sabres games this season, Drury and Briere or owner Tom Golisano. The guy was absent most of the year before showing up for the team photo Monday (at the end of the season). Apparently, he had other commitments."-columnist Bucky Gleason, The Buffalo News, 4/8/08

And Tuesday, The Toronto Star ran this story:

"Billionaire Jim Balsillie contacted the owner of the Buffalo Sabres about buying the team earlier this season, a sign the Research in Motion co-founder is still seeking an NHL franchise after two previous high-profile flameouts.

Balsillie phoned Sabres owner Tom Golisano around Christmas, according to a source familiar with the matter. Golisano indicated he would be open to selling the club – but not if Balsillie intended to relocate it."

Oh, are you comforted by the fact that he wouldn't sell unless on his own terms? Because yes, there's all these local Western New York buyers waiting around.

True, the validity of this report is suspect. But Golisano's grace period was officially over July 1. Same with Quinn's.

Sabres fans have always had the right to distrust the front office. It's just a shame that trust was broken again so quickly.

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GOOD NEWS: It does exist! In the past two days, Buffalo Sabres general manager Darcy Regier has signed prospects Nathan Gerbe (Boston College) and Feliz Schutz (German Elite League). I know nothing about Schutz. But I personally witnessed Gerbe's greatness at the Frozen Four in Denver this year, and boy, excited is an understatement. Kevin Sylvester has a terrific interview with Gerbe on Sabres.com.

Tim Kennedy (Michigan State) is next on Regier's list. Kennedy, who just finished his junior year, could elect to become a free agent after next season if he cannot agree to terms with the Sabres.

Broad Street Dilemmas

I hate the Flyers. I wasn't around in the Broad Street Bullies days, but it doesn't matter. I had 1997, when I was still a Red Wings fan. I had Legion of Doom. And John Leclair's phantom goal, when Sabres fans learned that scoring through the side of the net is not only legal, but also series-changing.

Even one of my proudest moments as a fan came rooting against the orange and black. Amidst a 10-game winning streak to open the 2006-2007 season, the Sabres destroyed the Flyers, 9-1. Ken Hitchcock fired. Bobby Clarke resigned. Life couldn't get better.

But that was then. Now, former Sabres - former Sabres most fans absolutely LOVED - wear that evil sweater. They get cheered and booed by fans wearing "VENGEANCE NOW" t-shirts.

Despite all this, I'm struggling, as are many other Sabres fans. How can you hate Daniel Briere's face? The one that can't grow a playoff beard. He's leading the playoffs in scoring. When he scored last night to recapture the Flyers' lead, I screamed in agony. But I'm not sure if it was sincere. Because at the same time, it reminded me of Briere scoring against Carolina in Game 6 of the 2006 conference finals, which is as far from Philly hatred as you can get.

And then there's Buffalo-backup-now-Philly-starting-netminder Marty Biron. It's Marty. Goofy, loveable ... he's still the same, but he doesn't wear a goatlord anymore. Oh, and all of a sudden he's the biggest story of the playoffs. He looks borderline cocky (which of course, can't be true, because he's Marty) in the crease, but with good reason. He's been outstanding.

And that's just the Flyers/Habs series. The other Eastern Conference series has not just my favorite ex-Sabre, but pretty much my favorite player of all time, Chris Drury. He looked as if he popped his shoulder out of its socket the last game, but struggled back to play in the third period. In Game 4, I just watched him crouch on the ground to block a shot, cringe with pain, and then skate gingerly to the boards. But then he opens the door and sits on the bench, like nothing happened. Just like when he tied Game 5 with 7.7 seconds to go against the Rangers last year. Same Drury, different jersey.

So here's the dilemma: as sports fans, do we cheer for teams? Or do we cheer for individuals?

Or is it possible to do both without driving yourself crazy?

Fellow Michigan grads say they pick their NFL team based on which one has the most former Wolverines, probably since many Detroit natives couldn't find the strength to root for the Lions. This has always sounded absurd to me. But is it?

Cheering for the Sabres through the dark years, could you really have a favorite player? If you did, they probably left, retired or got traded. You were more worried with losing the TEAM. That's when I became a sports fan in camp one, leaving behind my individual player allegiances. I practically disowned Dominik  Hasek and Michael Peca.

Could there be middle ground? Can you root against the Flyers, yet cheer for Briere and Biron? It seems mathematically impossible. If Biron stops everything and Briere scores, Flyers win. (The Rangers will probably be eliminated this week, if not tonight, so I'm not as concerned with Drury.)

In sports, you can try to control your emotions. But in the end, it's just like love. Your true feelings will show through. I wonder if that's finally happening to me, and if it is, whether I can be a Sabres fan and live with that.