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FROM SABRES PRESS RELEASES

Ralph Wilson Stadium Rendering for Hockey Below

Ryan Miller Promises to Lead
"It Wasn't All Them," says Miller of loss of Co-Captains Drury, Briere
Plus: Outdoor game January 1st
by Josh Brewster

Ryan Miller

September 17, 2007 -- BUFFALO -- Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller addressed the media Monday shortly after the NHL announced that the club would meet the Pittsburgh Penguins in a long-anticipated outdoor matchup at Buffalo's Ralph Wilson Stadium on January 1st. Aside from the announcement, Miller addressed questions regarding the tumultuous summer in Buffalo, where the Sabres lost co-captains Chris Drury and Daniel Briere to free agency.

Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller met with the media via conference call Monday and appeared ready and willing to step into the leadership breach like never before.

"Every team goes through losses and additions," said Miller, of the loss of Drury and Briere.

"Obviously (they) were a big part of the team,” noted the 27 year-old netminder. "They were great teammates and very productive players."

Drury scored 37 goals while Briere registered 95 points. Drury is a Ranger, Briere, a Flyer, due to Buffalo GM Darcy Regeir's failure to either sign the pair to extensions or match the offers from New York and Philadelphia. Miller says that the club will stay the course, and that it's a team game, anyhow.

"Our attitude remains, our talent remains, and our core group of guys remain…but it wasn’t all them."

Miller cites the Vancouver Canucks as an example of a club rebounding from key losses.

"We don't take anything for granted and we totally expect another year's worth of work when we showed up at camp," said the former Hobey Baker winner. "I'm going to do as much as I can with the experience I gained and from what I've learned from Chris Drury and Daniel Briere and keep moving forward."

In October 2001, while playing for Michigan State, Miller participated in an outdoor game in front of 75,000 fans in a 3-3 tie against Michigan.

"It wasn’t as bad (weather-wise) as what they had to endure in Edmonton," said Miller of the game that took place in October. Buffalo's game will be in January.

"Buffalo is known for its very weird weather. It can be 50 degrees in January, or it can be completely the other direction. We just have to wait and see how the forecast looks around that time and adjust accordingly with how we draft, and if there is an opportunity to use heaters, or there is a chance it could be a little on the warm side."

As for the benefit of the outdoor game to the league, the Sabre goaltender is optimistic.

"This is a great opportunity to pick up some fans and help them appreciate hockey as a way of celebration," says Miller, who notes that the hype generated by the game will be akin to what the National Football League enjoys.

The fans here are going to have a great time with tailgating and leading up to the hype, and that's something the National Football League enjoys every week, you know; the hype, the talk leading up to the game, the analysis leading up to the game and finally the games played. And then you have three days of analysis on the game. It's something the National Football League enjoys, enjoys weekly, where, you know, people are talking about the sport all week."

The Sabres open the regular season at home against the New York Islanders on Friday, October 5.

ARTISTS' RENDERING OF RALPH WILSON STADIUM FOR HOCKEY COURTESY NHL.  CLICK HERE FOR LARGE PHOTO.

MORE SABRES:

BEATING A DEAD SLUG?
BY JOSH BREWSTER
WWW.HOCKEYTALK.BIZ

AUGUST 29, 2007 -- You may have noticed that this site is not slug-friendly. In fact, we hate the little buggers with a passion. I once found a slug in the bottom of a Koch's beer, and brother, Koch's is pretty bad beer. A slug in the bottom is a sobering thought.

Back to hockey: The Buffalo Sabres enraged their fan base by unveiling a brutally bad new logo in the summer of 2006. Part swoosh, part Bison head, the very weird design sent shockwaves throughout Sabreland. Let’s call it as it has come to be known: “The Slug.” (see right)

Nickel City hockey nut Drew Celestino ran an impressive petition drive against the slug during the Summer/Fall of '06. The online petition garnered well over 30,000 signatures against the design. As expected, the Sabres went ahead with the logo anyway. [Ed. Note: Celestino was featured on Hockeytalk Audio (see below to listen)]

Now, a year after the Sabres boasted the most popular jersey on NHL.com, not coincidentally during the club's President's Trophy-winning 2006-07 season, the anti-slug brigade refuses to die. Charlie Pritt continues Celestino’s legacy this season at his site, which of course includes a petition, www.sabresnotslugs.com.

What seems most unrealistic about this continued effort is that the slug is clearly here to stay.

Pritt is blunt in response.

“Would most Sabres fans want that logo to be on a Stanley Cup championship banner if they are so fortunate?”

Pritt claims to have received no response from RBK (makers of the NHL's jerseys) or the Sabres on the topic, which isn’t surprising.

“The 1996 Islanders boasted that their fish stick logo was number four in league sales and most fans know what happened,” he reminds us. “The Isles were an awful team at the time with a very rich history.” The Isles dispensed with their monstrosity, and as Celestino before him, Pritt hopes that the tides can turn similarly.

What about the hot-selling slug? Pritt attributes huge sales to Sabre fans’ happiness over seeing the club return to the blue and gold coupled with the Sabres’ outstanding play (only Cup Champ Anaheim was as good during the regular season, in which the Sabres won the President’s Trophy).

Pritt reminds us that the sales figures posted (upwards of 600% more than the previous Red-and-Black incarnation) make no distinction between the vintage blue and gold and the slug, which are both available to fans, the vintage serving as last season’s third jersey.

Pritt is optimistic, thinking that with the upcoming move to the new jersey design by RBK/Edge, and the Sabres dispensing with their third jersey, as per league rule for 2007-08, a whole year of watching the slug will slow the slug’s progress.

“I see sales dropping off and an opportunity for management to re-think the logo’s feasibility long term, and return to a brand identity comparable to the Red Wings, Bruins or Canadiens,” says Pritt.

While there was talk of the club being forced to go to an alternative shape to accommodate the vertical striping and other features of the new jersey, Pritt rightly points to the Boston Bruins’ updating of its classic logo, which features horizontal striping, no change to the classic look. Detroit also features horizontal striping, so in Pritt’s view, the Sabres could have stuck with the vintage look.

He’s dead-on in one sense: The classic blue-and-gold was beloved by Buffalonians. There was never an ounce of sentiment against it, a beautiful logo in this writer’s view, the only one in pro sports that exclaims the city’s name (Buffalo) and team name (Sabres – crossed swords) in the same logo. A modern hockey classic. It had a life of 26 years, and was almost unanimously popular.

LONGSHOT SOLUTION:

Native Buffalonian John Slabyk, a graphic artist living in Chicago has supplied a quite legitimate-looking updating of the Sabres’ uni, with an eye toward RBK/Edge design patters. His site, www.newblueandgold.com, features his nifty alternative designs. Pritt’s site teams up with Slabyk’s work in the effort to collect signatures for petitions against the slug.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  EMAIL US AT INFO@HOCKEYTALK.BIZ

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NHL STATEMENT
"Demonstrating once again that our fans are the most passionate in sports, more than 42,000 tickets to the AMP Energy NHL Winter Classic were sold in the first 30 minutes of availability this morning. Due to the overwhelming demand, plus our commitment to Sabres and Penguins season ticket holders, the Buffalo Bills and sponsors of the event, we are currently sold out. If additional tickets become available, we'll release the information at a later date."