I know I got in late, and Im too lazy/Jameson'ed up to read this whole thread........but, I'm just as heart broken and disappointed as everyone else. Yeah, ref's weren't on their game.....ok. But to blame a loss, in an amazing game like this, on the zebras, does nothing but take away from the best hockey I've seen this team play all year. Don't ruin it (even in a loss) by reducing this game to officiating.....

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"I can't really hear what Jeremy says, because I got my two Stanley Cup Rings plugging my ears...." -Patrick Roy in reference to Jeremy Roenick's trash talking

I just joined the site tonight. I'm a diehard Buffalo fan that no longer lives in Buffalo and I need help recouperating after that loss. You have to be fucking kidding me.

My heart is fucking broken. We're still alive, maybe we can do it?

No, you don't want that.

You can't have different series all locked into a different combination of officiating degrees. The advantage of changing up the officials is that you get some degree of balance---and this is true for all of pro sports.

isn't it easier to capitalize on a PP when the team has what 7 opportunities vs 2, in ONE game? With 2 of them extremely questionable calls back to back in the 3rd that pretty much killed our momentum.... and at least one (Kennedy in the beginning) that should have been a 4 on 4....

NOW, if you want to talk about the series... and how Buffalo is 0 for for ever, thats another story completely... i venture to say if was hit on ANY PP opportunity in game 2,3,or 4... we win... but with no german, no vanek, and a 70% Timmy C. who probably can't get any power on his shot because of a busted up foot... you have NO chemistry on the PP unit...

On a side note, at times, it seemed they were trying to be to fancy, get the puck on net... shoot the damn thing... if a Burin is going to go down early to block it, shoot the thing into his freaking melon, i bet it makes him think twice about the block next time... is that bad of me? wonder why you don't see more of that, lol... you wanna lay out early, well take an 80mph piece of rubber to the dome.... or arm... or where ever you can catch him, lol... sorry, i know, low brow of me....

and my last side note, looking to the future... I LOVE ENNIS! Dude is sick! Did you see the penalty he created? of course I can't wait to see him next year... BUT, with Ennis, Roy, Kennedy, Timmy C and Gerbe in the wings... thats 5 smaller-ish guys up front... will we see more of what we are seeing in the play-offs in future years? Does this team need to get bigger? or did we just get a bad draw against the clutch and grab goon squad w/ reff support?

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They were hard done, but they had their chances.

Miller should have stopped the 2nd goal.

They hit the pipe a few times, especially on that PP in the 1st OT.

They need to suck it up, win at home tomorrow night, and get their heads back in it. They can still pull this off.

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Sabres Hockey: Commitment to Mediocrity

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Guess who the reporter was that asked the question?

Good old Paul 'Fat Fuck' Hamilton from WGR. Of course, I'm sure that no talent hack of a reporter will defend his question, but maybe you can choose your words better when you KNOW the guy is pissed off.

Someday he'll learn to report the story, and not be part of the story.

I watched on Versus and Sam Rosen and his partner were questioning at least half the calls the refs made. When Kennedy got his penalty they were sure that Boston would get two penalties along with him. They were pretty shocked when the refs only called Kennedy and no Bruins.

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This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.
--Emerson

Our power play needs to be lethal like it was the years we've made deep runs. Simple as that.

We can't be passing up these opportunities to score.

We got ripped off, yes. But we had lots of opportunities to close out the game.

Vanek coming back will certainly help our power play, but I still believe that we can be dangerous without him in the lineup.

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Wheelhouse

The brief commentary I saw on the NHL Network also questioned some of the calls. They weren't as forceful as what I've read elsewhere, but that's to be expected on that channel.

Lindy is 100% right too... the calls made were ridiculous, no way in hell was patty k's hit charging... Course then you go down the ice 2 minutes longer in the game and someone trips up Ennis behind the net and no call is made? Talk about one sided officiating.

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LETS GO BUFFALO!

I live in NM so the only feed here was the one on Versus. The announcers said after both the McCormick call and the Kaletta call that they were very bad calls. They said as much as an announcer could say (without being fired for calling out the refs) that those calls were both total horseshit.

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"Every time I think you say the dumbest thing ever...you keep on talkin' " - Hank Hill
"Starting today, the Buffalo Sabres' reason for existence will be to win a Stanley Cup" - Terry Pegula

I hate to admit it, but I am so upset over how we were treated by the refs that it took me this long to even think about coming back to these boards. I can live with winning or losing because of something the team did, but I sure as hell have a huge problem with losing from something that was completely out of our control. The game _SHOULD_ have been 2-1 at the end of three in the Sabres favor. I'm not sure if I can handle game 5, I expect the same from the refs...

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ok, ive had some time to think about it and ive come to this:

im usually very even keeled about officiating, not believing refs have an agenda in a game. i think game 4 was no different in that respect, but i do believe the game was, for the most part, officiated rather poorly. at the end of the day, game, or series, i believe in karma, and if something is meant to happen, it happens. its up to the players to respond. they responded with a great game, and its upsetting they lost. do i believe they blew it? no, except stafford falling resulting in a two many men penalty. do i believe the refs cost them the game? no, not entirely, but it cost them a goal.

and thats the way the cookie crumbles. every teams fans blames the refs for their teams shortcomings, and i HATE that.

but yes, i do agree last game was not a well called game.

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Not trying to be a little complainer or OH I NOTICED SOMETHING but...
I was talking to my father about the game, and he said when Kaleta was hitting Lucic, BEFORE the hit the ref called the penalty (arm movements). Idk if that's anything but it could be something.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

They also believed that the first penalty against Kennedy was going to be offsetting since the official pointed to both Kennedy and the Bruins player. Then the came from the break and shocked that only Kennedy was in the box.

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I wanted to see Lindy go over the table after that comment.....and you know he thought about it, just for a second

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THAT. Both comments.



Couple other things:

I beleive there may have been a premeditated (maybe subconscious) bias aginst Kaleta and McCormick. I'm sure the refs knew why McCOrmick magically appeared on the roster (they don't live in a vacum) and Kaleta's rep precedes him.

Any doubt? Ask Sean Avery. I think the refs decide before a game how many times Avery will get thrown in the box. That's part of the downside of being an enforcer/aggitator: The refs are watching you and automatically jumping to conclusions. Part of the game.

You do, however, need to overcome these situations. A way to do that is SCORE. Keeping goals out just isn't good enough, but thanks anyway Miller.

And I think the comment about Paul Hamilton is unfair. I actually appreciate Hamilton's brutal honesty. I hear him rave about team positives and royally rip them for the nonsense. I don't like hearing excuses and smoke blowing. And speaking of blowing, I don't on the other hand, think using the phrase "blow the lead" to Lindy's face just after the game was the best choice of words. Yikes!

I think no reporter should be a douche like that. He's trying to piss of Ruff, which is either for personal gain or he just wants to see him get in trouble.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.