Author: Buffalo Winter

GAME ONE BUFFALO VERSUS MONTREAL

The opening game showcased four first-round selections with the Number 1 draft pick Mr. Juraj Slafkovsky and the 26^th overall Mr. Filip Mesar for Montreal and skating for Buffalo 9^th overall Mr. Matt Savoie with Mr. Isak Rosen 14^th overall from last season’s draft.

Interestingly there is a “non-roster” invitee Mr. Tomas Suchanek scheduled to play in relief of Rochester Americans goalie Mr. Beck Warm for the Sabres, and Montreal’s Mr. Slafkovsky becomes the fourth Number 1 pick to participate in the Prospects Challenge tournament’s seven-year history.  

Montreal came out flying creating multiple 3-on-1 odd-man rushes and Buffalo responded by playing aggressively offensively creating speedy developing plays the announcers/analysts Mr. Ray and Mr. Biron made note that style of Hockey will catch up to you.

Four goals were tallied in the First Period of play as Buffalo scored twice in 27 seconds in their response to Montreal’s two-goal lead that the Canadiens built with an even-strength and short-handed goal.

Less than two minutes into the Second Period seventh-round draft pick Mr. Kozak scores with a deflection for the Sabres first lead of the contest 3-2 as Mr. Ray talks about this opportunity for the undrafted players as they push the drafted players.

Six minutes into the Third Period Mr. Kozak scores short-handed for his second goal of the evening and Buffalo has a comfortable two-goal lead until Montreal’s Mr. Beck splits the Sabres defensemen to go in alone and score to pull Montreal within one.

The period is more physical than the first two periods as there is plenty of grabbing, holding, and no icing as the officials let the game play on, behind the Sabres bench the HC for the Rochester Americans Mr. Seth Appert continues yelling at the officials for non-calls.

With six minutes remaining there is even a fight and a Montreal Time Out called with 20.5 seconds on the clock then icing with 9.3 seconds left, a face-off, a shot, and an NHL-quality shot block by Sabres, Mr. Rosen, to end the game at 4-3.   

Day Two of the Prospect Challenge begins this afternoon at 3:30 as Boston and Ottawa face off followed by Montreal versus New Jersey at seven o’clock this evening with Buffalo returning to action tomorrow night to play New Jersey.

HC Granato has added a championship-winning coach to his coaching staff with new hire Mr. Matt Smith from his position as Hockey Director/Head Coach for St. Ignatius in the CCHL the oldest youth Hockey league in the state of Illinois.

Fresh off of his and the school’s first John F. Kennedy Memorial Cup championship season Mr. Smith comes to the Sabres to assist HC Granato and his staff with Buffalo’s youthful team as a video coordinator.

Mr. Smith has been coaching for nearly two decades from CanAm summer camps and a camp in Ontario to becoming the JV coach at Evanston Township High School for the 2013-14 Hockey season.

The following season Mr. Smith served as a Regional Scout for USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program.

During the first three seasons as the HD/HC for St. Ignatius, Mr. Smith earned CCHL Coach of the Year and the AHAI High School Coach of the Year last season.

The Chicago Catholic Hockey League began in 1963 with their Kennedy Cup trophy becoming one of the most coveted High School trophies in their state with a rich history of talented student-athletes including NHLers Mr. Chris Chelios and Mr. Ed Olczyk.  

A skilled winning Hockey Director/Head Coach of high school-age Hockey players and youth development programs seems to be the perfect fit as a video coordinator to be able to give insightful advice on the Sabres own youth movement to HC Granato.

Most neophytes to NHL Hockey when initially hearing or reading the words, “Original Six” make the supposition this means the first six teams to play in the National Hockey League, nothing could be farther from the truth.

On a beautiful December night in 1917, the NHL began its first season with five teams and a 22-game schedule and they were:

Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Wanderers (withdrew in 1918)

Ottawa Senators

Quebec Bulldogs (1918 sold, reinstated next season, 1920 shift to Hamilton)

Toronto Arenas   (name changed to St Patricks in 1918)

And it was not until the 1924-25 season that the NHL awarded two more franchises for Boston and Montreal increasing the league to six teams the original six teams to play in the NHL were:

Boston Bruins

Hamilton Tigers

Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Maroons

Ottawa Senators

Toronto St Patricks

For the 1925-26 NHL season Hamilton withdrew and the NHL awarded two more franchises to Pittsburgh and New York to increase the league to seven teams creating the original seven teams to play in the NHL and they were:

Boston Bruins

Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Maroons

New York Americans

Ottawa Senators

Pittsburgh Pirates

Toronto St Patricks

During the off-season before the 1926-27 NHL season began, three more franchises are awarded to New York, Chicago, and Detroit enlarging the NHL to double digits for the first time with 10 teams and they were:

Boston Bruins

Chicago Blackhawks

Detroit Cougars

Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Maroons

New York Americans

New York Rangers

Ottawa Senators

Pittsburgh Pirates

Toronto Maple Leafs (Toronto sold during off-season initiating name change)

The NHL stayed intact for nearly three seasons but for the 1930-31 NHL season, Detroit changes their name from Cougars to Falcons and Pittsburgh transferred to Philadelphia and changed their name to the Quakers creating a fresh NHL 10 team look and they were:

Boston Bruins

Chicago Blackhawks

Detroit Falcons

Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Maroons

New York Americans

New York Rangers

Ottawa Senators

Philadelphia Quakers

Toronto Maple Leafs

The next season 1931-32 Philadelphia withdrew from the NHL and Ottawa requested a one-year withdrawal reducing the NHL to eight teams they were:

Boston Bruins

Chicago Blackhawks

Detroit Falcons

Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Maroons

New York Americans

New York Rangers

Toronto Maple Leafs

For the 1932-33 NHL season Detroit changes their name again settling on the Red Wings, Ottawa resumes play and the NHL denies St Louis a franchise because of the burdensome travel costs the NHL has increased by one for a nine-team league and they were:

Boston Bruins

Chicago Blackhawks

Detroit Red Wings

Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Maroons

New York Americans

New York Rangers

Ottawa Senators

Toronto Maple Leafs

For the 1934-35 NHL season Ottawa went against the NHL and transferred to St Louis and became the St Louis Eagles keeping the NHL at nine teams but with a slightly altered line-up and they were:

Boston Bruins

Chicago Blackhawks

Detroit Red Wings

Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Maroons

New York Americans

New York Rangers

St Louis Eagles

Toronto Maple Leafs

The next NHL season 1935-36 the NHL terminated the St Louis franchise bringing the league back down to eight teams and two seasons after this in 1937-38 the Montreal Maroons withdrew creating a seven-team league and they were:

Boston Bruins

Chicago Blackhawks

Detroit Red Wings

Montreal Canadiens

New York Americans

New York Rangers

Toronto Maple Leafs

In the early 1940s for the 1941-42 NHL season the New York Americans change their name to Brooklyn Americans but the following season 1942-43 they withdrew dropping the NHL down to six teams and they were:

Boston Bruins

Chicago Blackhawks

Detroit Red Wings

Montreal Canadiens

New York Rangers

Toronto Maple Leafs

The NHL remained at six teams for the next 24 seasons until the six-team expansion for the 1967-68 NHL season brought the NHL up to 12 teams, two divisions (East & West), and a 74-game schedule and they were:

Boston Bruins                              California Seals (Oakland by Dec)                        

Chicago Blackhawks                  Los Angeles Kings

Detroit Red Wings                       Minnesota North Stars

Montreal Canadiens                    Philadelphia Flyers

New York Rangers                       Pittsburgh Penguins

Toronto Maple Leafs                 St Louis Blues

It was this season when sports writers coined the term “original six” for the East Division teams without giving any sort of moniker for the West Division teams and since this expansion fans have mistakenly embraced the “original six” term to mean the actual first six NHL teams.

In 1996 most of us were shocked at the Buffalo Sabres new colors, logo, and sweater, but HC Nolan explained how a white bison is a symbol of good fortune, and indeed it was as the Sabres finished first in the 1997 Northeast Division.

Buffalo’s End of the Century Stanley Cup Finals appearance in ‘99 and two more solid seasons of making it to the Conference Finals in 2005 and 2006 highlighted a few good seasons while sporting the white bison head logo/sweater during the 10 seasons the sweater was employed.

The Buffalo Sabres are going to wear a new black and red third sweater for 12 contests during the upcoming season beginning in November through April which includes a redesigned white bison head logo.  

The differences in the white bison logos begin with the Buffalo Sabres using one less color as the retro bison head logo utilized two grays, with colors of red, black, and white while the modern version although similar uses only one gray.

When Mr. Tuch a Sabres fan in his youth was shown the new third logo/sweater video he reminisced about, “All the posters up in my room…Dominik Hasek, Ryan Miller a couple of goalies…Maxim Afinogenov, Tim Connolly guys like that.”

Buffalo scheduled 12 Home Games to sport the third sweater with the first appearance Wednesday, November 23^rd versus St. Louis on ‘90s Night, and the 12^th third sweater donning will be on the final game of the season against Ottawa on Fan Appreciation Night Thursday, April 13^th.

Looking forward to seeing the newest Sabres third sweater.

Power Forward Right Wing Kyle Okposo a six-footer who tips the scales at a solid 220 pounds had a dynamic season during the 2021-2022 campaign with 21 goals and served as one of the two Alternate Captains for the Buffalo Sabres.

Mr. Okposo scores Buffalo’s first goal of the 2021-2022 season and his 20^th goal when his child was a “reporter” interviewing her dad on “Kids Day” at the arena and said, “Hi Dad, so can I call you Kyle, Mr. Okposo, Okie, what do you want?”.

After Mr. Okposo scored a point or more per game for two seasons in the USHL and WCHA as a teenager, his next season he would play for three teams, half of his sophomore Div 1 season, the AHL for 35 games and his nine-game NHL debut.

The seventh selection in the first round of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft by the Islanders had a couple of 18 and 19-goal seasons and three seasons over 20 goals before signing with Buffalo.

The year Mr. Okposo was born in 1988 the Buffalo Sabres were led by Hall-of-Famers Mr. Dave Andreychuk, Mr. Phil Housley, and a thirty-something from the Islanders, Mr. Clark Gillies.

Now under his fourth Sabres head coach in HC Granato, Mr. Okposo has now been utilized for his consummate skills and experience and with one year remaining on his contract, this upcoming season could be his best year yet.