I was honestly too beat to post when I returned to Manhattan last night…

Three of my fellow hockey players at Chelsea Piers and I headed out to LI to catch the Sabres beating the Islanders 4-2.

Some notes…

Before the game…

* Spent about 90 minutes at Blue Moon before heading out to LI — really nice folks and it was great to talk to a few Sabres fans that got there real early to watch the game…
* On the pre-game radio show on the way out, there was a Nolan clip with him saying (regarding the bottle throwing on Monday) “if I wouldn’t get in trouble with the league, I would have thrown bottles too…” I can’t believe he said that.

Notes on the game…

* There was a lot of good “jump” on the Sabres side
* The Sabres had a LOT of sticks in the right places — not just for shots or passes, but getting into lanes (offense/defense/neutral zones), knocking pucks out of the air, etc…
* Vanek, Drury and Mair were all “noticeable” presences on the ice for me…
* Briere actually (*gasp*) backchecked on at least half of his shifts
* Sitting in the corner in the end where the Sabres shot twice and watching Max come down at full speed was inspiring…
* Timmah! really has some great stick moves, but he looks very tentative on the finish — especially if he is moving to the net — and in the corners…
* DP looked pretty solid — the Islanders D did not do a good job of moving Sabres from the net, though…
* From the opposite end of the rink, it looked like Blake jumped into the boards on the Teppo hit
* From the opposite end of the rink, there was no way for me to tell if it was a goal or not at the end of the game and my view of the scoreboard was blocked…

Notes on the Coliseum…

* There were a LOT of Sabres fans in my section (335) and a few rows in 334 as well
* Those fans, however, did get really cocky toward the end of the game with a lot of “in your face” stuff that IMHO was not warranted in someone else’s barn…
* There was a nice couple (and their 4 year old) sitting right below us and they were very cool
* Just across the aisle from me was an Islanders fan, in his 30’s, wearing the same Isles jersey he must have had when he as 12, who spent the ENTIRE game SHOUTING at the top of his lungs at EVERYTHING going on on the ice. Profanity, etc… Sadly, he did not even know who #55 was on the Isles…
* Found a small group of guys that we play hockey against at Chelsea Piers two rows below us — small world…
* The bottle throwing is just crazy to me. Stupid.

All in all… It was TOTALLY worth it.

Irony/weirdness… Our brand new 56″ 1080p TV arrived yesterday — on the day I was actually AT the game.