Look, we all know that food poisoning is not a laughing matter. God knows I've used the excuse about five times in order to miss work and family functions. But from what I've heard, it's pretty bad to get.
But I have to wonder which of the Sabres happen to feast on some bad Canadian cuisine. I mean, if Adam Mair, Patrick Lalime and Nathan Paetsch got sick, should it really have mattered how the food poisoning affected the Sabres?
Well, John Vogl was able to give insight to my question. Vogl posted a blog on Sabres Edge noting which players were in attendance for Wednesday's morning skate.
Tim Kennedy, Paul Gaustad, Nathan Paetsch, Thomas Vanek, Clarke MacArthur, Jason Pominville, Andrej Sekera, Matt Ellis and Ryan Miller.
Vogl also included a few of the players who played a lot of minutes, who more than likely weren't infected.
Tyler Myers (28:32 of ice time), Derek Roy (21:28), Henrik Tallinder (21:33) and Tim Connolly (19:41).
Vogl also went through the list of players who didn't play as much ice time.
Patrick Lalime (who skipped the morning session), Toni Lydman (13:41 of ice time) and Drew Stafford (12:38).
OK, by my count that's about 12 players (excluding Paetsch because he was scratched) that weren't affected by the bad food. The number consists of 5 of your top 6 forwards and your two best defenseman.
As far as the sick bunch goes, it consists of Patrick Lalime, Adam Mair, Mike Grier, Craig Rivet, Drew Stafford, Steve Montadour & Pat Kaleta. Obviously Lalime is a wash and Kaleta was knocked out in the first period. Besides Grier, this isn't exactly the French Connection under the weather.
I know what you're thinking, here's d#$khead Joe, being Mr. Negative. But the fact that Lindy Ruff would mention it in the post game, "that we aren't making any excuses, but I was waken up at midnight and told that seven players were sick," reminded me of last year.
You remember, "We don't want to make any excuses, but we should have made the playoffs if Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek didn't get hurt." This is what pisses me off about the Sabres, they pull the we don't want to make excuses and then they make one.
It's not just injuries or food issues. "We don't make trades because of the market; We don't go HD for road games cause viewers don't own HD Televisions." (OK, I made that last one up)
I can already hear Mike Schopp and Sabres apologists, pointing to the food poisoning for the reason the Sabres lost. Now, did the food poisoning have something to do with losing? I guess. But judging by the players who were infected, it should have been overcome. The Senators aren't that good and were missing Jason Spezza. But I doubt we would hear Sabres apologists mention that.
I know, I'm just stirring s#$t up, but I think I have a point. Please tell me if I don't.
With that, I'll leave you with what might have happened to those seven players last night.
Hey Joe,
ReplyDeleteI'm at work, so I'll make this quick. I fully agree with you. Food poisoning is brutal. I couldn't imagine doing anything involving physical activity, so if they really were sick, I give some of the guys credit for strapping on their skates. That being said, I'm not buying it. There were times that we showed some life for about 20-25 seconds at a time. Our passing, lack of anything even close to forechecking, and the utter unwillingness to shoot the puck is what cost the Sabres the game, in my opinion.
The high ups in the organization need a wake up call. We need a big time goal scorer that shows up every night hungry for goals...not just to win the game for his team, but to rack up his goal count.
I'm getting anxious. Let's get greedy here and demand a high caliber player and make the current roster realize that we aren't settling for mediocrity anymore.
Keep up the great posts.
LET'S GO BUFFALO!
Tom
I hate when teams make excuses as much as the next guy, although I think when there's a legitimate reason why a team didn't play well, it doesn't really constitute an "excuse" in the way we view them in sports. There's this bizarre double standard... you can call into work with "food sickness" but if half a hockey team, albeit not its stars, is barfing- all of a sudden they're a bunch babies making up excuses.
ReplyDeleteAnd as to your statement of "they could have overcome"... of course they *could* have, but that doesn't at all mean you should expect them to. Non-star players exist on good teams for a reason - they serve a purpose, and without being able to serve that purpose the best they can, the whole team will suffer.
So personally, I'm not going to fault them for this loss as much as any other loss this year. Maybe they could have pulled it out, but afer winning 4 in a row and suffering from food sickness (which is like the flu x 10 with terrible stomach pains, btw), I think they absolutely deserve a break for last night. I don't even want to get off the couch when I'm sick, let alone play hockey.
But the players who got sick aren't exactly the key to the team's success. That's why I'm not buying it. You really think Adam Mair means that much?
ReplyDelete