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About this Episode
Hour one in full
Hosts & Guests
Transcript
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It's Mike Schoep and the bulldog.
Lift it in.
Nice high one.
Here we go.
Focus, drop in the gloves, and he's taken on.
Scott Sabrin.
Oh, it's not over yet.
Sorry, boys.
They are thumping here.
Malin's dying.
Perry.
Malin's dying.
Body shot.
Sump over top.
Swinging.
Perry's the dog in the fight in Malin's dying.
Trying to tame him here.
They are down to the ice.
Malin's dying.
Drops, Perry.
A couple guys here.
Faces a little swollen.
A couple of scrapes.
Mike on hockey.
Here's a chance for Dulleen.
It scores.
Magic from the captain.
And it's back to a one-go game.
7-6.
Zucker to the net.
Back it scores.
Jason Zucker.
Cookin.
Buffalo back.
To a 7-7 time.
Do you believe what you are seeing here tonight?
Shot.
Off the bar.
Scores.
First one did go in.
Second one does.
It's a power play goal.
And the Sabers has the lead.
8-7.
It's Mike's show.
And the Bulldog.
This is why I play hockey.
This is the best part.
It's just final.
Now in WGR.
Who knew that game was legal.
But apparently it's going to stand.
Bulldog this game.
I heard they were reviewing it.
The whole game to see if it needed to be replayed.
Yeah.
But no.
A jolt of excitement went through my family last night.
When we realized we have tickets to the other Tampa game.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, that's a win.
Well, it possibly not be a letdown.
That is a big...
It almost has to be.
You got to chase that 30-80 round.
If you're really...
I mean, I don't know.
It could be dangerous to like overstate how great last night was.
There's no way the next game can live up to it.
But it doesn't mean it won't be great.
But last night was just off the charts.
I mean, I really...
I don't think maybe the Brawl Game with Ottawa in 0-7.
That's the comp.
That's maybe...
It's the same kind of game.
It's the same two.
I mean, they weren't new as rivals because they'd already had the 0-6 series.
At the Sabre's 1.
But there was animosity there.
One team was used to being on top.
The other one was coming.
And that was Buffalo.
And that was their year.
They won...
The president's trophy, basically.
In 0-7.
So it's not a...
The rules are a little different, but the same sort of scenario.
I think the rules are...
I mean, it's definitely the comp.
But significant enough to talk about.
Like whether the lightning,
who I was not prepared to have B as Gooney,
as they were,
respect the Sabres.
You know, like, didn't it kind of look...
Who's in goal?
They used Vasylowski in Toronto.
Who used Vasylowski the night before?
Yeah.
And like, I don't know.
Maybe there's an arrogance with them that they just are going to come in
and you can't tell them how it works.
I fully expected them to play that way.
This is where watching a game every night has its benefit.
They in Florida have had many games like this.
Recently, as Florida sort of came up from the rear and past Tampa,
they've been doing the same sort of thing.
So I really felt like Tampa would lean into that.
You know, let's take...
Let's take you out for a spin, Buffalo.
Like, how are we ready to play in a game
where your temper is boiling
and your emotions are running away from you?
You know, can you still play?
And, you know, it's 6'4 and 7'5.
Sitting there watching the third period,
I'm thinking, like, this is a good learning experience.
Right?
Because you had to deal with all that.
And then, you know, if you're not used to that adrenaline,
when it leaves and you've got to start playing again,
that's a different...
That's just a different experience for a lot of guys in that room
that at this level have not had that sort of challenge.
And so maybe you got away from them for a little while
and Tampa sort of settled in, but Buffalo came roaring back
and just a fantastic display all around.
The fans, Dan on the call, like, just...
All of it was just a 10 to me.
I just loved the experience of watching that game.
I wish I'd felt well enough to get down to the arena for it.
It was refreshing to watch a Sabers game and be mad,
but not at the Sabers.
You know, so many of these games for a decade have been just like,
so unimportant.
And I don't know, when somebody bullies them,
if I'm watching it at all, with any level of interest,
if somebody bullies them, I'm usually mad at them
for not having the kind of team that can respond to it.
Or whatever, like it's sort of like,
yep, Brad Martian has you in the palm of his hand.
And that's not true anymore.
I think that might be the greatest takeaway from last night.
Like, any team can brawl, right?
If that's what you're about, you could do that.
But that's not really what the Sabers are about.
They just stood up to it.
Right.
And so, man, Tampa's it now then, right?
Like, that's the team, that's the...
That's the rival.
Yeah, they have decided that for us.
Yes.
I think, you know, and the way the Sabers responded.
Also, and, you know, the stake being the division, obviously,
like they're, you know, still two games in hand for Tampa,
but Buffalo is ahead of them now.
And just the fashion in which they needed to do it.
Again, like, showing up, handling, you know,
it proves, I think, hopefully once and for all,
that we don't even really care how you do in the fights.
Just show up.
Just, just, just be the competitor that we want you to be
when you see your guy get taken advantage of or whatever.
Just be there.
This is Austin in a couple of weeks ago,
or last week, whatever day it was, when he jumped in,
after Dalline got into it.
It was in Tampa.
That was the game on Saturday and last Saturday in Tampa.
I think record is Braden Point was, was who I think,
Austin ended up mixed up with in that.
Anyway, just show up.
And, you know, if you can, if you can not curry Perry
and that smoke look off his face once in a while,
knock him down, good, but really all we need for you to do
is just be game for it.
And the team rallies around that sort of emotion
and that bonding.
And again, it doesn't matter if, you know,
the fight card says 4-1 for Tampa in the five fights.
Who cares?
You showed up and you handled it and you won the game
and you're in first place.
You could not deny the expressions on the Saber's
player's faces throughout all that, right?
I mean, the early fights did not go their way,
but they were all smiling, even in the, even the guys
are in the fight, right?
They're in the penalty box kind of enjoying it.
And I mean, I get that the way the building must have felt.
Yeah.
And like, all right, this is, this is going to be cool.
It turns out to maybe have been the game of their lives.
How many games have they ever played?
I mean, for all the hockey, these guys have all played.
How many 8-7 fight fasts have they ever been in?
It's the, it's the last game like it in the NHL
in terms of number of goals and penalty minutes was literally
in the 80s.
And if it's just penalties alone, it's 1994.
Like, 8-7.
I mean, I grew up like you did occasionally going to games
that could get stupid on the scoreboard.
If not also in the fights, rarely both.
I can't believe I watched an 8-7 game
where neither Goli was pulled.
You know, no empty net goals, no goalies taking out.
It just was...
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I'm Brian.
I work at Unite Healthcare.
So Brian, why do you care?
I care because I don't want to leave anybody behinds.
I oversee one of the biggest resource center in Unite Healthcare.
I see people walked in in my office every day,
just like my parents.
They have no idea about the healthcare.
I feel like they're my uncles, aunties.
I treat these people like family.
I'm Brian and I'm committed to care.
Start to finish.
Close and competitive.
And I'm thinking like,
okay, well, I know I went to a game that was 11 to 2
in the 80s for my birthday.
I know I went to the 14 to 4 game.
You know, this was seven goals in the second period,
seven more in the third.
One nothing after one last night.
Like, oh, I was at a game where the sabers scored nine goals
themselves in the second.
But I'm just like trying to keep up.
Right.
And who cares?
You know, my family didn't care about my history.
And they shouldn't.
Right.
But just trying to keep up with it in a game like you just do not get it.
So I don't know if words can even really do it justice.
Wow.
And what I want to say is that I'm not here for not only what it was,
but what it meant.
Because this is not just like a random Columbus game in a bad year.
Well, that would have been fun to talk about.
No, but we're probably still starting with the bells.
This is I don't want to say the rarity because sporting events often
do rise to the level of anticipation.
And expectation.
But this game was anticipated for sure.
I mean, especially after the sabers won their last Saturday,
was in the vision, they go into play yesterday tied atop the division.
So the stake is obvious.
The Sabers players, we didn't talk a ton about it because it was such a busy week.
I missed the back end of it, the trade deadline and the Colton Paraco stuff and the Robert
Thomas and DJ Moore eventually, now we've got more with the NFL free agency negotiating
when doing everything.
There's a lot going on.
But the Sabers to a man, it sounded like expected Tampa to try them last night.
They know how that team works.
They've seen their games with Florida like I referenced.
So they were ready for it and that maybe came in handy.
They weren't caught by surprise suddenly being in this sort of back alley brawl type of
scenario.
I just know for hopefully the last time in our careers together that we have a definitive
answer on whether or not the fans will ever be back.
But we've been through this twice now.
Since we've been together once very early on, I mean, there was a season that was lost and
the Sabers were bankrupt.
The league was running them for a time before that lockout and we'd sit in here and like,
you know, before that lockout happened, 8,000 people on a Thursday night to see Philadelphia
like Jeremy Rohnick.
Right.
Right.
Yeah, like what happened to you Buffalo?
This used to be a thing and we used to be a part of that thing for you when he was on
the flyers.
Right.
And I would say then like all you just need the fuse to get real it.
It'll happen.
And then 0506 came along and eventually middle of that year a little sooner.
There it was.
It happened.
It blasted off.
And this has been a longer wait.
There was no bankruptcy, but there was a lot of half empty buildings or worse.
There was a lot of detachment and just a lot of disassociation with the emotional attachment
to the franchise.
And all it takes is them to like let a strap fall off their shoulder and bat their eyelashes
at you and we are right back.
And they've done way more than just that.
That's what I was going to say next.
You've done way more than that.
I still think they're it's good.
It's still a process to try to accept this that we don't want to.
We all want to believe it in it.
But it's still going to be for some more than others a process in doing that.
You know, if you're really being honest with yourself, geez, how did this happen?
These are the same guys that I think a year ago, putting it one way, Samuel Sin, I mean,
just go.
Right.
Zucker.
Why bother?
Byrum.
They're trying to trade them.
The numbers are bad.
Like just I know I'd be guilty of this.
I don't think I didn't think I was wrong at the time, but I would say I was so disenfranchised
by the whole decade of futility, just like, why do I need any of these guys?
We entertained Dahlene trade ideas like last off season or the one before that.
Like, does it get to a point to see the next cycle where it's just like, yeah, I'm wasting
my career here.
And there's there's a lesson.
This doesn't have to work.
There've been other experiences just in Buffalo where they tried to sort of the mantra
being who wants to be here and you know, you're not very good though.
So, oh well.
But this has really paid off and you cannot, you cannot again deny the comments and their
faces through these games like it's, why wouldn't it be the most fun they've ever had?
But it, and they're saying it is and they look like it.
Yeah.
And it's coming out in the effort.
And it was interesting and fun to talk to EJ Ratic on Friday from NHL Network.
I'm sorry you missed it.
Me too.
He had an interesting way of putting this whole shocking ascent by the Sabers.
He said for himself, and I didn't know how he felt about this.
It's not Travis or somebody we talked to all the time.
I didn't know his opinion going in.
And he said, for two years, I've always really liked their roster.
But they had to get to a point where they would show up every game like it was opening
night.
You're not the avalanche or the lightning or a team that's like always good.
So you don't have that.
You have to sort of generate that yourself.
This is opening night.
And I wonder what that sounds like to like Lindy or somebody if he were to hear it put
that way.
I loved it because I tend to want to think everybody's giving full effort and their professional,
their plan for their careers that teams don't just sort of lie flat.
But that can happen.
And I can't think of another conclusion to draw about this other than that's what it
was.
And you know, that's going to be easily an easy example of that.
If that's how you feel is Thompson Lane on the ice last year because a team with this
energy, I don't even care if it was a clean hit or I didn't even need to see it.
But I'm in it.
I'm entering the chat on a play like that.
And last year's team had no time for it.
And they knew it when it was over.
They knew it was a problem.
Yeah, they were embarrassed rightly so.
But in the moment, they didn't have a response.
They didn't either care enough to respond or know how to respond.
And neither one is going to get you anywhere.
And Luke and then is there last night on the scene.
Luke and then right.
Lindy was great.
So Lindy was asked about it.
Maybe by Paul.
Like, Luke and then was ready to get there.
He got there actually.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like eight, seven game with all those penalty minutes.
It's amazing.
You know, amazing.
Neither Goldie got pulled.
It's also amazing.
They didn't fight.
Considering Luke and then got, I mean, I don't know where Johansson was.
They never showed him and never what it said.
What he was doing.
Lindy said he didn't.
And he stayed in his dreams.
He never moved.
Right.
But I stayed in his dreams.
Luke and then was looking.
It was ready to go.
Like, that's usually you.
You see him out at the, he's at the hash marks or above the circles wherever that
break is involving Hagel and Dalline was happening.
I'm just expecting to see the goalies back coming into the shot.
The other goalie coming because he's absolutely on call here.
And that's what happened.
Yep.
Right.
Good thing it in because then it's Vassal Eski.
I guess it's fairly.
I guess so.
Good thing it didn't.
Yeah.
How do you get away with punching a guy over and over on the ice and getting four minutes?
I don't.
Good question.
I was at the most.
Not the most obvious.
I don't know.
Yeah.
I know.
I think it's more obvious than Malcolm.
I agree.
Because Malcolm, you might not be sure of what you just saw.
Right.
So out of character, maybe.
And like, but this is just a pummeling on the ice and like, that's it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And he's not being suspended.
Right.
$5,000 fine.
Something will be done about that.
Yeah.
How eventful it will be.
But someone will take a turn on him.
And he'll answer.
He'll be there for it.
He's that kind of player.
I mean, he's not like the most regret.
But he's, you know, for nations, he's opening face off, could fight a contract brother guy.
Hegel.
So he'll, he'll, he'll show up.
But somebody's going to have to, you know, answer that.
And I think down lean at some point is going to maybe have to do something that gets him
suspended for a couple of games.
So what?
Like, I mean, honestly, like, I think he needs to create.
He's going to need to, he's going to need to show that he will protect himself.
Because he is, he's edgy enough.
These guys aren't going after him just because he's the captain and because he's good.
It's interesting.
Like, he, he is an antagonizer, you know, like any defenseman who plays those minutes is
going to be under the skin of the key guys on the other team.
It's a part of the job.
I mean, not every guy who plays that level of, you know, importance on a team has to
play that way.
But Dahlene is, you know, he's got his ways of finding the back of the knee or the, you
know, on the laces, like, he's, you know, he gets his shots in.
And if they're going to come for him like that, he's got to do more, I mean, he did end
up fighting last night.
He had no choice.
And that did not go well.
He's got to pick a spot and like do something.
I really think so.
And that might sound absurd and sort of knee-and-er-fallish.
I wonder if it's necessary at this point.
That's, I think it is.
I think he needs to get people off of him.
And one way to do that is to, you know, again, I hope, you know, hopefully the games aren't
important, but go, go knock somebody's teeth out.
I mean, just, you know, you'll get sat down, but your rep maybe will grow and guys will
realize maybe I got to like think twice before, you know, before I try to take liberties
with you.
I guess I am guilty of not having a fully formed take on what it is about him that drives
people crazy, apparently.
Like on the Malcolm one, he sticks Malcolm at the side of the net.
And Malcolm just might have his instinct might have been like, you can't do that to
me.
I'm Malcolm.
And you're a Saber's guy that I think I've heard of, so I'm just going to hit you in
that.
I don't know.
Like the lightning, this is me, there's probably a word for this, like kind of reflecting
or something, my own opinions and thoughts into the situation, thinking like, well,
this, this must be why, why does, why do I think Tampa doesn't respect them?
Because I might have thought already that they didn't, you know?
And that's the, that's the kind of way you might play in that, in that situation.
Like we're going to show, we're going to teach these guys a lesson.
Right.
Who's boss?
And, you know, they did what they did, but they weren't successful.
You know, like they, they came upon a team that was willing to, you know, go with them.
They picked, they picked a night where the Sabers somehow found their way to four power
play goals to spend a lot of the night in the penalty box.
Yeah.
So I mean, that's tough, tough, tough timing without scoring in a five on three for two minutes.
Right.
Right.
Yeah.
So I just, I think that the, look, how does Daliin make them so, make guys so mad?
He's good.
He doesn't engage fully in that, like he does not, he's not going to tell you he wants
to fight.
And so he's, he's sneaky, you know, dirty, he's, he's appropriately dirty, right?
He does stuff that aggravates and doesn't answer and is excellent.
Yeah.
He doesn't evolve as he put it the stupid stuff.
Right.
I'm here to play hockey.
And so that is always going to draw a certain level of, of animosity from the opponent.
He's an important star player.
He is going to chop me behind my knee where there's no padding and try to get away with not
having to do anything about it.
That's going to make me want to punch him in the face too.
Like I totally get it.
What I'm saying, I think at some point him picking a spot to sort of get after somebody
who challenges him that way could be good for him.
Yeah.
As you're describing all that earlier and now I'm thinking of the Bill Russell metaphor,
which I admit I got from the West Wing.
So I'm assuming it's true, he borrowed it from us.
So like Bill Russell, this physically dominant, imposing center for the Celtics, of course,
for all those years, when he would play like game to game, most games were televised and
he was a little bit maybe not soft, but he was not somebody who was going to hurt you.
But when the game was on TV, he would throw an elbow.
And then everybody thought like, oh, this guy, don't go through the lane.
Unfortunately for Dolly and all the games are televised.
So if he's going to throw an elbow against Columbus or something, sorry Columbus, multiple
shots at Columbus here, well, we've enjoyed this season I have for observing and sort of
realizing different levels of interest in this.
And it's near peak.
Now today I found myself at this particular level of interest.
I looked up Tampa Bay schedule for the rest of the season, okay.
They have two games left each with Detroit, Montreal, Boston and Ottawa.
They have 14 games left, right?
That's more than that.
It's got to be more than that.
It's more of the sabers.
They played, they have 20 games left, 20, we have 18, right?
20 games left, two against Detroit, two against Boston, two against Montreal, two against
Ottawa, whatever that means to rivalry stuff, I don't know, but it's probably good for
the sabers.
Yeah, those teams, unless it's three point games, I guess, but somebody's losing all
any of those games, right?
Ottawa's still in it.
Yeah, they are.
Yep.
And the sabers have 18 games left, two against the sharks who they play tomorrow, two against
Washington who they play Thursday, everything else is one, one time.
They don't play any other team more than once of the remaining 14 games, two sharks, two
capitals, everybody else that they have left is one, including the lightning here on
April 6th.
Well, there's always, you know, or not always, but often a, like a thought process here
where like, all right, well, we've got the sabers and we've got the bills.
I frankly think starting with anything but the sabers today would have almost been like
disloyal.
I agree.
I mean, that game was just, if the bills had signed, who we can't do it, I don't know,
like that, I'm not sure, there's anybody.
Yeah.
We'll get to the bills.
I mean, they'll be plenty of bills.
Sure.
And, you know, maybe even next to kind of take a, take stock of what has happened or I
guess not happened as far as they're concerned, you haven't been here yet since DJ Moore happened
late last week, so we'll do that too.
On either subject, 803 05 50 to join us, it'll be Paul Hamilton at four, South Capaccio
at five, Mike show up in the bulldog here.
Thanks for listening.
This is WGR.
Get more out of every mile when you share the ride to work with car pulling, you'll have
time to relax, save money, and pick up new friends.
Commuter connections can help you find carpool partners who live and work near you.
Even if you're commuting just a few days a week, it's a free service.
Carpooling, every dollar saved, every friend made, register for free carpool partner ride
matching at commuterconnections.org or call 800-745-RIDE.
That's commuterconnections.org.
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Number one free agent is now off the board.
Sources say the Miami dolphins are signing Malik Willis, formally of the Green Bay Packers
now headed to Miami.
He gets a three year 67.5 million dollar deal.
Okay, he had a rap report on the big swing.
The dolphins are taking Malik Willis twice a year.
I don't know that the bills have ever faced him.
He hasn't really played.
They didn't play a Green Bay last year.
There was not much question he was going to get a big deal in free agency and this isn't
like, yeah, he's not a level of a franchise quarterback on the free agent market.
He's someone who threw 20 passes or so this year, but every look good runs around well.
So him getting paid by someone this off season to the level he's getting paid at is not
a surprise and Miami was connected to him all along.
But man, I thought his free agency day was coming today, being the whatever legal tampering
day, Wednesdays the day it officially starts getting announced.
I thought Miami was being like, yeah, the timing's not right for us.
It just read like they're starting over why pay any quarterback, you know, a top of
the market contract in free agency when you're stripping it down to the studs.
I mean, good for him.
He's getting, you know, he's getting handsomely paid here when maybe a year or two ago, it
seemed like he was never going to really amount to much other than a journeyman replacement,
you know, second string guy.
He wasn't even really on the bust level because he wasn't drafted early on.
Right, right.
I think the timing's weird for Miami.
I can see promise with the player and him warranting somebody taking a shot on, paying
him pretty big money for what he's accomplished so far, I just not sure I get it for Miami.
It really is on spec.
I mean, it's last year in four games with the Packers, including one start.
He was 30 for 35, which is really good.
I don't know the average depth of target here, but 422 yards, three touchdowns.
Here before that in real, don't two starts.
That's when Jordan Love got hurt.
They beat the Colts.
I remember one of those games, three touchdowns as well.
No picks.
The Dolphins new head coach was in Green Bay as a defensive coach, but still so we knew
Willis from his time with the Packers.
Yeah, I think I agree, but I'm not jealous of the Jets either or whatever the word is.
Like the Jets did what you're saying or are doing what you're saying.
They're spending money actually.
Yeah, I mean, they tried to trade it for me.
If it factor today, I don't know what else they've done, they've made a few signings.
There was a report over the weekend that Frank Reich, who is their new offensive coordinator.
I hope this was a real account.
Yeah.
Is that a real thing or did I get lost?
Wow.
I think it was.
Like Frank Reich's idea for their offense for 2026, that's amazing.
Yes, it would be lots of moves around the league.
Like Evans to San Francisco, the bills lose, Mitch Trubisky to Tennessee.
They lose Reggie Gilliam to New England and David Edwards to New Orleans.
Yep.
That's where we're at.
Let's go to your calls.
Here's Joe with us.
Hi, Joe.
Hey, how you guys doing?
Good, Joe.
Thanks.
Good.
Nice day today in Buffalo, huh?
Sure is.
Yeah.
I just wanted to get your guys thoughts on how the savers have taken their game to really
have another level after the Olympics.
And I think it's partly due to the Olympics.
I saw Dullin get true best on best competition in the Sweden, USA game, especially with
the physicality from the Chuck and Tade saw it too in the Canada game.
And the game just sounds different in the arena.
It sounds like winning hockey.
I can hear the boards again.
I can hear them communicating.
And yeah, it's a lot of fun to watch.
And Sam Carrick loved his game last night.
And in addition, he's going to be for us in many different fastest face-offs physicality.
So I'll hang up and listen to your thoughts.
Thanks, guys.
Okay.
You know what I really like about the whole weekend?
I mean, last night, obviously, was off the charts, a contender, a reasonable contender,
a recency bias, all taken into account for best regular season hockey game ever in the
arena.
It's not unreasonable to suggest that that was it.
The game Saturday night was the direct opposite.
And the Sabers found a way to win both games.
Like, you got to be able to win a game like Saturday too, which was low events, nothing
really happening, just sort of, that game gets to 1-1 and I'm like, over time, yeah,
like just, just don't do anything.
Don't take any chances.
Don't give up any odd man rushes and just sort of just play it and play it out.
And they managed to win one of the most low event games of the whole year for them.
It's like Jersey too, last week.
Yeah, right.
On Saturday night, they pulled that off and then Sunday night, we got this three-ring
circus of electricity, which was just amazing.
It's vital to know how to win both of those kinds of games.
And I really like that.
In one weekend, we got a dose of, well, the crowd, the caller mentions the crowd too and
just like the team and the fans feeding off each other, I love that stuff.
There's a, this is a word I don't use very often.
There's a din when the team is good.
Like, there's a, I bet if the players take a second to sort of notice it, you can hear
people talking and like, there's a buzzing in the building.
One of my issues over the last 10 years go into games, the season ticket holder was too
often I'd be sitting there and all the people around me aren't even watching the game.
The tickets were probably free.
I won't say real fans because that doesn't mean I wasn't that interested either, but I,
I was priced in, you know, so I won't say those fans aren't real fans or they don't
like the term at all, but they're not interested in the hockey game and they're talking about
their, their wives and they're talking about work and different things.
The people in the building last night were there for the game, right?
And if someone's talking about, someone's around the places packed, someone's around you
talking about something else for very long, you know, you might get told to, hey, by
maybe by a few different people, not just one person, bullet constrictor anymore, I got
it. You're cool. Yeah.
The sound is definitely noticeable.
Jeremy's been big on this for a while and it's been gone.
And I think, but I think I got the spirit of it.
Like the, the, the, when, when the attention level is as it was last night and as it has
been for these games recently, the crowd is so dialed in that when a goal happens, you,
you can hear this happened on the sucker goal.
I watched the replay.
The roar of the crowd beats the horn like the crowd is so into it that there's a, there's
like a roar.
It immediately gets overwhelmed by the horn, but you hear it and for a very long time when
you're, the scene you're describing at any game over the last 10 or 12 or 14 years
if you want it where you're sitting there, like you're, you're watching it, but you're
not like really intense.
You're just, you know, somebody is talking about their bowl constrictor or whatever.
Gold goes in.
You're the horn.
Like, okay.
I guess I'll get up and okay.
All right.
The horn went.
We scored.
Yeah.
Great.
This is different.
This is like breakaway.
People are already getting out of their seats on the breakaway.
The puck goes in and they're, you're so dialed in that the reaction of the crowd beats
the horn and that happens when it's really just right in there and last night it was.
It's funny.
You mentioned that because I noticed something like that on the winning goal because on
TV, I'm reacting to the post as it's the goal and the fans do too.
Right.
The fan, there's a second or so between the crowd and the red light and the horn and
good for the sabers to not, you know, fall for the post.
Yeah.
And Zucker both.
Zucker might have got it if Don't didn't, but Don was just in a better position to shovel
it into the open net.
But you're right.
The crowd, I think, thought the puck had gone in on Dulling Shot.
Yeah.
I mean, mostly loud enough to, yeah, yeah.
Right.
I mean, yeah.
Right.
Here's April next.
Hi, April.
Hi.
Thanks for taking my call.
I was at the game last night with my 11 year old son and that is memories for a lifetime.
I mean, he was on his chair shirt off.
Unbelievable games.
And I have to commend the sabers for getting out the community and making the games a little
more accessible.
I'm a single mom.
And we got to go because my son got a free ticket for playing intermural hockey at school.
Last year, Alex talks monster to box for community services and my son was treated like a prince
and they have a fan for life.
They're doing a good job of reaching out getting kids there and just really appreciate
it because that was a heck of a heck of a night.
Did he leave the shirt off?
Like did he watch the game with his shirt off or what happened?
No, that's just for, you know, special moments in the game.
You didn't feel like that whole time.
I'd be exhausted if I had to take my shirt off eight times during a game and put it back
on.
You were exhausted.
I mean, midway through the first period, we were exhausted and we know we were getting
in a further long haul with this game, but we're still worth it.
Thank you, April.
Who even, thanks for sharing all that.
Yeah.
Who even imagined the game would get there at the end?
No, I mean, yeah, if when Tampa has the lead, okay, I mean, great night, still a great
night, right?
Right.
Right.
Like I said, yeah, I start working on the narrative.
When I'm going to say tomorrow, well, hopefully they learn something, how to control their
emotions and still play the game because Tampa's more experienced is one of the reasons
they wanted to see if they could get the sabres out to the wood shed for a little while
and mess with them and see how they handled it and not only did they get through it,
but they ended up scoring the final three goals of the game and winning as it went.
Yeah, the shirtless kids there Saturday night, there was like a sweet full of shirtless,
like adolescent kid boys like we're at this level now, sweet level shirtless kids.
Are you sure you're watching the Kinesis high school playoffs on the Western Newark Athletics?
You see that sometimes there too.
High school games.
All right.
Good to hear.
Matt is next.
Hi, Matt.
Hey, guys.
You know, I'm having such a great time watching the sabres right now and, you know, I'm in my
30s.
So most of my Buffalo sports fandom has been one drought or another and so I'm thinking
about, you know, kind of being in a unique position to compare the two in my experiences
of them.
And, you know, I think maybe one of the morning hosts, guys, said this at one point,
think it about this, that the bills being breaking the drought was like a buzzer beater,
you know, the quintessentially doesn't even happen during their own game.
It's miraculous and that's dramatic, but I don't even really remember much about that
season.
There wasn't some magical run-up to that.
It was just kind of a lightning strike thing that happened where this, I mean, this feels
kind of like a month long, you know, 51 to 3 where you're just kind of partying and
the stands.
I'm in no hurry for the playoffs to get here because, you know, you get there at the coin
flip.
But right now you're getting all these moments, all this fun stuff happening.
And I'm just really enjoying it, not to reduce it to like which drought breaking is better
because what I mean, that's maybe we could, but I don't know, that's really just what
I thought myself thinking about.
Well, you're so right.
And what these wins, I mean, if one seven in a row since the break ended, they're seven
and oh, have they even had to go to overtime once, no?
What this is all doing before the break ended, their odds were pretty good and we were
talking about it like it was going to happen.
Now they've taken mostly the pressure off the rest of the regular season.
I don't know that I care if they finish first or second or even third.
I mean, seconds better than third because you're at home.
That'll be awesome.
Game one will be, will be amazing.
But who am I playing if I finish first, who am I playing if I finish second?
I don't know, there's a difference, at least with a month to go.
So what like Lindy was really on point at so many different, it's so many different times
after the game last night, like we're competing for a playoff spot.
So it was Tampa Bay.
That's what this is.
Right.
He didn't mention the division lead or anything like that.
We're playing to get in and I think that's wise for not only because of the drought stuff,
I mean, our past and some of theirs, but just like the practically, the practical analysis
of the conference and, you know, the, the one seed will be what percent to win against
the eight, 60, maybe something like that.
Like, they're taking the pressure off of the rest of the regular season for, for fans,
if not for themselves.
I mean, I don't think that's how players think, but for fans who are wound up and we're all
just so, this season went from whatever to, hmm, to, oh, wow, this might actually happen.
And now it's at 99% or something a week ago, even coming out, coming out of the break.
I was at just finished second or third.
Tampa is probably too good.
I want to avoid them.
What am I playing for?
I'm playing to avoid playing them in the first round.
Tampa.
Anybody else in the conference?
They in Carolina, really, right?
To stay out of the wild card mix, I don't have to deal with one of the two best teams in
the conference.
Now the Sabers are one of the three best teams.
There's three best teams in the conference now.
The Sabers are one of them.
So I, the goal maybe is still the same.
If I finish in first, I'm avoiding Tampa.
Unless they drop so far down, which I don't see happening, you know, get passed by both
Detroit and Montreal and end up in a wild card spot, then that could be the reverse of
what I was hoping to avoid.
I am going to drive you crazy with how teams should get to pick their opponents if it happens.
I just, I'm now just, I'm no longer looking at the team.
Where's the first team that's out?
How far ahead of them am I?
Now it's how much cushion do I have on second and third?
How far ahead of Detroit and Montreal am I?
What is it?
Well, it's Tampa now.
I am five points ahead of Detroit and only two on Tampa, but five, six ahead of Montreal.
So five and six are my sweet spots as far as those are like that's the first wild card
and third in the division is what I'm talking about.
So dropping out the first team chasing that's not in is Columbus and they are eleven, eleven
back.
Yep.
Auto, 13.
Yep.
Pretty good.
Paul Hamilton's perspective coming up at four, South Capaccio at five, lots of football
signings being announced today, if not made official, that can't happen for a couple
days, but whatever.
We will try to cover this all as best we can, like show up in the bulldog here, lines
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