GO-LF LEAFS GO-LF!
WHAT a sledge hockey season it's turned out to be for me. In my first year I have exceeded any sort of expectations that I had right from the get go. Yes, I went to Texas (which I never thought I'd end up going to EVER in my lifetime)and had a TOTALLY amazing time but never did I think I would end up playing a game on NHL ice in a NHL building. It was without a doubt one of the greatest thrills that I have ever experienced in my life and also in my sledge hockey "career" thus far.
The day in itself started early for me at 5:55am since I was leaving at 7:15am. My ride arrived at 7:20am and we made our way to the near by Tim Horton's for coffee etc. Once we picked up our food and drinks we were on the go to Buffalo! The traffic in itself wasn't all that busy at all considering how early we left. We had thought that with it being Easter Sunday things would be a little busy but thankfully we were wrong. About a hour and a half or so into the trip we stopped at .. yes .. Tim Horton's somewhere near the Canada and US border (it wasn't Niagra Falls but come to think of it I think it was Fort Erie).
About two and a half hours later we arrived in Buffalo and along the way ran into no severe traffic coming into the US (as a matter of fact the traffic was extremely brisk). I believe we made it by about 10:15am or so and had a little time to kill so myself and the Smiths went for a bit of a walk at the near by marina where a couple of retired US battle ships from the WW II sat. I wished I had my camera with me at the time because those ships were absolutely beautiful. It's amazing how quickly the time passed too and we walked on back to the HSBC arena because we had to be back there at 11am at the main foyer to meet with my team mates and the Sabres sledge team as well so that we could be directed to our locker rooms.
And ah yes .. the locker rooms!
When we got led through these BIG double doors and were told to stay straight and take the first left I had no idea what to really expect. Ok, maybe in my mind I had a **bit** of an idea and what to expect and needless to say it didn't disappoint! When we entered the locker room all we saw were these really cool sit in type lockers complete with our own fold out seats. Not to mention there were also these small key boxes where you can store your valuables in. I will say though that the really cool touch was the TV so that we could sit and watch "Hogan Knows Best" and "The Surreal Life" while we changed. To sit in something so professional really made us wonder "who did we tick off at the Western Fair to have us sit on wooden benches?".
So once we got ready and left the locker room and took the long walk (or roll) past the Sabres locker room and the Leafs one too you got that game time feeling that the players get when they take the walk to the ice. Sure we were playing to a almost empty building but this was out "big time" moment for us to be a pro athlete for one day. But once we got to where the Zamboni comes off and we got into our sledges and hit that ice .. wow .. ony then did it truly and fully hit me. As I looked around and saw the Sabres scoreboard above me and all those blue seats in the stands and felt the (yes) heat of the lights above me I couldn't believe still I was there.
Regardless of that fact I did my pregame skate and shot a puck around to get ready.
Game time came and the puck was dropped. All I could think about as I picked about the ice was "man, this is a big surface" and this point my arms were giving out since this Buffalo team was very good and we played them this past January in our tournament and I knew we'd get turned inside and out again by these guys. Of course we were short staffed and lost the game 4-0 but it was a good effort by us consiering the number of players we had and the short bench we had to run and rests were at a minimum. Of course our goaltending was exceptional and he made three amazing saves to keep us in the game.
But once we went back to our ultra plush locker room and got changed and watched more TV we all went and had lunch and got ready for the othe rpart of our day and that was to take in the Sabres and Leafs game at 5pm!
As you can see I am sitting in the upper bowl of the arena and I thought that before the game I would take one picture of the championship banners that didn't hang so far away from me. I wished that I could get a better picture of the banners but that was the best that I could do given my distance. Nonetheless I thought that it turned out well.
The game in itself was a total disaster if you were a Maple Leafs fan. But if you were a Sabres fan (like I was for 60 minutes since I dislike the Leafs lots and HAD to cheer against them since I am a Sens fan as you all know!) you had to like the fact that they exacted some revenge against the Leafs since they got beaten badly by them the last time they played a mere week ago. There was a lot of bad blood between the two teams since Buffalo lost one of it's star players when he was allegedly gooned by Darcy Tucker of the Leafs. So as you can imagine it was quite chippy and Tucker was a marked man. Yes there were a few dust ups but nowhere near the full brawl that people had expected or wanted.
Here's a picture that one of my team mates took for me while I had to use the bathroom. I like this picture alot because it clearly shows where you're supposed to go after the face off and not to mention it's a great action photo! Way to go Claire when you snapped this! I have a few more that she took and I will post them at some other time but as I said, this was the best one of them all.
The game was done by about 8:30 or so and we were out and on the road back here to London. As you can imagine traffic was unreal since most of it was heading back to Toronto since so many Leaf fans came to Buffalo for the game (you should have seen the ratio of Leafs jerseys to Sabres jerseys but Sabres fans were loud!). Of course a good deal of it too could have been post Easter holiday traffic as well so it was expected that it'd be super busy when crossing the border. Amazingly enough we weren't that held up when it came to crossing the border. All we wound up doing was answering a few questions and paid our toll and we were free to go. The ride down with the Smiths was enjoyable and the way back home was just as enjoyable also.
By the time it was all said and done I was home by 11pm or 11:15pm and had one HECK of an exhausting day to say the least! For once I couldn't wait to get to bed and just sleep and that's what I did. Amidst the fact that I was up so early and played a really tiresome game of sledge hockey and saw a great game I had good dreams when I slept. And what did I dream of? I dreamt that we were the ones that beat Buffalo 4-0!
We'll beat them .. one day .. yes we will! :)
Oh and before I do go .. I would just like to express my most sincere thank you's to the Smith family for taking me with them to Buffalo and being so good to me during the entire trip. Your kindness was most appreciated. Thank you again!
The day in itself started early for me at 5:55am since I was leaving at 7:15am. My ride arrived at 7:20am and we made our way to the near by Tim Horton's for coffee etc. Once we picked up our food and drinks we were on the go to Buffalo! The traffic in itself wasn't all that busy at all considering how early we left. We had thought that with it being Easter Sunday things would be a little busy but thankfully we were wrong. About a hour and a half or so into the trip we stopped at .. yes .. Tim Horton's somewhere near the Canada and US border (it wasn't Niagra Falls but come to think of it I think it was Fort Erie).
About two and a half hours later we arrived in Buffalo and along the way ran into no severe traffic coming into the US (as a matter of fact the traffic was extremely brisk). I believe we made it by about 10:15am or so and had a little time to kill so myself and the Smiths went for a bit of a walk at the near by marina where a couple of retired US battle ships from the WW II sat. I wished I had my camera with me at the time because those ships were absolutely beautiful. It's amazing how quickly the time passed too and we walked on back to the HSBC arena because we had to be back there at 11am at the main foyer to meet with my team mates and the Sabres sledge team as well so that we could be directed to our locker rooms.
And ah yes .. the locker rooms!
When we got led through these BIG double doors and were told to stay straight and take the first left I had no idea what to really expect. Ok, maybe in my mind I had a **bit** of an idea and what to expect and needless to say it didn't disappoint! When we entered the locker room all we saw were these really cool sit in type lockers complete with our own fold out seats. Not to mention there were also these small key boxes where you can store your valuables in. I will say though that the really cool touch was the TV so that we could sit and watch "Hogan Knows Best" and "The Surreal Life" while we changed. To sit in something so professional really made us wonder "who did we tick off at the Western Fair to have us sit on wooden benches?".
So once we got ready and left the locker room and took the long walk (or roll) past the Sabres locker room and the Leafs one too you got that game time feeling that the players get when they take the walk to the ice. Sure we were playing to a almost empty building but this was out "big time" moment for us to be a pro athlete for one day. But once we got to where the Zamboni comes off and we got into our sledges and hit that ice .. wow .. ony then did it truly and fully hit me. As I looked around and saw the Sabres scoreboard above me and all those blue seats in the stands and felt the (yes) heat of the lights above me I couldn't believe still I was there.
Regardless of that fact I did my pregame skate and shot a puck around to get ready.
Game time came and the puck was dropped. All I could think about as I picked about the ice was "man, this is a big surface" and this point my arms were giving out since this Buffalo team was very good and we played them this past January in our tournament and I knew we'd get turned inside and out again by these guys. Of course we were short staffed and lost the game 4-0 but it was a good effort by us consiering the number of players we had and the short bench we had to run and rests were at a minimum. Of course our goaltending was exceptional and he made three amazing saves to keep us in the game.
But once we went back to our ultra plush locker room and got changed and watched more TV we all went and had lunch and got ready for the othe rpart of our day and that was to take in the Sabres and Leafs game at 5pm!
As you can see I am sitting in the upper bowl of the arena and I thought that before the game I would take one picture of the championship banners that didn't hang so far away from me. I wished that I could get a better picture of the banners but that was the best that I could do given my distance. Nonetheless I thought that it turned out well. T
Here's a picture that one of my team mates took for me while I had to use the bathroom. I like this picture alot because it clearly shows where you're supposed to go after the face off and not to mention it's a great action photo! Way to go Claire when you snapped this! I have a few more that she took and I will post them at some other time but as I said, this was the best one of them all. The game was done by about 8:30 or so and we were out and on the road back here to London. As you can imagine traffic was unreal since most of it was heading back to Toronto since so many Leaf fans came to Buffalo for the game (you should have seen the ratio of Leafs jerseys to Sabres jerseys but Sabres fans were loud!). Of course a good deal of it too could have been post Easter holiday traffic as well so it was expected that it'd be super busy when crossing the border. Amazingly enough we weren't that held up when it came to crossing the border. All we wound up doing was answering a few questions and paid our toll and we were free to go. The ride down with the Smiths was enjoyable and the way back home was just as enjoyable also.
By the time it was all said and done I was home by 11pm or 11:15pm and had one HECK of an exhausting day to say the least! For once I couldn't wait to get to bed and just sleep and that's what I did. Amidst the fact that I was up so early and played a really tiresome game of sledge hockey and saw a great game I had good dreams when I slept. And what did I dream of? I dreamt that we were the ones that beat Buffalo 4-0!
We'll beat them .. one day .. yes we will! :)
Oh and before I do go .. I would just like to express my most sincere thank you's to the Smith family for taking me with them to Buffalo and being so good to me during the entire trip. Your kindness was most appreciated. Thank you again!
posted by Spatchula at 2:37 PM
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