Lurker Posted May 31, 2006 Posted May 31, 2006 'Arrogant' Hurricanes have Sabres motivated heading into Game 7 BUFFALO, N.Y. (CP) - The head games were in overtime on the eve of Thursday's seventh and deciding game in the NHL's Eastern Conference final. Buffalo head coach Lindy Ruff described the Carolina Hurricanes as an "arrogant" team that thought, wrongly, the Sabres would roll over and die after losing 4-0 in Game 4 last Friday night. "I think we sensed that as a team, some of the arrogance on the ice, some of their comments," Ruff said Wednesday before his team departed for Raleigh, N.C. "They were laughing in the 4-0 game," he later added. "They felt like it was going to be over, we were done, we had another injury, we lost another player. There's a fine line. They had a right to laugh, they had a pretty good game going. But I think that our guys are the type that would take it personally and wanted to prove that we're not done yet." The kicker, Ruff claimed, was hearing that the Hurricanes supposedly had champagne on ice in the visitors' dressing room before Game 6 on Tuesday night. Fact or fiction, Ruff used that to get his team going. "They are an arrogant group," said Sabres winger Jason Pominville. "Then again, that's normal for a team that's had as much success as they've had this year. But to have champagne in the room . . . we found out before the game and it certainly motivated us." Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford refuted the champagne story. "That's baloney," he said Wednesday from Raleigh, N.C. "We wouldn't even have champagne there even if by chance we'd had won. Lindy just can't stop his tongue from wagging. "I now understand why in previous series some of the other coaches responded in the manner they did to him." That would be a reference to Philadelphia coach Ken Hitchcock in the first round telling a reporter to send a message to Ruff for him with the first word starting with the letter 'f.' Undeterred, Ruff was on full attack Wednesday, as he has been at different times in this series. He's accused the Hurricanes of diving and predicted before Game 6 that they would feel more pressure than his team. He was perturbed by Carolina's post-game reaction Tuesday night, when the Hurricanes railed against the overtime penalty on Doug Weight that led to Daniel Briere's overtime goal, as well as other comments. The way Ruff sees it, he didn't complain when J.P. Dumont got a penalty in overtime in Game 5 that led to Cory Stillman's power-play winner for Carolina. "Pretty arrogant bunch," Ruff said again. "They want to blame it on (bad) ice, blame it on officiating . . . I said after the game in Carolina that it was a tough call but that J.P. should not have put his stick on him. I by no means think that penalty (on Weight) has been called all year long. But did he hit him from behind? Damn right he hit him from behind. "Why is it so much different now that we did it? Now all of sudden the ice is no good in this building, the air is no good, the water's no good, the ref's not good, the Sabres are no good, all of these things weren't very good." Enough whining, said Ruff. "You know all I'm hearing is a lot of excuses from that team, I really am. I'm looking at a team that's screwing around looking for excuses. That game had nothing to do with the ice . . ." Ruff's theatrics may very well have been by design to take the spotlight off his players. The Sabres are a young team with very little playoff experience, especially when it comes to a Game 7. Chris Drury has played in seven of them, but the rest of the team very little. The Hurricanes, on the other hand, have playoff veterans such as Rod Brind'Amour, Mark Recchi and Glen Wesley. They've been here before. And history supports a Carolina victory Thursday. There have been 117 seventh games all-time, and the home team has won 62 per cent of them. Neither franchise has much to write home about in Game 7, Carolina/ Hartford going 0-3 all-time and the Sabres 1-4. It's one game take all with the winner meeting the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final. "At the start of the year, if you said we'd have one game to win to get to the Stanley Cup final, we'd certainly take it," said Pominville. "We are a fearless group. Every time our back is against the wall we seem to find a way to win. And now we have a chance to get to the final. That doesn't happen very often in a career. We'll definitely leave everything on the ice tomorrow night."
Mantis Toboggan M.D Posted May 31, 2006 Posted May 31, 2006 Man the hurricanes are full of whiny b*tches. Dough Weight and Laviolette are whiny bitches. Eric Staal is an obvious diver. Lindy is right, all they do is whine. I hope we finish them off tomorrow so i can hear what excuses they have to say.
UConn James Posted May 31, 2006 Posted May 31, 2006 Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford refuted the champagne story. Ladies and gentlemen, IIRC, this selfsame source also steadfastly refuted a story in early '97 that the Hartford Whalers were moving to Raleigh, N.C.
Fezmid Posted May 31, 2006 Posted May 31, 2006 Wouldn't it be nice if the refs said, "Screw that," and started calling every ticky-tack penalty they could against Carolina? It'd be the first time EVER that a Buffalo team got the breaks. Boy, that would be awesome... I don't see it happening, but I can dream... CW
Chef Jim Posted May 31, 2006 Posted May 31, 2006 Wouldn't it be nice if the refs said, "Screw that," and started calling every ticky-tack penalty they could against Carolina? It'd be the first time EVER that a Buffalo team got the breaks. Boy, that would be awesome... I don't see it happening, but I can dream... CW 700855[/snapback] Yeah, it sucks being a Buffalo fan. You make your breaks baby!
Lurker Posted June 1, 2006 Author Posted June 1, 2006 Boo Hoo...Laviolette's ears are burning: Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette on Wednesday grew tired of having Ruff's statements relayed to him by reporters. "There should be some sort of gag order, honestly," Laviolette said. "I don't want to answer any questions on Lindy."
ans4e64 Posted June 1, 2006 Posted June 1, 2006 just because we are buffalo fans are we supposed to be mad about the champaigne? i dont know, i would expect them to have it there, they could have put it away that night, so what are they not supposed to have the stanley cup in the arena because its the other teams building?
Alaska Darin Posted June 1, 2006 Posted June 1, 2006 Man the hurricanes are full of whiny b*tches. Dough Weight and Laviolette are whiny bitches. Eric Staal is an obvious diver. Lindy is right, all they do is whine. I hope we finish them off tomorrow so i can hear what excuses they have to say. 700818[/snapback] Doug Weight is one of the best American hockey players ever and Eric Staal is a credit to the sport. WTF is wrong with you people?
Chilly Posted June 1, 2006 Posted June 1, 2006 Doug Weight is one of the best American hockey players ever and Eric Staal is a credit to the sport. WTF is wrong with you people? 700975[/snapback] Weight has always been overrated. I first realized this when he played for the Blues. He did absolute CRAP to help that team win, and he's doing it again in Carolina. Staal is a good player though.
Sen. John Blutarsky Posted June 1, 2006 Posted June 1, 2006 Staal went to the Matthew Barnaby School of Self-Induced Whiplash. Every time someone comes anywhere NEAR him he jerks his head back like he's having an epileptic seizure...and in game 5 he swung his stick at someone's head in a scrum, he didn't connect so no penalty was called...yeah...he's a credit to the game... The fact that Doug Weight is one of the best American hockey players ever is an indictment of American hockey, not a credit to Weight. What exactly has the US team done in international competition under his steadfast leadership? Speaking of Laviolette, maybe we should sign Artus Irbe for one night and put him in goal...or dress like the Latvian National Team. Laviolette couldn't get the US National Team to a win over LATVIA....master motivator he is not.
Sen. John Blutarsky Posted June 1, 2006 Posted June 1, 2006 just because we are buffalo fans are we supposed to be mad about the champaigne? i dont know, i would expect them to have it there, they could have put it away that night, so what are they not supposed to have the stanley cup in the arena because its the other teams building? 700974[/snapback] Not in the locker room....BEFORE THE GAME...there are principles involved. The Cup might be in the bldg. but the team up 3-2 isn't sipping their Gatorade out of it during the pre-game skate. You know who else had the champagne out too early? The '86 Boston Red Sox. Buckner boots the ball, Mets win game 6, Red Sox come into the locker room to see equipment managers scrambling to get all the stuff out of the room and they had to peel the protective plastic off their own lockers...they went on to lose game 7. Never forget, underneath it all....THEY'RE STILL THE HARTFORD WHALERS!
Mantis Toboggan M.D Posted June 1, 2006 Posted June 1, 2006 Doug Weight is one of the best American hockey players ever and Eric Staal is a credit to the sport. WTF is wrong with you people? 700975[/snapback] Sure they might be good players. It doesnt mean they arent whiny bitches. And diving is diving. Just like how people B word about derrek roy diving. Staal is no different. They just dont call it because hes a superstar.
Buftex Posted June 1, 2006 Posted June 1, 2006 Wouldn't it be nice if the refs said, "Screw that," and started calling every ticky-tack penalty they could against Carolina? It'd be the first time EVER that a Buffalo team got the breaks. Boy, that would be awesome... I don't see it happening, but I can dream... CW 700855[/snapback] Actually, being subjective, I would say that while Buffalo has had some bad calls against them, the refs let them get away with a few too. Particularly in game 5, in Carolina. That very thing may have been come back to haunt them, on the call against Dumont in OT. If coaches and players whine and B word enough about the officiating (and Lindy has been very guilty of it too), they are only human. There were at least two times in the third period of that game where I thought for sure the Sabres were going to get called for a penalty. When they weren't, you could see Laviollete bitching about it, as well as some of the Hurricane players. It was almost like the questionable call against Dumont was a make-up call, for earlier mistakes by the refs. This kind of thing happens in every sport.
Alaska Darin Posted June 1, 2006 Posted June 1, 2006 Staal went to the Matthew Barnaby School of Self-Induced Whiplash. Every time someone comes anywhere NEAR him he jerks his head back like he's having an epileptic seizure...and in game 5 he swung his stick at someone's head in a scrum, he didn't connect so no penalty was called...yeah...he's a credit to the game... Give me a break. I love when people hate a player so they start nitpicking. Staal is one of the 5 best young players in the NHL. If that's the reason you hate Staal, you must really hate about 5 players on the Sabres (especially Briere and Roy). The fact that Doug Weight is one of the best American hockey players ever is an indictment of American hockey, not a credit to Weight. What exactly has the US team done in international competition under his steadfast leadership? 700981[/snapback] Olympic Silver Medal. World Cup Championship. Other than that, nothing. Using your criteria, until 2001 Joe Sakic sucked because he hadn't won anything internationally. Canada must be a horrible hockey nation.
Alaska Darin Posted June 1, 2006 Posted June 1, 2006 Sure they might be good players. It doesnt mean they arent whiny bitches. And diving is diving. Just like how people B word about derrek roy diving. Staal is no different. They just dont call it because hes a superstar. 700996[/snapback] The only reason anyone on this board thinks Doug Weight is a whiny B word is because he plays for another team. Ridiculous. Weight is a class guy and a great player.
MadBuffaloDisease Posted June 1, 2006 Posted June 1, 2006 The only reason anyone on this board thinks Doug Weight is a whiny B word is because he plays for another team. Ridiculous. Weight is a class guy and a great player. Sorry but his comments about what transpired in OT of game 6 make him sound like a whiny B word. To date I have YET to hear any Sabres player, not even the youngsters, whine like this.
Lurker Posted June 1, 2006 Author Posted June 1, 2006 Sorry but his comments about what transpired in OT of game 6 make him sound like a whiny B word. To date I have YET to hear any Sabres player, not even the youngsters, whine like this. 701107[/snapback] Yep, I don't believe I heard a peep from Dumont on the Game 5 penalty call. If Weight keeps this up he'll become the next Roenick.
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