GBU #55 Love the Drake

[Kyndig]

So much for ending the season on a high note.

Click to read more...

 

[Buffaloed]

Great game by the 4th line
The Drake 2G , 4S, +2, 2TK
Sheahan 1A, +2, 1TK
Murray +1, 1S, 1HT

 

[debaser66]

I would prefer the late Hunter S. Thompson & Keith Richards over Ray & Dunleavy.
I am just not sure whom I would prefer do play by play

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

G: Last place NHL clinched
B: Lottery
U: Expansion. Someone is gonna get protected who shouldn't be.....

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

So much for ending the season on a high note.

Musically speaking, my high frequency hearing is shot. I can't hear much less hit the high notes when playing guitar.

It's all mid range and bass to me.

Figures I'd be a Sabres fan....

 

[cybresabre]

I would prefer the late Hunter S. Thompson & Keith Richards over Ray & Dunleavy.

Same, but mostly I can't wait to fire this season's ashes out of a cannon.

 

[debaser66]

G: Last place NHL clinched
B: Lottery
U: Expansion. Someone is gonna get protected who shouldn't be.....

does it really matter given how unpredictable & weak this draft class is at the top end?
no real elite talent. I could well imagine someone picking at 8 getting the best player
Maybe Terry, Kim waive their NMC?

 

[Royisgone]

Maybe we can get the No. 1 pick and find someone dumb enough to give us the moon in exchange for it.

Trade down!

 

[elchud]

Maybe we can get the No. 1 pick and find someone dumb enough to give us the moon in exchange for it.

Trade down!

Maybe Seattle would want a #1 overall to kick things off.

The dream is, if we have #1 and they have #3, trade down and they take Okposo in the expansion draft. I am all aboard the Clarke or Beniers train, and one of them will be there at #3.

 

[Hasekperreault23]

I think there are a few players who can be elite or very good ala Reinhartesque..Beniers,Guenther, Power,Clarke,Hughes Ekland..getting a good player no matter what

 

[brian_griffin]

I stayed out of the GDT since I was working in the yard / garden until ~8:30, so apologize if these are redundant.

Good:
Jeff Carter - proving that good things happen when you go to the net.
Brett Murray - looked fine, had a couple early chances. Knows to go to the net.
Murray & Houser's parents in the stands.
Clinched last overall and first entry draft pick, as @littletonhockeycoach noted above.
Nice Seinfeld reference, and Caggiula had an effective game on the forecheck, as well as on the scoresheet.

Bad:
Sabres neutral-zone defense was poor. Granted, the Pens are a strong-skating team, and they were fully healthy, but the Sabres ceded their half of the neutral zone way too easily. I don't know what I would have done differently, but we'll see what, if any, adjustments Donnie G. makes for the finale. Too many unimpeded zone entries and too many goals off the rush.
Olofsson - while I thought he was good on the forecheck, IMO two GA were from him not sticking tight enough to his mark in the d-zone on the backcheck. I could be overly critical, however, because...

Ugly:
Dahlin/Joker - might be the worst game I've ever seen them play. Definitely the worst in short-term memory.
Dunleavy - it's ironic this was posted above, because I was going to comment on the ugly:

I would prefer the late Hunter S. Thompson & Keith Richards over Ray & Dunleavy.
I am just not sure whom I would prefer do play by play

I was watching the game on DVR last night, and beginning in the 2nd period, I paid attention to his game call, as opposed to just listening. My observations:
The next time Dunleavy remembers he's also calling a radio broadcast will be his first. He fails to provide any continuous description of where the puck actually is on the ice. He'll tell you intermittently where the puck is, after it's made 3 or 4 circuits around the ice, end to end.
He'll tell banal stories over the ongoing play.
None of his comments are pithy.
Rather than painting a picture of the game / play with his words, he comes across as describing how he's sitting in his den in his easy chair gazing at a still portrait of the game.

I will watch the Saturday afternoon finale, with the RJ tribute. I don't know if RJ will fully retire, continue a shared / split schedule, or maybe do a "guest call" game from time to time. What I do know is, even with an occasional player identification gaffe, RJs cadence and ability to describe the continuity of the action on the ice is light years better than Dunleavy. It's as if Dunleavy is reading you a book by giving you a few words of each paragraph. Sometimes the beginning, sometimes the middle, sometimes the end of various paragraphs, and yet from that, he expects the listener to understand the whole chapter.

 

[Der Jaeger]

I'm really interested in Murray. He's the first power forward the team has had in a while. Knows how to go to the net, seems aware, wasn't a slow poke.

 

[TheMistyStranger]

I'm really interested in Murray. He's the first power forward the team has had in a while. Knows how to go to the net, seems aware, wasn't a slow poke.

Nice simple game and got some chances for it. Good immediate positive reinforcement for the kid.

 

[DJN21]

I was high on Murray before the season started. Glad he was solid in his first game. Hopefully Pekar and Peterka round out their game's next year in the minors and add that additional layer of "tough to play against" type in the system.

 

[kirby11]

I stayed out of the GDT since I was working in the yard / garden until ~8:30, so apologize if these are redundant.

Good:
Jeff Carter - proving that good things happen when you go to the net.
Brett Murray - looked fine, had a couple early chances. Knows to go to the net.
Murray & Houser's parents in the stands.
Clinched last overall and first entry draft pick, as @littletonhockeycoach noted above.
Nice Seinfeld reference, and Caggiula had an effective game on the forecheck, as well as on the scoresheet.

Bad:
Sabres neutral-zone defense was poor. Granted, the Pens are a strong-skating team, and they were fully healthy, but the Sabres ceded their half of the neutral zone way too easily. I don't know what I would have done differently, but we'll see what, if any, adjustments Donnie G. makes for the finale. Too many unimpeded zone entries and too many goals off the rush.
Olofsson - while I thought he was good on the forecheck, IMO two GA were from him not sticking tight enough to his mark in the d-zone on the backcheck. I could be overly critical, however, because...

Ugly:
Dahlin/Joker - might be the worst game I've ever seen them play. Definitely the worst in short-term memory.
Dunleavy - it's ironic this was posted above, because I was going to comment on the ugly:


I was watching the game on DVR last night, and beginning in the 2nd period, I paid attention to his game call, as opposed to just listening. My observations:
The next time Dunleavy remembers he's also calling a radio broadcast will be his first. He fails to provide any continuous description of where the puck actually is on the ice. He'll tell you intermittently where the puck is, after it's made 3 or 4 circuits around the ice, end to end.
He'll tell banal stories over the ongoing play.
None of his comments are pithy.
Rather than painting a picture of the game / play with his words, he comes across as describing how he's sitting in his den in his easy chair gazing at a still portrait of the game.

I will watch the Saturday afternoon finale, with the RJ tribute. I don't know if RJ will fully retire, continue a shared / split schedule, or maybe do a "guest call" game from time to time. What I do know is, even with an occasional player identification gaffe, RJs cadence and ability to describe the continuity of the action on the ice is light years better than Dunleavy. It's as if Dunleavy is reading you a book by giving you a few words of each paragraph. Sometimes the beginning, sometimes the middle, sometimes the end of various paragraphs, and yet from that, he expects the listener to understand the whole chapter.

RE the bolded: While RJ's fastball has been gone for a while, he's still second to none in terms of making it incredibly easy to visualize the action for listeners or if you have the game on in the background and aren't fully watching. One of the best in the business, compared not to just Dunleavy, but to plenty of the national guys, too. Doc, Eddie, and Pierre's inane in-game rambling and chatting over the action was always beyond annoying.

 

[jc17]

RE the bolded: While RJ's fastball has been gone for a while, he's still second to none in terms of making it incredibly easy to visualize the action for listeners or if you have the game on in the background and aren't fully watching. One of the best in the business, compared not to just Dunleavy, but to plenty of the national guys, too. Doc, Eddie, and Pierre's inane in-game rambling and chatting over the action was always beyond annoying.

I still don't understand how doc was revered by so many.

 

[Der Jaeger]

I still don't understand how doc was revered by so many.

When Emerick was just calling the game as it was being played, he was second to none.

Gary Thorn was amazing at this as well.

John Forsling is my current favorite at calling a game you can visualize.

Where announcers go wrong is when they stop calling the game and start talking about other stuff during the game. I have leeway for when it's a blowout, or for a non-simulcast, but otherwise, just let the PBP announcer do his job, and then let the analysts go in the breaks.

In the 90s, Jeanerette and Lorrentz were amazing at this dynamic.

 

[dotcommunism]

I was watching the game on DVR last night, and beginning in the 2nd period, I paid attention to his game call, as opposed to just listening. My observations:
The next time Dunleavy remembers he's also calling a radio broadcast will be his first. He fails to provide any continuous description of where the puck actually is on the ice. He'll tell you intermittently where the puck is, after it's made 3 or 4 circuits around the ice, end to end.
He'll tell banal stories over the ongoing play.
None of his comments are pithy.
Rather than painting a picture of the game / play with his words, he comes across as describing how he's sitting in his den in his easy chair gazing at a still portrait of the game.

I will watch the Saturday afternoon finale, with the RJ tribute. I don't know if RJ will fully retire, continue a shared / split schedule, or maybe do a "guest call" game from time to time. What I do know is, even with an occasional player identification gaffe, RJs cadence and ability to describe the continuity of the action on the ice is light years better than Dunleavy. It's as if Dunleavy is reading you a book by giving you a few words of each paragraph. Sometimes the beginning, sometimes the middle, sometimes the end of various paragraphs, and yet from that, he expects the listener to understand the whole chapter.

I caught part of a game on the radio a few weeks ago where Dunleavy was just awful. Upon returning home, it turned out to be a national broadcast, so the Sabres feed was radio only. Even when he's only calling the game for radio, he can't seem to remember he's doing a radio broadcast.

 

[TheMistyStranger]

All that being said, I do think DD has a good voice for it, and I feel he sometimes has a certain charm that carries through.

 

[debaser66]

I caught part of a game on the radio a few weeks ago where Dunleavy was just awful. Upon returning home, it turned out to be a national broadcast, so the Sabres feed was radio only. Even when he's only calling the game for radio, he can't seem to remember he's doing a radio broadcast.

I remember very well the 04/05 lockout, listening to every game just in audio & RJ called the game so I could actually see the game in my head.
That's the quality a good NHL play by play guy should have...you can close your eyes and still follow the game just by listening.

 

[KeyserSoze81]

I'm really interested in Murray. He's the first power forward the team has had in a while. Knows how to go to the net, seems aware, wasn't a slow poke.

He’s been very strong in rochester. He has always stood out in a big way whenever I have seen him live - his game should translate well to the NHL

 

[Der Jaeger]

He’s been very strong in rochester. He has always stood out in a big way whenever I have seen him live - his game should translate well to the NHL

looks like a young pat maroon

 

[TheMistyStranger]

Re: Dunleavy chatter - a thread