It was Kanat, Ottawa and Buffalo met. Moreover, Ray, who played almost his entire career at Sabers, was already a "senator." And he fought with Andrew Peters, who had just appeared in Buffalo. In a word, it would hardly be such an exaggeration to say that a seasoned veteran fought with his heir. The fight turned out to be quite long and ended, by and large, in a draw, although Ray can be awarded by points, which was lower and easier than the opponent ...
And last Thursday, again, it was lucky to see the famous tough guy, and under very unexpected circumstances. The same teams met, only the game was held in Buffalo. Ray, at the end of his career, retrained as a commentator, modestly stood at the side between the benches. Ottawa's head coach Brian Murray was loudly ruined on his left hand, while his Buffalo colleague Lindy Raff spoke just as emotionally.
Selective swearing from both sides was rushing, even if these elderly men had already clung to each other's throats. A great expert on the physical impact on the opponent Rob Ray stood calmly between them and carefully covered the microphone with his left hand, so that all of North America would not inadvertently enrich its vocabulary. Literally transmitting the dialogue of trainers is not possible, but its essence was already obvious, especially considering the “fakin” clearly heard a couple of times ...
The Buffalo Showdown, despite the relentlessly approaching deadline, became the highlight of the past week. Footage of a mass brawl that unfolded after the “Senator” Chris Neal “knocked out” one of the key Buffalo players, Chris Drury, flew around the world. For this reason, so respected people temporarily lost their temper.
By the way, the League recognized Lindy Raffa as the organizer of the ugliness. That's because he released the Caleta – Mayr – Peters “combat” troika against the Ottawa lead. According to eyewitnesses, also with parting words: go, they say, and tumble them down properly. Guys and went to tumble. The mayor immediately after throwing in threw himself at Speczza, Peters chased after Heatley, and so it started ...
Ray Emery was especially good. With a smile on his face, he summoned his counterpart Martin Biron to the battle, he quickly flunked him, and then with the same smile met the professional tough guy Peters who rushed at him. And, if not goalkeeper's armor, he could perhaps inflict damage on him. However, that Emery is not a blunder guy, it has long been known. No wonder the great boxers flaunted his helmet at different times - Mike Tyson, Marvin Hagler, Jack Johnson, and now George Chuvalo is depicted (Canadian heavyweight, very popular in the 70-80s, he even fought with Ali).
* * *
It’s easy to understand Raff’s fury. “Buffalo” for a short period was left without a number of basic forwards. Today Afinogenov, Kotalik, Gosted, Novotny are in the Klinkov’s infirmary, and here Drury was added to them. This is not counting Connolly, who has not played since last season, and Shpachek's defender.
On the nose of the deadline, all decent teams are working to strengthen the playoffs. Who is frantically looking for the goalkeeper, who are the defenders, who are the attackers. But the Blades have to solve completely different problems. Club general manager Darcy Regir has already lamented that he might have to sacrifice Biron to somehow strengthen the attack line here and now. Moreover, he said this even before Neil “broke” Drury. Consequently, the issue has not been removed from the agenda, but has only become even more relevant.
But this is a very risky step. If Miller is injured, there simply will be no one to replace him. There are no decent goalkeepers in the Buffalo system today. And playing for the “blades” is an extremely traumatic occupation of late. You can still recall the last season, when the team fought for the Stanley Cup with a bloodless line of defense. Only two defenders managed to play the entire playoffs - Campbell and Ludman. Tallinder, Numminen, Fitzpatrick, McKee were injured along the way. But Kalinin did not participate in it at all, he “broke down” in the regular season. Then the defenders fell one after another. Now forwards.
Another question is why there is such a high injury rate in Buffalo. One can only guess here. And this occupation is meaningless. It is clear that they are playing especially hard against Sabers this season. And last year their result is to blame, and the current leadership in the East. And their crazy speeds, by the way, too. Constantly not keeping pace with the “blades” rivals from this only become inflamed and become angrier. And if they catch up, they are applied from the heart.
But it is clear that there is a problem, and this problem must be somehow solved. Otherwise, Buffalo will have to be deleted from the applicants for the 2007 Cup. What I really would not want.
* * *
On the night of Saturday to Sunday, the Ottawa and Buffalo met again. It seems unnecessary to say that the sight was worthwhile. And the game itself, and the atmosphere, and fights, of course. Brian Murray had threatened to include Brian McGrattan in his main fighter in advance. This eloquently testifies to the mood of the "Senators" - McGrattan never appeared in February at all.
It was not without difficulty that the judges managed to prevent a mass brawl - local conflicts arose constantly. But there were minor skirmishes and fights of specialists in this matter. McGrattan fought with Peters (and, perhaps, won), Neil - with Mayr. Which, however, had previously managed to poke the “unfinished” by him in the previous match, Spezzu with his head on board.
It is possible that we are witnessing the birth of a new classic confrontation like the Battle of Ontario. “Buffalo” with “Ottawa” and so on are fundamental rivals - after all, the geographical neighbors and leading clubs of the conference, and now their relationship has become even more tense. Looks like it's time to come up with this couple a juicy name. Any ideas?
"Football. Hockey"