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00:00Paul Hamilton on the Western Hotline joining me fresh off a road trip to Florida and another
00:06Sabres practice today. Paul, I know it's a job and, you know, you're covering practice and you're
00:12writing stories and you're covering every game and that really doesn't change whether the team
00:17is in second place or in 15th place. But overall, like, does this hot stretch the Sabres have had
00:27here? This hot half a season, basically, is what we're almost talking about. Does it change anything
00:32from your perspective about doing your day-to-day job? Yeah, it gives you something different to
00:36talk about because it got to the point where, you know, you run out of asking the same question
00:44over and over again because you watch the same game over and over again and the same players say
00:50the same thing over and over again. I mean, I remember when Jake McCabe said to me, he goes,
00:55Paul, I don't know what to tell you anymore. And I said, Jake, I don't know what to ask you
00:57anymore. I said, seriously, I said, yes, it's, you know, we're, we're both in the same boat. I mean,
01:05it's, it's just, but, and I've said this to you before, I never, ever, ever lose sight of the fact
01:13that I cover hockey and football for a living, no matter how bad the hockey is. People have tweeted
01:20me, you know, I feel sorry. You have to watch this bad hockey. And I said, well, please don't
01:24ever feel sorry for me. I'm not out in two degrees digging ditches or out in the, or out in
01:3231 degree
01:33rain or whatever, whatever that is. You know, I'm watching hockey for a living. And I understand
01:40that there are a lot of people in this world who do not enjoy their jobs at all. And I
01:46do. So I
01:47don't ever feel sorry for me, whether the hockey is good, the hockey is bad or whatever. At the end
01:53of the day, I'm still covering hockey for a living. Right. And now the phone just probably rings a
01:57little more frequently, including from me. Right. I mean, cause you, you know, let's, let's be
02:01honest. Um, the last few years, you know, after every game, it's not like, oh, we got to get Paul
02:07on at four o'clock or five o'clock or six o'clock. We do sort of relegated to just
02:11the pregame window
02:12because like you're saying, how many times can you and myself and Mike have the same
02:17conversation over the course of a 14 year drought, where it just looks like we're watching
02:21a slideshow from a previous family vacation. It's like the same pictures year over year
02:27over year. And it's finally different. And so, um, you know, I hope you're okay with us bugging
02:31you a little bit more often. Yeah. That's my job. I mean, everybody knows that I also do
02:36a channel two show on Mondays and usually I'm in the second segment, almost always, you know,
02:42the bills with Vic Carucci will always, you know, and Benini will always be the first segment
02:46than John Scott and I do the second segment about the Sabres and it's back to the bills for the
02:50third. Well, guess what today I'm leading off with, with both Benini and Scott. I haven't been with
02:56both of them yet, you know, uh, you know, so, you know, that just shows you right there. Sabres are
03:01leading the show off with, with the, the two, uh, main folks. And, uh, then, then the football will
03:07be second and third. So that just shows you right there where, you know, the interest is so much
03:12more. I'm talking here, Paul, in this first segment about like belief, believing in it.
03:18Like I think, you know, 24, five and two speaks for itself over a 31 game stretch. I think that
03:24to me, there isn't anything fluky about what we're getting. I mean, if they had some good
03:28fortune here or there, sure. I mean, every hockey team is going to have that, uh, to some extent
03:32or another, uh, in a season and you'll probably get some that end up, you know, some, some bad
03:36fortune along the way too. Um, but do you, do you believe in, in this right now? Like I said
03:43earlier, I'd be stunned if they miss the playoffs with the kind of form that they're in. I think
03:47they're, they're good. Well, what did I tell you before the season started up again, they needed to
03:53be 12, 12 and one to get to the point where the cutoff point, well, they've just killed three of
03:59those wins. So what now, what was it? Nine, 12 and one, I mean, you can play under three, three
04:04games
04:04under 500 if, if it's still, you know, the same numbers, uh, moving forward. So, and you don't
04:10want them to play nine, 12 and one, you don't want to limp into the playoffs and you really don't
04:15even want them to go 500. I mean, you want them to be the team that showed up in Tampa
04:21the other
04:21night, uh, and, you know, blew the lightning right out the back door. I mean, that's as bad as I've
04:27seen
04:27the lightning play and I don't know how long since this group that they've put together. It's been a
04:31long time. Kucharoff and Hedman. And, um, I've never seen that team passes poorly as they did
04:36that night, go off side constantly, uh, miss the net, throw the puck up, up the middle of the ice
04:44twice and wind up with goals against. I've never seen them do that. Now the Buffalo Sabres forced
04:51some of this too. I mean, with the way they played, it wasn't just the lightning making mistakes.
04:57They were making the mistakes because the Sabres were playing fast and they were on them,
05:01you know, and, and forcing the lightning into quick decisions. And this, that was a night where
05:07quick decisions weren't going well for them. And, uh, the things were going very well. The
05:12Sabres were playing direct. They were playing fast, but the goal I loved, uh, probably the best.
05:17If I'm looking at a goal that shows you what the Sabres are about now, Owen Power, who I think
05:23has
05:23played much, much better for the most of this season. He caused a Sorelli turnover at his own
05:30blue line. Darlene had been up ice. It power didn't even blink. He knew where Darlene was. He got
05:38the puck and immediately put it up almost two lines up, uh, the left wing side to Darlene to get
05:45him
05:45up into transition. And he winds up scoring on the play, but it's power. Yeah. The turnover is
05:51important, but it's what he did with the turnover. It was so quick. It was turnover, bang, puck's gone
05:57and it's right on Darlene's stick. Now he's, he's into the zone in an outnumbered situation and he
06:02gives them the lead. I mean, it's, I, I, I thought that right there is a good example of things
06:09we
06:09haven't seen in a long time from this team. And we're seeing it more and more as this season has
06:16gone on. Paul, I, Paul Hamilton on the Western hotline with us here on WGR Sabres host Vegas
06:23tomorrow night in their first game back at home since the, uh, 20 or so day Olympic break. It'll
06:30be a Tage Thompson gold medal ceremony. Uh, we'll get to what he had to say about, uh, that and
06:36Eichel's
06:36involvement here in a bit, Paul, but it strikes me. I don't know if you were asked this question by
06:42myself or Mike at any point when this season started to turn around, um, or if we just never
06:48really got to it, but I'm curious, like, what do you think changed? We know the timing of the
06:54general manager, uh, Kevin Adams being replaced. Um, we know how it coincided. I think they won
07:00three games before that, but it was sort of in the wind that something was going to happen before
07:05that hot streak started, uh, ahead of the holidays in December. Um, what, what, what do you think
07:11happened here that this team now looks like they can go toe to toe with some of the best teams
07:16in
07:16the league? Well, this is for the most part, Kevin Adams team. He got most of the players. I mean,
07:23Thompson, uh, uh, you know, he of course was part of the O'Reilly deal, which was a little bit
07:29sure. Yeah. But for the most part, this is his team. And, um, it wasn't what he was doing. It
07:38was to me what he wasn't doing, which I thought was his weakness of being inexperienced. Like when
07:44you lose 13 in a row and sit there and do nothing, you didn't even call somebody up from Rochester,
07:49nothing. And then this year in the beginning of the year, you have one win in nine games.
07:54Again, you just sat there and did nothing. I think, well, I know actually there were some
08:01players in that room, but no faith in him at all that he would, that, that he would do the
08:07right
08:07thing at the right time to help this team move forward. And, um, you know, and then in comes
08:14Kekalainen who tells him, look, there's a lot of talent in this room, guys. And I really like the
08:20talent here. He goes, what I don't like is watching you guys play teams that you're better
08:25than and underperform and don't put forth the effort. And he goes, that changes today.
08:31And that's it. Basically. I mean, all the players kind of confirmed that. Yep. That he
08:36goes because they had heard the press conference. He goes exactly what he told you. It was short.
08:40It was sweet. It was direct, which is the way he is. And I think the players felt, Hey,
08:47wait, and we're in the NHL yet. You know what? We got a guy who's done this for 10 years.
08:52He's going to hire a guy who also has done it for over 10 years. Um, yeah, let's go. And
09:00then
09:00the other thing was too, that, and we saw it with Granado. They wouldn't know. And then they would
09:05play the way Granado wanted them to then win, but not much because they're hard headed. They want to
09:10do it their way. Same thing with Lindy last year. They did it for a bit and then they wouldn't
09:15the end of
09:16the year they did. And then, you know, it started to go well for them. And I think they finally
09:21just said, wait a minute, guys, what we want to do here isn't working. We, we sit in the bottom
09:29of
09:29the league when we do it our way and we win hockey games. When we do it Lindy's way, I
09:34got an idea.
09:34Why don't we do it Lindy's way for a while? See what happens. Well, you've seen what happens.
09:39Yeah. It does really speak to how much effort above and beyond effort, um, playing for the
09:47guy next to you, all that kind of stuff. Very cliche stuff. It does really tell you how much
09:53of a difference it can make when you've got on most nights, more guys than not paying the
09:59price because that Paul, like the fort, the, the aggressive four check, how, how, how, how well
10:06they do it getting on top of teams in, in the offensive zone. A lot of that is effort. Of
10:12course, playing defense is almost entirely, of course there's positional and understanding
10:18the system and all that sort of stuff too, right? The technical aspects of it, but mostly
10:22you just got to want to get there, right? You, you, you want to put forth the effort
10:27to get back and break up a pass and, you know, lift a stick, whatever it is. And when you're
10:34not willing to go all out all the time or most of the time, you just don't get that. And
10:41that
10:42to me is the biggest change here, you know, like the, cause the players are the same. The
10:46system's not different. It's just, they're dying to make plays now and, and, and not just
10:52pretty offensive plays, but defensive plays too. Boy, I was looking around the room. I
10:56did not see you there today, but you basically repeated Lindy Ruff's speech. Oh, really?
11:02Really? I mean, what started it talking about the Norris play at the end of the first period,
11:07he had scored two goals and I had Norris on at the end of the first is my walk-off
11:11interview.
11:12And it's one of the things I wanted to get to because maybe two minutes before the period
11:16ended, he, the Sabres were in, in a bad place. I don't remember who had the puck, but he
11:21was coming in on Lukanen with a great chance. Norris just put his head down and skated as
11:26hard and fast as he could to get back. And he hassled that player enough that he kind
11:31of got a shot off, but it was an easy save for Lukanen. It wasn't a grade A, uh-oh,
11:36type
11:36of thing. And it, all it was, was hustle to get back. And, and Lindy Ruff said today, in
11:43addition to what you just said, he goes, I would rather in a film room with the players show
11:48five of those clips than show five goals. He goes, I like, I want the players to see
11:54that. He goes, because we're doing it now. He goes, I almost every person on this team,
12:00if not everyone has done that at some point recently of just went all out. He goes, I
12:06don't care if you're tired. He goes, you still should have enough energy for one more burst
12:10to get back when you need to be back like that. And he said, they're doing it. And he goes,
12:16that's so impressive to teammates and coaches to see players just going all out, no matter
12:22what, to help prevent a goal, to help a teammate. Uh, I talked today to Rasmus Darlene and Noah
12:30Ostland, uh, about Darlene goes down. He's in a heap. I don't even know if Ostland saw it.
12:36Guess who showed up first? The 21 year old kid. He weighs, what about 135 pounds? And he, he,
12:43he was there in a shot. He didn't think about it. He didn't care who it was. It's not his
12:49nature.
12:50He doesn't fight. He just got there as quick as he possibly could to help defend a teammate.
12:56And folks don't think that doesn't go unnoticed in the locker room. Tage Thompson today, when we
13:01were talking to him was absolutely giddy about it. He said that that is huge in the locker room to
13:07know
13:07that that player's all we got, always got your back and everybody else in the room has your back
13:13totally different from the situation that might've turned this team around after it happened that
13:19when Tage went down and nobody came in for him and, uh, you know, they, it's New Jersey last year.
13:25Yeah. They all, they all got in the locker room and said some things that needed to be said that
13:30maybe, uh, some ears didn't want to hear. And all of a sudden now you got Noah Ausland, the 21
13:37year
13:37old kid in the middle of it because his captain's laying on the ice and, and that goes a long
13:44way.
13:45And, and it just seems like we're seeing more and more of that. All right, Paul, I'm, uh, I'm,
13:49I'm being told we're out of time. So we're going to, we'll put off the rest. I'll, I'll run through
13:55your Twitter and, and, and hopefully dot all the I's and cross all the T's, um, about, um,
14:00what Tage had to say about Eichel and whether he'll be a part of things and then the injuries,
14:05uh, and whatnot. Thanks for this. And we'll catch up tomorrow. Okay. Take care. There you go. That's
14:09our dude, Paul Hamilton on the West her hotline. His appearances are brought to you by Raylax Honda.
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