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00:00Still, what was the best part, the best moment, the best thing about it all, 803-0550?
00:12In terms of moments, I'm trying to beat it, and I think certain playoff moments probably
00:19should come in over the top, but it's done for 8-7 for me, I think.
00:24Like, this is really happening, on this level, with my family watching that game together.
00:30I went home to watch Game 7 with my wife and kids, and I was really happy that everybody
00:36wanted to watch overtime.
00:38My daughter had even been to the watch party at home, and she wanted to watch overtime.
00:43But when they won that game against Tampa, as rough as that was, as maybe it even didn't
00:50ever seem that likely, I know it didn't to me, that they would pass the Lightning in
00:56the standings, and then they went on to do that, what a game.
00:59I mean, that's an all-time game.
01:00Yeah.
01:01It's really hard to overlook it in any sort of framework where you're trying to establish,
01:08like, what's a moment from the season?
01:12You know, I think the Doan play in Boston, in the clincher, might be close as a moment
01:22for me, because that's Doan and Benson, and they are two of the sort of discoveries of
01:28the season, I would say.
01:29Like, Benson was already, you know, kind of endeared by the fan base, I think.
01:35Like, but it really wasn't, you know, what was it really amounting to?
01:40But he sort of, he became a star during these playoffs, I feel like.
01:45Or at least known.
01:46I don't know, star might be pushing it.
01:48But...
01:48I don't know.
01:49Might be fair.
01:51He, you know, folk hero even, like, I don't know.
01:55And he's so much fun to just talk about.
01:58Even, he's fun to listen to them talk about.
02:00Like, the way they talk about him.
02:02And I just, I just love, I just love the way that all appears from even this distance.
02:11So, like, that, the Doan and Benson combining for that goal, and he didn't win them the game,
02:16but it eased the tension.
02:19I mean, it's a 2-1 game, and it's the third period, now it's 3-1, like, okay, we got
02:23this.
02:24They had an empty net goal on the road in the playoffs where Doan was going in, and he
02:28passed it to Benson, and Jason Zucker, after the game on TNT, was asked about that.
02:34I wouldn't have passed it to him.
02:36Yeah, I wouldn't have passed it to somebody else.
02:37Anybody else, sure.
02:38Yeah, Thompson called him the dumbest human being he's ever met.
02:41But, you know, in a complimentary way.
02:43Oh, the nicest possible way.
02:45He's just so silly, I know.
02:47No offense.
02:47And so much of this, like, centers on him, like, I mean, amongst me and my friends,
02:52and I doubt we have the market cornered on this, like, there's just a lot of Benson
02:56chatter amongst my friends.
02:58One of them even made a denim vest with Benson and the number six on the back of it
03:03because we talk about the dirt bike and the jean jacket and the whole thing.
03:07So he's like a folk hero.
03:09Anyway, so he and Doan on that goal, that might be close, but the Tampa game,
03:16everything from it, it was just maybe the moment that anyone who was holding out went,
03:26okay, you got me.
03:28I love you again.
03:29Like, you're awesome.
03:30This is great.
03:31I'm done being skeptical.
03:32I'm done trying to figure out how much Kevin Adams should get credit for whatever.
03:36Just this is great.
03:37I love it again.
03:38Thank you for letting me love you again or helping me love you again.
03:42So, I mean, when you get a game out of 82 in the regular season that people from around the
03:50league
03:51are talking about as the game of the year, it's hard to top that as a moment in a season.
03:57I mean, and that's what that Tampa, that 8-7 Tampa game was.
03:59Like, I, you know, for different reasons, really nerdy reasons, I might like the game where they shut them down
04:07in the third period, the follow-up, the game that came after that game here, where they just dominated them
04:15in the third period, just shut them down.
04:17It didn't have the drama, didn't have the violence and the animosity, but like...
04:22It had Vasilevsky.
04:24Right.
04:24But just as important, right?
04:26I mean, it's like, I can do this to a great team.
04:30And so that was another one, but 8-7 to me is probably the answer.
04:35We have names for games over the years in sports.
04:39That's 8-7.
04:40The score is the name.
04:41Like 51-3.
04:43Right.
04:43Sometimes the score is the name.
04:45Mike is with us.
04:46Hello, Mike.
04:47Hey, guys.
04:48How are you guys doing?
04:49Great.
04:51Fantastic.
04:52So, both of you, I've had the pleasure of meeting.
04:55I own a sports bar that we're not going to name or get anyone in trouble, but just seeing
05:00the immense crowds that have actually come back and, you know, people actually giving
05:06a damn.
05:07And like you said, if it was nothing else, it was that 8-7 game where people just realized,
05:12oh my God, like, we have a team again.
05:15We can actually care about something.
05:17It was those moments.
05:19It was coming back from the Olympic break, having those people packing the bar that just
05:23really made this year special and the whole culmination of it all.
05:30Yes.
05:31No doubt about that.
05:33Yeah, definitely.
05:34Like, that's a moment for me.
05:37It's the game the 10-game win streak ended on, but Saturday afternoon in January at the
05:44place I go all the time, I didn't go there to watch the game.
05:48I went there at, like, 1 o'clock to have lunch and a couple of drinks with a friend.
05:52And then it's quarter to three, and we look around, and it's, like, you know, elbows to
05:57elbows.
05:57Like, the place is mobbed.
05:58And it's all people there to watch the Sabres play the Columbus Blue Jackets.
06:02Like, what is happening?
06:05We're back?
06:07We're back!
06:08Wow!
06:09And that just multiplied all through the winter and spring.
06:13It was really great to see.
06:15Thank you, Mike.
06:16Ray is next.
06:16Hello, Ray.
06:18Hi, guys.
06:18How you doing?
06:19Good.
06:20Okay.
06:21First off, the game that I thought was that got me, it was the Detroit game, the comeback,
06:26the overtime with Thompson just leveled.
06:30And it was to bring it.
06:32And set it to Samuelson for the score.
06:36But the other thing I called about was, I'm wondering now, seeing how the Sabres did, if
06:42any of the restricted free agents you think may be signed to offer sheets, because I don't
06:48think the free agency market's that good.
06:51And the one guy I would worry about is the one we've been all talking about is Benson.
06:54I'll hang up and listen.
06:56I mean, you can choose to worry about that.
07:01I just don't...
07:04Choose to.
07:05I don't choose to.
07:06I just don't think teams are ready to weaponize it.
07:10And if suddenly GMs...
07:14I mean, I shouldn't say shouldn't.
07:15I mean, St. Louis took Edmonton to the cleaners a couple of off-seasons ago.
07:19They offer sheeted two guys, and Edmonton ended up not matching either of them.
07:24They really put them in a pinch, so they're going to make them choose, and then they just
07:27let them both go.
07:28I don't know if that was out of spite or what.
07:32And those were mid-tier players.
07:34Those weren't superstar players, and those contracts weren't crazy.
07:38Maybe for the level of player they were, they were.
07:41So I don't want to just say out of hand, it won't happen.
07:45Don't ever worry about it.
07:46But I'm just...
07:48I'm not...
07:49It's just not something that happens regularly enough that I'm going to really fear that...
07:54that they're going to fall prey to that.
07:57I guess they could.
07:59Certainly don't want to have it happen.
08:00Right.
08:01Because then what?
08:03I mean, if it's way out there, which is the only kind of offer sheet worth making, what
08:10was Montreal with Ajo?
08:12It was light, right?
08:13That was...
08:14There was nothing to say.
08:15Nothing to think about.
08:16But if somebody comes in at record money for a player of Zach Benson's caliber, I think
08:24you'd have to think about it.
08:25I don't think it would be a no-brainer yes like Vanek.
08:29And I don't want to have to think about that.
08:32I'm not going to worry about it either.
08:33And you can go both ways on that.
08:36You know, maybe weren't they talking about Robertson this morning for this, you know,
08:40from the Sabre standpoint, I just...
08:44I feel like Benson has been so special to this, but he's also not top dollar in the
08:54league.
08:56Right.
09:00So, let's hope it doesn't happen.
09:02Yeah, I mean, if someone wants to give him Doan's contract, I say yes.
09:10I think I'd just match it.
09:11Right.
09:11Right?
09:12And if someone wants to give him more than that, at this point, I think maybe they're
09:17crazy.
09:18But then...
09:19But then you're stuck.
09:20Then you're just, okay, yeah.
09:22But...
09:22So, yeah, I don't know.
09:24Boy, I'm thinking way more.
09:26I should.
09:27It could happen.
09:28I shouldn't just rule it out.
09:29I said that ten times already.
09:31You don't want to end the weekend on this.
09:33Interesting choice with the Detroit game the guy pulled out.
09:37And I'm thinking, like, first block, I'm like, man, that's so early.
09:42It's right on the...
09:44They won six of nine before the trip that begins in Philadelphia, where they lost the
09:52three.
09:53You know, Philly, Winnipeg, Calgary.
09:54They lost those three games before that Edmonton game on December 9th that everybody points
09:58to.
09:58They had won six of nine games.
10:01And that Detroit win on the road was the first of those.
10:04That's the day Darlene came back.
10:06That's right.
10:07He met them in Detroit, I think.
10:08That's right.
10:09They came home and beat Edmonton.
10:11A couple of nights later, five to one.
10:14Lost badly at home to Calgary, six to two.
10:16Then blew out Chicago, nine to three on a Friday night.
10:20Beat Carolina, which is not ever nothing.
10:22Four to one.
10:23Lost at Pittsburgh.
10:25Lost at Jersey.
10:26Badly.
10:27Five nothing in Jersey.
10:28Four to two in Pittsburgh.
10:29And then beat Minnesota, beat Winnipeg, and then went on that trip.
10:32And lost Philly, Winnipeg, Calgary, and then blasted off.
10:36So, it's not a...
10:38It's sort of like they were on a hot streak before the hot streak, kind of.
10:43A little bit.
10:44It's been nice talking to EJ Raddick through these playoffs.
10:47We did so one more time yesterday.
10:51And he is the person who, on a day when you were absent, sort of put it to me in
10:59a way
10:59that I think was very believable, how the players had to recommit around then.
11:07You know, Edmonton.
11:11Re-establish what the standard needed to be.
11:14Or just set a standard.
11:15Not that there wouldn't have been any standard before, but it might have been too low.
11:20And so, even again yesterday, I say even.
11:24Yesterday, even though he had already talked to us about this when we went back into the
11:30regular season, he brought it up again.
11:33And even referred to that meeting that Lindy Ruff has talked about, where the leadership
11:37group, as Ruff has put it, got together and that it wasn't all pleasant between the
11:44guys.
11:45But, you know, it's the story I choose to believe about this season, is that their top
11:51players, the season wasn't too late yet.
11:56And they were having enough good results, like what you just pointed out, a little bit of
12:01a streak before they lost out West, to look.
12:06I mean, it's going to be up to us.
12:09Nobody's going anywhere unless we just sort of put up with another miserable season and
12:14then beg to leave.
12:16Which, you know, thank God, we're not there.
12:19Right.
12:20Joe said something about that the other day.
12:22Like, had they not been good, had this not happened, we're just talking about Darlene and
12:28Thompson and whether it's time to move them.
12:30And how soon are they going to make that unavoidable?
12:33Yeah.
12:35Yeah, no kidding.
12:36We never got there.
12:37What a relief that is.
12:40Yes.
12:41That might be my new highlight of the season.
12:43Right.
12:44Something that didn't happen.
12:46Frank is next.
12:46Hello.
12:48Hey, guys.
12:49Thanks for taking my call.
12:50You're welcome.
12:52Yeah.
12:52So, I think my actually highlight of the season is actually through a couple of games and
12:57as the emergence of Matias Samuelsson and even he said it himself, every single shot just
13:01seemed to be going in and that pretty much established our top four as the lead.
13:06And I was just so, like, everybody was just so ready to wash their hands of him and he
13:11just redeemed himself and along with Owen Power and I think that is truly where we are
13:16going to succeed is through our defense moving forward.
13:19Thank you, guys.
13:21You're welcome.
13:23Boy, Samuelsson, I think we talked about this earlier, you know, well before the playoffs.
13:31Like, you know, we're already kind of starting to feel it.
13:34Like, wow, what's really going on here?
13:35This is pretty awesome.
13:38And doesn't he...
13:41I've got the wrong game open here.
13:42I'm looking for a Ranger-Saber game.
13:45He scores a shorthanded goal.
13:47Samuelsson scores a shorthanded goal.
13:49At the Rangers.
13:50At the Rangers.
13:52Going, like, just going down the left wall.
13:55It's like halfway through the face-off circle.
13:58Maybe even the lower.
13:59Try January 8th.
14:00Okay.
14:01And he just shoots.
14:02He just shoots and it goes in.
14:04And it was at a moment in the game.
14:05I'm pretty sure they're nursing a 2-1 lead.
14:09And they've just taken a penalty.
14:11And it's like, oh, no, oh, no, oh, no.
14:13And then, blammo.
14:15He just does that like, okay, I guess we got this.
14:18That was such a great moment with him.
14:21I just love that play so, so much.
14:24That is the game.
14:26On Jonathan Quick.
14:28Right.
14:29By the way.
14:30Oh, what did I do there?
14:31January 8th.
14:323-2 mid-third.
14:33Krebs penalty.
14:34Samuelsson scores 14 seconds into it.
14:36For 4-2.
14:37And a 5-2 win.
14:39And you're just...
14:40And you're cruising.
14:42It's just so, so good.
14:44Yeah, I mean, at that point, we're really looking at the standings.
14:46I mean, the 10-game winning streak gets them to the line.
14:50Gets them right at the line.
14:52But after that, wins continued to pile up.
14:57And by the end of January, I want to say, they weren't clinched or anything.
15:02But they were in really strong shape.
15:05That's right.
15:05I mean, they ended the winning streak on that game I referenced on a Saturday against Columbus.
15:11Then won their next three.
15:13Lost 1-1-2.
15:14Lost 2-1-5.
15:16Lost 1-1...
15:17Like, they just...
15:18They never really cooled off.
15:21The requisite losing streak to accompany the winning streak just never came.
15:27And you kept sort of there.
15:28And the season, sometimes naturally, and in this case, this is the way the schedule worked,
15:34gave you some natural signposts with the Olympic break sitting in there.
15:39And, like, the Sabres were running so hot going into that.
15:42Although, they did lay a big egg the last night before it with a home loss to Pittsburgh 5-2.
15:48But they came out of that break just on fire.
15:51Did they win 13 of 14 or something coming out of the break?
15:55Like, they were...
15:55I've got it here, but I can't even...
15:57There's too many W's for me to add up.
15:58It's too hard.
15:59Why?
16:00It's just so good.
16:02New Jersey, Florida, Tampa, Vegas, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Tampa, San Jose.
16:07Out of the break in a row.
16:0812 out of 13 is correct.
16:10Man.
16:10Then two overtime losses.
16:11Right.
16:12Just...
16:13Are they going to wilt?
16:14Will they...
16:14Was it fluky?
16:16Are they going to stay hot after the Olympic break?
16:18No, here's 12 out of 13.
16:19Chew on that.
16:20How did I not go to one win?
16:23All these wins you're speaking of.
16:24I wasn't at any of these games.
16:25I know.
16:26I know.
16:26How did I not go to one?
16:26Same here.
16:29Never made it.
16:30I didn't go a lot.
16:31I mean, that helps.
16:33I don't know.
16:33That's right.
16:34I think I went to five.
16:35I went to four.
16:39Three playoff losses.
16:43Oh, that's tough.
16:44Technically, I was in the building for game seven also.
16:47I left before it started.
16:48Yeah.
16:48That's a...
16:49That's a...
16:51Not quite a walk of shame, but...
16:53Oh, believe me, I know.
16:54Yeah, dude.
16:55Yeah.
16:55Oh, yeah.
16:56From 20 years ago, you know.
16:57Yeah.
16:57Always going home.
16:58Always going home.
16:59Going the wrong way.
17:00Where's this guy going?
17:01Yeah.
17:02Good times.
17:03Yeah.
17:04I got recognized a lot on that walk on Monday.
17:07No bet.
17:07No bet.
17:07You know, I've got a bag, right?
17:09A visor, probably.
17:12And...
17:12But nobody questioned me to my face.
17:16You're like, what's this?
17:17Are they...
17:17You're going the wrong way.
17:18Is the game off?
17:19Yeah, right, right.
17:20Is the game canceled?
17:21You didn't get any of that?
17:22Yeah.
17:22No, I didn't.
17:23Not to my face.
17:25It's the walk to the casino, because I park at the casino.
17:28Usually.
17:30It's a pretty good walk.
17:31That is a healthy walk.
17:32Yeah.
17:33Healthy is a good word for it.
17:34Yeah.
17:34And then you drive away from the arena, and then that road is closed.
17:38Eventually, there must be working on it, or it's just closed.
17:42Yeah.
17:43I don't know what the hell you're talking about.
17:44Then you have to go, I think that's...
17:47I know what road you're on.
17:48So I'm on Perry Street, leaving the casino, turning right, away from the arena.
17:53All right.
17:53And then I think that's closed at maybe Hamburg Street.
17:59So I have to go...
18:00Yeah, there's like home, like construction happening down there, too.
18:04Yeah.
18:04That's what the signs make you think.
18:06Yeah, yeah.
18:06The road closed sign, it looks like that construction sign, you see?
18:10Yeah.
18:11Then, so it's up the hill, but there's no 190 north entrance on that hill.
18:18There's south.
18:19Mm-hmm.
18:20Maybe I should go south and then go back.
18:22South and then move around, yeah.
18:23Instead, I go over that hill, and then is it Swan Street, where Dobutsu was?
18:32The potholes on that hill are just record stuff.
18:35That's Seneca, I think.
18:36Seneca, that's right.
18:37That's Swan.
18:38Swan is the ballpark.
18:38Yeah.
18:39Seneca Street.
18:40Yep.
18:40Street draft.
18:42Mm-hmm.
18:42I mean, I had to do it a second time for this Game 7 after leaving another game going
18:48the same way, having parked there.
18:49And I really...
18:51You need like special padding in your car for that hill.
18:56The potholes are incredible on that hill.
18:58Some roads that are in the...
19:00That's what should be closed.
19:01There's a disrepair in there, yeah.
19:02Yeah, that's the road that should be closed, I think.
19:04But then, well, I don't know what I would do.
19:06I might have to figure out another route.
19:09Stay at the casino.
19:10Or the game.
19:11Or just stay at the game and never leave.
19:13I suppose you could have done that.
19:15It was an option.
19:16I mean, all my friends were almost begging me to do that.
19:19Not that they needed me there, but just like, how could you leave?
19:23And I know, I hear you.
19:25If I wouldn't have had a ticket, I would not have stayed.
19:27I wouldn't have wanted...
19:29We talked about this.
19:30That's how I ended up going to game five against Boston.
19:32Because I knew we were going to be working there.
19:34I'm like, I'm going to be here.
19:39It's not 20 years ago.
19:41My kids can make dinner themselves.
19:43They don't need me to watch them.
19:45They're adults.
19:46So I'm going to stay for the game.
19:49Just walk around and hope an usher doesn't shoo me away from a spot or whatever.
19:53I've got to find a place to sit.
19:55If I didn't have a ticket, I would have gone home too, game seven.
19:58I really came...
19:59This year, probably as much as ever, I really came to enjoy watching the Sabres with my wife.
20:04I wanted to be home to watch the game with her.
20:06Because she is...
20:07With all the hockey she's watched with our daughter, she has become super knowledgeable.
20:14And we can really just talk about decisions that are made on the ice.
20:18And match-ups and things like this.
20:22When the Sabres took the ice...
20:23I was with her in the building for game five.
20:25When the Sabres took the ice for the third period, I was looking the other way.
20:30And she sort of tapped me on the arm.
20:31I was like, Lion!
20:33And you and I talked about it the next day on the air.
20:35I was not assuming that.
20:36Like, I thought maybe at only two goals down, you...
20:39Yeah, yeah.
20:40Stay with...
20:41Yes.
20:41Like they did in the one Boston game they lost.
20:43Where they just...
20:43Let's see how the third period starts.
20:45And that didn't start well.
20:47No, right.
20:47We didn't learn from that.
20:48And then it got pulled.
20:49Yeah, Lucanen it was.
20:50Yeah, right.
20:50That was Lucanen, right.
20:51Right.
20:51So I wanted to be home to watch with her.
20:53Yeah, same goes for me too with...
20:55Well, the home games.
20:57You know, I'm glad I was in there.
20:58Because I've enjoyed...
21:00You know, think about favorite moments of the season.
21:02And the sentiment of our first caller, Michael, this segment.
21:06Was, you know, like just seeing people out and enjoying it again.
21:09I mean, this is a year where I got to do that with Owen.
21:13For the first time ever.
21:15You know, they've never been good when he's known anything about hockey.
21:19Other than like barely how to skate.
21:21Right?
21:21I mean, that's it.
21:23So, the playoff games that were on the road.
21:28You know, he was at the Boston Clinchers.
21:31I didn't get to do that with him.
21:32Those are great memories.
21:33My wife is funny.
21:35She knows a lot too.
21:36Like when she's in there, when other teams are playing.
21:39She can...
21:40You know, we can have a conversation about what's happening in the game.
21:44Listen, I think the scar tissue from our kid being a goalie ruined her.
21:48Like she can't even be in the room watching Bills games.
21:51Like it's too tense.
21:52She gets...
21:52I think it gets her some sort of PTSD from being the goalie mom.
21:57You know, with Nichols playing Shattuck St. Mary's or whatever.
22:00She's like, I can't do this.
22:02And she just has to leave the room.
22:04I had a great night last night with a college friend of mine and her husband who were up from
22:11Atlanta.
22:12They listen all the time.
22:13They watch all the games and listen to the station all the time.
22:17And it was fun to listen to them.
22:19This could just be any people, right?
22:21That you meet.
22:21It's fun to listen to them describe their experiences watching games together.
22:25Because my friend, who's very gregarious, and she was a great friend of mine in school.
22:31She was like, I don't know how he can just sit there while we're watching these games.
22:37And he's like, I don't know how you have to be so loud.
22:40Because she must be just super demonstrative and reacting to everything out loud.
22:45And she's like, how could you not feel anything?
22:48And he's like, who said that I didn't feel anything?
22:51I'm just not...
22:51It's just not coming out.
22:52And he was a little bit of a guy who would be like, I just know we're going to lose.
22:56So he doesn't want to be that guy out loud all the time.
23:00Nobody wants to be around that.
23:02It's good to have that awareness.
23:04So I said, it sounds like you're a great team.
23:06You too.
23:08But she's the one, apparently, that does all the, I don't know, yelling and screaming.
23:12Maybe overstating.
23:13Reacting, whatever.
23:14Yeah, yeah.
23:15Highlight of the season for you.
23:17Mike Schopen, the Bulldog here, 8.03.
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