Name that Andrey chuk

Dave Andreychuk was a goal-scoring phenom for the Buffalo Sabres in the early 1980s, still a contributor during the team’s 2001 playoff run, captain of a Stanley Cup winner with Tampa Bay in 2004 and a candidate for the Hockey Hall of Fame.

In all that time, who would have guessed there was another Dave Andreychuk out there?

Viewers of the Late Show with David Letterman might have heard the name recently when actor Kiefer Sutherland showed up there in a dress. Sutherland explained that the dress was payment for a bet he had lost on an NFL playoff game with “my friend Dave Andreychuk.”

The former Sabre started getting e-mails from people asking about the bet. But Andreychuk told the Toronto Sun it wasn’t him.

“He meant the Dave that used to be an Easton stick rep, who moved to Los Angeles where Kiefer and he became buddies,” Andreychuk told the paper.

By the way, Sutherland and that other Andreychuk might be close, but Sutherland and our Andreychuk have met a couple of times and the actor once had dinner with both.

“Now, how weird was that for Kiefer, to be eating with two guys named Dave Andreychuk?” he told The Sun.

Submarine race anyone?

Only one man can boast of being a “parking rock star.”

He’s Donald Shoup, the author and urban planning professor who earned that moniker from the Wall Street Journal a few years ago.

Shoup, a recognized expert on parking, addressed nearly 300 people in Buffalo this week and argued that parking is the root of many urban ills.

To make his point, he read off a laundry list of problems linked to the high cost of free or cheap parking.

Then, with a slight grin, he quickly added: “With an audience this size, some of you were no doubt conceived in a parked car.”

Short and sweet

If there’s anything business people like more than an interesting speech, it’s a short one.

Every year, hundreds attend the Amherst Chamber of Commerce’s annual luncheon to hear the town supervisor give the State of the Town address. During the four years that UB professor Satish Mohan was supervisor, the address was more of a lecture, filled with facts, figures and a good amount of clock watching.

One year, Mohan went on for nearly an hour, heedless of the steady march of people toward the exits.

But Barry Weinstein proved he was a different kind of supervisor when he gave his State of the Town address on Friday. He opened by saying, “I’ll try to keep it shorter than previous years.”

The audience burst into enthusiastic applause.

True to his word, the address lasted about 15 minutes.

A modest proposal

The folks at PETA have never met a news story they couldn’t connect to their cause.

Upon reading about the state comptroller’s report suggesting that the Peace Bridge might be in need of repairs, Tracy Reiman, executive vice president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, wrote a letter to the state Department of Transportation offering to contribute funds to help.

With one condition: the right to rename the bridge “Peace on Your Plate Bridge.”

“The bridge’s new name would remind Buffalo residents that every time we sit down to eat, we make a choice:We can add to the level of violence and suffering in the world by consuming meat, eggs, and dairy products, or we can show compassion by enjoying a vegan meal.”

Also, if everyone who used the bridge went vegan, they would lose up to 20 pounds, thus lessening the stress on the bridge, Reiman said.

No word on whether the DOT will take PETA up on its offer. But if things go the way they normally do with the bridge, we see a study coming.

Written by Bruce Andriatch with contributions from Phil Fairbanks and Sandra Tan.

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