NEW YORK — Four diehard Buffalo Sabres fans from West Seneca were there. Some

natives of hockey-crazed Minnesota were excited to be in his presence. An attorney from St.

Louis handed out props even though he didn't know the name. And a few hundred others, most of

whom had never heard of Ryan Miller, braved a chilly Manhattan morning to cheer and ogle at

the Sabres goalie Monday on NBC's "Today" show.

OK, so a lot of the yelling at the beginning of Miller's appearance was for host Matt Lauer.

But by the end of the 2-minute interview, Miller was getting plenty of hooting and

hollering of his own from a crowd thrilled to see an Olympian wearing a silver medal in their

midst.

Lauer and Miller, wearing a long black jacket and displaying his Team USA medal around his

neck, emerged from inside the NBC studios at about 8:35 a.m. and chatted briefly in front of

the cameras before going on the air from the program's outdoor plaza at West 49th Street and

Rockefeller Center.

The crowd began gathering at 6:30 a.m. for Today's 7 a.m. sign-on. An informal survey found no

one who could identify Miller. Members of a dance/drill team from Tyler, Texas, had no idea

who Miller was, but were quick to point out the Dallas Stars once won the Stanley Cup.

There were signs trying to attract the cameras' attention from the Indiana Cosmetology

Association and Roanoke-Chowan Community College in North Carolina. Lots of "Hi Mom" placards

and even a high school girl asking Lauer to be her prom date. No Miller knowledge.

They all roared when Lauer and Miller came outside but yelled even louder when Lauer

introduced Miller and implored them again to salute him when the interview ended.

"What's his name? It begins with an "M,' " said Ed Vancil, the attorney who said he was a big

Blues fan. "Marsh? Motley? Well, the guy did a tremendous job. The [gold-medal game against

Canada] could have gone either way."



Kristin Bakos of Arden Hills, Minn., outside St. Paul, said her rooting interest in the

Olympics had been for Minnesota Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom of Finland. But she said she was

quickly impressed by Miller.

"It was so fun to see him out here," she said. "Goalie-wise, they were talking about ones who

played for Canada. He's a good goalie but you didn't know he would be that outstanding.

Backstrom was in there and we know how good he is, but Miller was amazing."



Save for Lauer's taped interview with former Bush advisor Karl Rove, much of the show's first

90 minutes were spent doing live interviews from Los Angeles in the wake of the Oscars. Then

it was Miller Time.

"You've got a lot of stars out there in Hollywood but guess what? We've got a big star out

here on the plaza as well," Lauer told the folks outside and the folks in front of their TVs.



Miller was accompanied to NBC by Sabres media relations coordinator Chris Bandura and NHL

representative Schuyler Baehman. The Sabres were off Monday and Miller, who has instantly

ascended to Buffalo's most recognized figure this side of the Goo Goo Dolls, spent the day on

a tour of various national media outlets. He left NBC headed for an interview with the

Bloomberg News Service and also talked to XM Satellite Radio, the Wall Street Journal, Vanity

Fair and VH-1.

Lauer asked Miller what it was like to be named most valuable player of the tournament even

though his team lost the finale in overtime to Canada and Miller acknowledged, "It was mixed

emotions ... kind of bittersweet at the end."



The interview then turned to the standing ovation Miller received from Pittsburgh fans

before last Tuesday's game in Mellon Arena. (NBC showed still photos of Miller raising a stick

and saluting a crowd but those were actually from Wednesday night's standing ovation in HSBC

Arena). How surprised was Miller by that reaction?



"It felt amazing," Miller said. "Usually you go into an opposing rink and you hear a lot.

Just to have that moment where the American fans were taking notice and everything I've heard

since ... everyone appreciated the tournament. Even people who weren't hockey fans. Hopefully

we've built some hockey fans."



Responded Lauer: "I think you did. It was fantastic hockey and in the net, you were just

incredible. So congratulations."



Miller and Lauer shook hands again and the host was off for his next segment. Miller,

meanwhile, stopped to sign autographs and have pictures taken with some of the fans. He

spotted the four West Seneca folks in Sabres jerseys and they got autographs and pictures with

him.

Kairstin Szpara, 25, had her Miller jersey autographed and her brother Jason, 22, had a

picture taken with him.

"He got MVP. That's the best possible award he could have gotten," said Kairstin Szpara.

"To not win the gold, to get the silver and still win MVP, how much does that ever happen?"



Six members of the Szpara family attended Sunday night's 2-1 overtime win over the New York

Rangers in Madison Square Garden. It was a Christmas present from Kairstin Szpara to her

brother, who had always wanted to see a game in MSG.

"We were hearing about it from Rangers fans [Sunday] night," Jason Szpara said. "But they

were like, "Yeah, you're from Buffalo but you got Ryan Miller."



Said their mother Maureen: "We're so very proud of our world-renowned goalie. We were proud

yesterday when he won. He's the world's best."