Sabres notebook
A low-key New Year’s Day is on tap
The Buffalo Sabres are playing on New Year’s Day for the second straight season. But the atmosphere couldn’t be more different.
The Sabres visit the Toronto Maple Leafs in Air Canada Centre tonight, and they’re hardly in a festive mood. On-ice woes are plentiful, the home fans are irate and questions are mounting about everything from ownership on down.
But last year . . . ah, last year was a treat.
The Sabres, as most no doubt recall, hosted the NHL Winter Classic in Ralph Wilson Stadium. Fans avoided the ball drop just to be fresh for the game, and 71,217 stood and cheered as the snow fell, fireworks exploded and helicopters flew overhead.
“It was a good experience, something you will remember forever,” Sabres defenseman Jaroslav Spacek said Wednesday.
Buffalo was the real Center of the Hockey Universe a year ago, but tonight’s game in the Centre of the Hockey Universe is just an NHL subplot. The league is holding another Winter Classic this afternoon, as the Chicago Blackhawks host Detroit in baseball’s Wrigley Field.
“We should play it again, but other teams want to share this,” Spacek said. “That’s nice. Chicago, it will be great there.”
The fans who fill the Friendly Confines should take the advice of Sabres coach Lindy Ruff.
“Enjoy it,” he said. “It’s really about bringing the kid back into the man.”
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Because of a minor injury to Adam Mair, Jochen Hecht may avoid the press box today. But he couldn’t avoid the fourth line Wednesday.
The Sabres center, whose play has plummeted so much that Ruff has threatened to scratch him, was dropped to the bottom line at practice in HSBC Arena. He skated in the middle with three wingers rotating around him, Andrew Peters, Maxim Afinogenov and Daniel Paille.
“I’m not a player who wants to be on the fourth line,” Hecht said. “I think I’m better than that. It’s just been too many games where I didn’t play to my potential, and I’ve just got to prove again that I can be on the first two lines. Right now, I’m not good enough.”
Hecht has just one goal in the past 11 games. The 31-year-old is in the first year of a four-year, $14.1 million contract.
Fourth-liner Matt Ellis, recently promoted from Portland, took Hecht’s spot between wingers Jason Pominville and Clarke MacArthur.
Mair, who scored in Tuesday’s embarrassing 4-2 loss to Washington, is doubtful for tonight’s game. Ruff said Mair’s knee, which underwent offseason surgery, is bothering the center.
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Defenseman Craig Rivet said he does not have a date set for his return.
The captain has missed the past nine games with a shoulder injury. He failed to get clearance during his last visit with team doctors, who will continue to closely monitor his progress.
