Alarming similarity between now and 05-06 Sabres

0:00Why have we asked our contractor we found on Angie.com to be our kids' legal guardian? Because he took such good care when redoing our basement that we knew we could trust him to care for our kids. Uh, we only met a month ago. Angie, go and when you trust to find the ones you trust. Find gross for all your home projects at Angie.com. Ring Central's AI receptionist uses voice AI to answer on the first ring, so you'll never miss a call again. In just a few minutes, you can personalize your own AI receptionist to answer questions, route calls, schedule appointments, and even send texts in multiple languages. Plus, it's easy to scale. Create unlimited AI receptionists across any phone system. It's all powered by one reliable platform for effortless AI communications. See for yourself at ringcentral.com. Ring Central. Voice of your business. If you or someone you know needs help, you're not alone when things feel overwhelming. Support is closer than you think. The ERPO Liaison Program connects individuals and families to trusted behavioral health providers and vital support services in the community, compassion, guidance, resources, all in one

1:00place. Don't wait to get the help you deserve. Reach out today at ERPO Liaison Referrals at co.pg.md.us. That's ERPO Liaison Referrals at co.pg.md.us. ERPO Liaison Program. Here for you. It's my show. You might be mocking me or you might be staunchly agreeing with me. I can't tell. I'm mocking you. And the bulldog. What is Fuzzy Bear's role in this production? Not WGR. Sports Radio 550. Are we on the stream today? We are, right? We're always on. Oh yeah. Does anybody think I'm beard infringing on you? Like I'm sort of going for a look to look like you. Do people think that? I haven't seen any chat. I'm not. No offense bullpen. I don't know why I feel the need to look at the chat while I'm talking to them. Like they just know when I'm looking this way, the camera shows me looking this way.

2:00What I'm doing is I'm talking to you and the chat. I'm pointing at the chat. Anyway, I haven't seen any chatter in the chat, but I'm also not super aggressively following it. You're not thinking this. Are you? No, I hadn't come to mind, although it should be pointed out that we are probably closer in beard length than ever because I'm shorter. I'm keeping it shorter. I'm going every six weeks. I'm just not letting it get crazy anymore. I've cited pictures of me with that beard. I'm just like, no, you look kind of like an insane person. So I'm trimming it back and you're growing years a little longer. So we're closer to a match, I think. I'm not meaning to be. I'm lazy. Yeah. Like every day, I think that is trimming it. Still the foundation of the beard, isn't it? The beard life entirely is just one more thing I don't have to do, don't ever have to do that. I don't worry about. I don't like it at all. When it's long like that. Yes. I just thought at one point, I thought maybe I'm starting to look like Bulldog, you know?

3:04Yeah. It was. I don't want cheese. I don't want that. Cheese zooming in on us to get in here, getting the full, the full treatment. I don't want to be perceived as not being my own man, right? Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I've never needed to look like it's so funny. Like you, I'm looking at you every day just like you're, you know, I don't stare at you the whole time. But I mean, I see you all day long. I hadn't thought of it. But now that Jesus like doing the zoom in on us, I'm like, they're, they're pretty close. They really are. Yeah. Yes. I don't go, I don't go get a trim again until the end of the month is my next, my next date. Maybe I will find the strength, you know, tomorrow to take 10 minutes out of my day, right? My wide open, but I decided very like quite a few, when I, when I first met Oral Roberts is when I decided that's my barberry owns his own place. Now I first met him at another shop when he was just working there and he started trimming my beard.

4:04I was like, well, this dude knows how to handle this thing because when it gets really long, it gets a mess and he does such a good job that I have, I never trim it myself anymore. I don't ever get the clippers out and do any work on it. I just trust it to Oral Roberts to my man, the professional and that is his real man. That is Oral Roberts. That is Oral Roberts. I got to go to my guy, Brigham Young next week, tighten up a little bit. Here's a thought on the Sabers and just like yesterday with all the excitement off of Sunday. Were you there Sunday? Are you going the night? Like what's your level of a excitement or enthusiasm, be respect for this? I mean, just like I say a lot, I think we're going to just be talking all the time here between now and the playoffs about whether this can really go all the way. The Sabers can really go all the way and just like how, how high is the ceiling here? 803, 05, 50. They're always hit with streaks and hockey and they're all almost all kind of cheap or

5:10cheaper because there's no ties anymore. Two eight game winning streaks in a season by the Sabers would be a first if they win the night. And my instinct is always like, well, there's no ties anymore. I mean, everybody, if somebody wins every game, it's way different than when it used to be, you know, when we used to have ties. However, so the Sabers have won 28 out of 35. First instinct, well, sure, but how many of those games would have been ties? Three on of their wins. Yeah. And they were all on the front side of that streak, if you will, if you want to call it a streak, including the first game of it, which was Edmonton as an overtime win. They got tied with like 1.3 seconds to go. Yes. So, there was another game out west that went to overtime or a shootout. They had a win. Why have I asked my electrician? I found on Angie.com to bury my pet hamster. I was so moved by how carefully he buried my electrical wires.

6:12I knew I could trust him to bury my sweet nittles after his untimely end. This is very strange. Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find pros for all your home projects at Angie.com. Ring Central's AI receptionist uses voice AI to answer on the first ring, so you'll never miss a call again. In just a few minutes, you can personalize your own AI receptionist to answer questions, route calls, schedule appointments, and even send texts in multiple languages. Plus, it's easy to scale. Create unlimited AI receptionists across any phone system. It's all powered by one reliable platform for effortless AI communications. See for yourself at ringcentral.com. Ring Central. Voice of your business. If you or someone you know needs help, you're not alone when things feel overwhelming. Before it is closer than you think, the ERPO Liaison Program connects individuals and families to trusted behavioral health providers and vital support services in the community. Compassion, guidance, resources. All in one place. Don't wait to get the help you deserve. Reach out today at ERPO Liaison Referrals at CO.PG.MD.US.

7:14That's ERPO Liaison Referrals at CO.PG.MD.US. ERPO Liaison Program. Here for you. Ottawa, but that's all like a long time ago. The second one was a game against the islanders. So it was not out west. A home game went to a shootout. They beat the islanders in a shootout. Yep. Right before Christmas. December 20th. Yeah, I'm looking at the whole schedule now. And then Ottawa, December 23rd, that is their last overtime win. If they win an eighth straight tonight in regulation, those are all in regulation. But how many in a row of their wins have been in regulation? Like you have to go, if it's 28 wins out of 35, it's five of the first seven were in overtime or a shootout. Only one shootout, by the way, since then, win or lose. They've had three shootouts this year, the Sabers, and they have won them all.

8:14Yeah, that is wild that you got to go back to two days before Christmas to find an overtime win here. For all the winning and there's only, there's two overtime losses in there. That's it. That's it. I mean, they've been playing games in regulation and winning obviously the vast majority of I don't have time to count out how many that is like wins in a row that are regulation wins. Well, it's 21. Oh, you did it. I think it's 21. So 35 games, 28 wins in 35 games and the three wins that went to overtime were in the first seven. So now I've got 28 games, 21 wins, all in regulation. There's nothing cheap about that. You're right. It's 21. It's 21 regulation wins in a row of their wins. Like there's a better way to put that right. So you got it, right? Take out the first one and it's 25 out of 27 wins going back to just right after Edmonton

9:15have been regulation wins. Really amazing. So I'm always sort of first instinct is don't respect for any kind of hockey streak stuff, using history because I don't know how many ties with the 76 Canadians have won actually if they had gone to overtime or something, even a better record. But this is just way on the legitimate side of the spectrum for this kind of thing. And that to me, despite there being three, there's two overtime wins and a shootout win in that initial 10 game win streak that sort of jump started this whole thing. But even that's just three out of those 10, right? The streak, I'm not going to pull it up right now, but the 10 game streak back in 17 or 18, whatever year that was around Thanksgiving, there was just it was shootout city overtime. It was almost all of that, like maybe seven of those games, I should look it up now that I'm going to say it as definitively as that.

10:16But I just know it felt fluky. And we didn't want to really say it loudly at the time, but it was like they were getting away with it. This never has felt that way to me. Even that 10 game streak didn't feel that way to me. And again, that there's three of the 10 were, you know, extra time slash shootout wins. And that is proven to be right. I mean, the fact that they haven't had one since December 23rd and they still are winning the vast majority of these games by a lot, not by score. I mean, but like they're, you know, they're winning way more than they lose. And they're not using overtime to get it done at all. They're just winning. One more and then to calls the sabers were five, eight and four. So five and 12 after a loss at Colorado on November 13th, six to three, five and 12. How they are 39 and 25, putting all the overtime stuff together, which means they are 34

11:18and 13 in their last 45 games more than half a season. And as we're saying, three, well, it's a little more because we're going back farther, but very few with those games have even gone to overtime. Incredible. I looked it up. I'll count them out, Montreal overtime, Vancouver overtime, well, shootout. Peanut peg shootout, Pittsburgh overtime, Montreal overtime, Detroit shootout, San Jose overtime, seven, seven of the 10. That's what I guessed. And that's what it was back in 18, 19 hours. So November of 18. Yeah. Right. Here's Mark with us. Hi, Mark. Hi. Thanks for putting me on. I appreciate you taking my call. Thank you. We appreciate you. Just wanted to comment on being a long time sabers fan and a long time season ticket holder. I gave my tickets up right around COVID, maybe the year after, because it was at the point I couldn't even give them away, no one would even go to the game for free. So it became a burden financially and aggravating to watch and lose that much.

12:19So I never gave up on watching the games, but earlier in the years, they were struggling. I was invited to a number of games and declined each time because when I would go down there, it would just frustrate me and watch them play a boring game in front of 5,000 people. Now I've gone probably about 5 games in the last month. I went Sunday, probably the best game I've seen ever. I'm going again tonight and I can't get enough of it so much that I called them looking at maybe get my season tickets back. So just wanted to comment, Buffalo will support a winner. We always have. We always will. And I can't wait to see the game that I thank you. Thank you. I'm happy for you. And for anybody else that's been through that, I mean, many of you have. But the not wanting to be in the arena piece really speaks to me. Like that, and I never felt that way before. But it really got to that point where I just didn't want to, I didn't want to be there. The, the, just, it just felt awful in so many different ways.

13:23You know, the game, the crowd, the size of the crowd, the mentality of the crowd, the sort of derisive, ironic cheering and just, this is just gross. This isn't, this isn't a good time. This does not make me feel good on any level. So I don't want to do it. And my thing was to add to that is when the, like I've said a few times recently, when the team goes south, there are people there, but they're not paying attention. Right. I mean, a great hockey crowd, which is what we pride ourselves on being is paying attention. And that, I mean, there are degrees of that that everybody's going to know all the players, names and birth dates or anything like that, but you're just not talking about work sitting there with the game going by, you know, and a low point for me was going to the Vegas game when Ikel had the hat trick a couple of years ago. The first game back, the Sabre's beat him. The next year, he lit him up and like everybody around me was only there to swear at him. No compunction about doing it.

14:24I paid for my ticket. I could say anything I want. And I just hated it. I just, this is not where I want to be at all. Then I'm thinking about what I spent to go and soon as you get to that, I got my daughter with me, like it just, you know, this is not, when I say I love this, this is not why. This is not why I love it. And I don't know. I haven't been in there recently. I've got a couple coming up, but I got to think it's a lot different. Yeah, I mean, I'm going to need to get a piece of that. I went to the Pittsburgh game and I mean, before the last game, before the break, which was maybe as lousy a game as they played at home in months, I mean, they just, it was never their night and they lost five to two. And I know, you know, walking in, it sure felt, it was definitely exciting to be there, but the game just did not provide any of the, you know, there's no juice. It was, it was Pittsburgh's game almost right from the start and that was that. So yeah, I've not had, I've not yet, had a moment like the caller's talking about where like the fuse is lit and you can't

15:25wait to get in there. I, I did, if I'd felt better on Sunday, I might have gone down to use my pass just to get in, but I didn't feel up to it. I still was, I'd been sick late in the week and I just wasn't feeling quite up to it. So I didn't and I kind of wish I had, but whatever, I didn't feel good. So, so I haven't had that yet. And I'm not, I'm not going to run down there tonight. So don't worry, I'm not, I'm not going to jinx anything, but I'm going to want to get in there at some point to just get a, get a feel for what it's, what it's like to be in that building again when it's that hot. And then the playoffs, this isn't even that yet, right? Mm-hmm. Roll end is next. Hello. Gentlemen, I remember you're talking, you're talking about like regulation wins and winning streaks. I remember calling to like 21, 20 years ago, and it was 2005, 2006, so it had to be 20 years. And I had done a calculation looking at the regulation record because looking towards

16:28the NHL playoffs, three on three or four on four in the shootout, none of that really matters. Let's look at how teams do on regulation five on, you know, five on five or whatever. And at one point, right about this time of the year, in 2006, the sabers had started off pretty miserably, and it was sometimes almost Thanksgiving when they started to get together. And from that point until, basically now, mid-march in regulation, they win 28 and seven. Which is exactly what, or not, yeah, 28 wins, it's very close to this. That's your point. Very close. I wanted to bring that up, because I remember talking to you guys back then, and that was sort of a way of saying, you know, there really is something here. This is really something. So keep with me for another minute. That team, as I'm looking at it now, March 16th, next week, 2006, March 16th, they beat

17:30the Leafs to go, I'm going to combine the losses, 44 and 21. You know what they did after that? They lost eight and nine. So we don't want it to continue all the way to the end. Right. Right? Right. So they skidded into the playoffs. Is what you're telling me? And then got hot and went to the conference final. They won their last five. Oh, okay. The eight and nine didn't take them to the finish line. No. They won eight in a row. What's this? Tonight's for eight in a row. Yeah. Holy cow. I mean, we knew there were similarities. They won eight in a row through game 65 tonight is game 65. Come on. Wow. All right. Then they lost eight and nine. This is the oh six sabers. All but one of those losses in regulation. So no loser points. One. One loser point in nine games. One win. And then they won seven of eight to end it.

18:36If I don't a bad thing, if I don't a bad thing, well, I do remember this. What you've reminded us to do is to not freak out. If and when they hit a skid here somewhere, I mean, there, there, there will be worrying about what it means that it does it cost them first place, does it cost them even second or third place? That would be a real doomsday thing to me. But all the same, you can get it back. All right. So like, you know, if it comes, we should make sure to remember that one of our favorite teams in history of the franchise lost eight or nine in late March or April, like heading to the end of the season. Do you remember this about that season? Their last, their entire second half of the schedule was against the east. I bet they did a thing. I wish I remembered. I bet they did a thing off the strike, where they wanted rivalries.

19:38They wanted Buffalo, Toronto, right? So how many games did the Sabers even play against the West? Like, this might have been 20 a time when you didn't even do home at home. No, right? And that would make sense that maybe that changed coming out of the lockout. Like you're saying, more division oriented, rival reoriented. There's a pocket in history where they would, you know, you'd go to Anaheim once and that's it. They'd never come here. I think they played 10 games that season against the West. And then 72 against the east. Wow. All right. Including, and they're like a group of five and a group of five. So that had to be like, oh, of course, by design, oh, the games, the games they played against the West, five home, five away. Not exactly, but there were five home, five away, it appears, but not in order. Okay. Got you. And I bet the whole league did the same thing.

20:39Like, first two weeks of December, ish, middle of January, you played five, they played five games in a row against the west, each of those blocks. And the entire rest of the season was against the eastern conference. I don't remember it being that way. No. I mean, I do remember, like I said, jogs a memory that you didn't play home at home with everyone like you do now, but I didn't know that it was in that season. The Sabers go to 44 and 21 on March 16th, 2006 on an eighth straight win and then lose eight of nine culminating in a loss that I remember in Toronto by the score of seven to nothing. Right. Remember that game? Yes they do. They lost. They played two in a row in Toronto, they played two in a row in Toronto and that was the first. Right. And they had lost seven of eight going into that game. This has to get better, right? What do we sound like? And they lost seven to nothing. And then they played them two nights later and beat them in a shootout. And from there, it was, like I said, seven wins out of eight.

21:44Wow. They say you don't remember the regular season, no, that's true. That's pretty much true. Well, having a pair of games, because this was also coming out of the lockout, I can remember sitting in here with you, we go back that far, talking about ideas, you know, that whole lockout was spent, you know, bigger nets, bold nets, blue ice, you know, what does the hockey need to do? This was a thing. Play like little mini series, you know, like baseball, like I'm going to roll into your place and I'm going to play a, you know, I'm going to play a Friday Sunday or whatever, you know, we're going to play two games in your place and you're going to do the same with me and try to get that rivalry thing going and it, you know, it didn't really take hold. They played Toronto eight times, they played Montreal eight times, but they played Ottawa in Boston eight times, but that's a lot. Now we're at, what do we play for now with the division teams?

22:47Four and not, it's sometimes three, yeah, like, or, yeah, it varies. I don't know if it's ever as few as three, maybe it's as many as five, sometimes, I don't know. But I know it's, it's not as heavy as it was there when you're playing them eight times. I mean, holy cow, is this team as good as that one? Um, they're just so different. Like the, the strength of this team is the blue line and the strength of that team was up front. Um, you know, it's kind of got by defender wise, I think really they didn't have like a all great one great or even a great, you know, they had a number one pair, but it wasn't like a great pair in the league or anything. Um, goalie was obviously, you know, Ryan Miller, it's a dip, you know, you had a pedigree to big time guy and goal, um, I, I'm tempted to say, yes, I think they're just as live

23:52going in the playoffs as that team was, it doesn't mean they're going to go three rounds or longer like that team did, but I think the, the, this season, the similarities are there enough results wise, how they're playing. I still think, you know, I've talked a few times about this, how they, if you notice, they cycle the puck out high because of how good their defense are in the zone. So that, that's different and I was talking about this the other night and he, he doesn't feel like there are that many other teams that are doing that enough that it still gives the sabers a bit of an edge like that when they go to play Tampa, they don't, they're not used to defending a team that plays that way and that just gives you a little bit of something because it's just a little, it's a, it's different enough and it's not, like, you know, it doesn't happen every, it's, you know, you can't do it every time you have the puck, but just notice how often they are out above the dots cycling the puck because of the D and because the D are in the zone.

24:53So often you've got forwards that are up there anyway, half the time covering for powers back below the goal line or whatever, it just, it really affords them, it just makes it hard for teams to, you know, play their defensive systems. I want to squeeze this in, we have to get to sports in a minute, but somebody out there to that question is thinking about Ryan Miller, right? Does this team have Ryan Miller? Right. Well, he was young. That was his first full season, Ryan Miller, 0506, 914, 2.60, Alex Lyon, 914, 2.64, fewer games. The 0506 Sabers had a team save percentage of 908, and this team is 907. What would goals, average goals per game in the league be then versus now? Like, that was, there was a bump in scoring. It was a higher scoring year, I would expect then, then this year, I think even then

25:54this year, but I'll try to find out positive of that. We don't need everything to be identical here, much so far. Yeah. Kind of going that way. A lot of similarities. Mike Shope in the Bulldog in 803, 050, this is WGR. Ring Central's AI receptionist uses voice AI to answer on the first ring, so you'll never miss a call again. In just a few minutes, you can personalize your own AI receptionist to answer questions, route calls, schedule appointments, and even send texts in multiple languages. Plus, it's easy to scale. Unlimited AI receptionists across any phone system. It's all powered by one reliable platform for effortless AI communications. See for yourself at ringcentral.com. Ring Central. Voice of your business. If you or someone you know needs help, you're not alone. When things feel overwhelming, support is closer than you think. The ERPO Liaison Program connects individuals and families to trusted behavioral health providers and vital support services in the community. Compassion, guidance, resources. All in one place. Don't wait to get the help you deserve. Reach out today at ERPO Liaison Referrals at CO.PG.MD.US.

26:59That's ERPO Liaison Referrals at CO.PG.MD.US. ERPO Liaison Program. Here for you. You know Greybar for electrical parts. But there's one more thing we can do to help maximize your total project value. Our pre-project planning services can help you win the bid and stay efficient. So give us a ring and see how this one more thing can make all the difference. If you ever felt like you were living just a B or B plus life, it's so dangerous to live that more dangerous than a B minus or a C plus life because when you're living a B or B plus life, you don't change it. You think it's good enough? Is it? I'm Susie Welch. I host a podcast called Becoming You. People think, okay, an A plus life is not available to me, but there is a way. We are all in the process of becoming ourselves. And to becoming you, wherever you get your podcasts.