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NHL is so close yet so far for Sabres prospects Bailey, Baptiste, and Rodrigues

30 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Buffalo Sabres, Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers, Justin Bailey, Nick Baptiste

The Buffalo Sabres expect forwards Justin Bailey, Nick Baptiste and Evan Rodrigues to be pillars in the team’s rebuilding process to respectability and Stanley Cup contention.

But for now, they can be found behind pillars inside the Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial, home of the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League.

After tearing up the OHL, Justin Bailey is learning the pro game at AHL Rochester.

After tearing up the OHL, Justin Bailey is learning the pro game at AHL Rochester.

“In the locker room, there’s a corner of the room where there’s a couple of pillars and it’s kind of tough to see in that corner,” Bailey told me recently. “That’s where they stuck me, Evan and Nick. I think it’s kind of a rookie thing.”

It’s about 75 miles from Blue Cross Arena to First Niagara Center, the Sabres home barn. Only a one-hour, 15-minute drive from Rochester to Buffalo via Interstate 90, Bailey, Baptiste and Rodrigues are so close to their National Hockey League dreams. Yet they’re so far.

As rookies, even highly-touted ones, they have dues to pay in the AHL: getting obstructed-view lockers, staying on the ice after practice to collect all the pucks, cleaning the inside of the team bus after road games.

And there are lessons to learn on the ice. The three are finding their way with the Amerks after posting gaudy numbers in the Ontario Hockey League and the NCAA.

“I think it’s just the size and speed and making quick decisions, making sure you’re in the right places defensively,” Baptiste, a Sabres 2013 third-round draft pick, said of the adjustment from Canadian major junior hockey to the pro ranks. “Obviously, goal-scoring and points are tougher in this league. I don’t think my numbers are exactly where I want them to be. But if I keep playing the right way, it will all fall into place.”

Rochester Americans forward Nick Baptiste is adjusting to bigger, stronger, faster AHL (Photo/Micheline Veluvolu, Rochester Americans).

Rochester Americans forward Nick Baptiste is adjusting to bigger, stronger, faster AHL (Photo/Micheline Veluvolu, Rochester Americans).

Baptiste is currently fifth on the Amerks in scoring with 3 goals and 6 assists in 19 games. Bailey is tied for sixth on the team with 2 goals and 6 assists in 20 games. Rodrigues has 2 goals and 4 assists in 19 games.

In the OHL, Baptiste had 32 goals and 32 assists in 53 games in 2014-15 with the Sudbury Wolves and Erie Otters. He scored 12 goals and 11 assists for the Otters in 19 playoff games last season.

He played with Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid,

Rochester's Nick Baptiste is 5th on the team in scoring.

Rochester’s Nick Baptiste is 5th on the team in scoring.

the first player chosen in the 2015 NHL Draft, in Erie last season and with Sabres forward Jack Eichel, the  2015 draft’s Number Two pick from Boston University, during Buffalo’s training camp.

“They’re similar in their speed and the way they see the game,” Baptiste said. “I think Eichel is a bit more of a power guy. He takes wide net a lot with a lot more power, drives hard to the net. I think McDavid is a little more finesse, makes more moves, has a little more stick skill with the puck going to the net. But they’re equally talented. They’re both very good.”

Bailey notched 34 goals and 35 assists in 57 games last season for the OHL’s  Kitchener Rangers and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. He tallied 7 goals and 7 assists for the Greyhounds in 14 playoff games.

“The first couple of months, there’s been a lot of ups and downs, but I’m definitely starting to settle in now and getting more comfortable,” Bailey, Buffalo’s 2013 second-round draft pick, said of his time in Rochester thus far. “But it’s definitely a huge adjustment.”

Rodrigues and Eichel were teammates at Boston University. Rodrigues scored 21 goals and 40 assists in 41 games for the NCAA Division I Terriers. He keeps up with Eichel, who is seventh among NHL rookies in scoring with 8 goals and 4 assists in 24 games.

“We’ve been in touch a little bit here and there, kind of seeing how each other is doing,” said Rodrigues, who signed with the Sabres as a free agent in April.

Evan Rodrigues joined the Americans after a stellar career at Boston University (Photo/Micheline Veluvolu, Rochester Americans).

Evan Rodrigues joined the Americans after a stellar career at Boston University (Photo/Micheline Veluvolu, Rochester Americans).

And the three Rochester rookies keep close tabs on each other – at the rink and away from it. They commiserate and encourage each other in their obstructed-view portion of the Americans’ locker room.

Bailey and Baptiste are roomies in Rochester. “We kind of became close friends in training camp and playing against each other in the OHL, so it was a no-brainer,” Baptiste said.

Evan Rodrigues has a business degree from Boston University but says "right now I'm kind of focused on being a hockey player."

Evan Rodrigues has a business degree from Boston University but says “right now I’m kind of focused on being a hockey player.”

Playing for the Americans is a bit of a homecoming for Bailey. He grew up in Williamsville, N.Y., about 65 miles from Rochester. Whenever he’s tired of doing his own cooking  – or Baptiste’s – or needs help with laundry, he hits I-90 and heads to his mother’s home.

Karen Buscaglia says it’s a blessing, not a burden, when her son arrives hungry with a pile of dirty clothes. “Having him close means yay!!” she told me recently.

It also means less wear and tear on the family car. Bailey’s mother and his grandparents attend almost every Amerks home game, just as they attended nearly all of Bailey’s games in Kitchener, Ontario – about a two-hour drive from Williamsville. They even made it to some playoff games in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, a 10-hour trek.

“I think it’s so important to support his journey and have his back,” Buscaglia said in a email. “There are many ups and downs on this hockey ride and knowing no matter what happens on the ice you still have a support system that loves you and believes in you makes the journey more fun for him and us. Watching the joy it brings to his grandparents has been worth every road trip.”

Justin Bailey can look into the crowd at Amerks home games and see his mother and grandparents (Photo/Micheline Veluvolu).

Justin Bailey can look into the crowd at Amerks home games and see his mother and grandparents (Photo/Micheline Veluvolu).

It seems almost pre-ordained that Bailey will someday wear Buffalo blue in the NHL. His mother has always been a big fan of the team. Bailey was raised in a condo community where Sabres legends like Michael Peca, Rob Ray and Matthew Barnaby lived.

He left Western New York at 15 to play for former Sabres great Pat LaFontaine and his Long Island Royals Tier 1 AAA Elite hockey team.

Bailey remembers going to a Sabres game when he was five or six years old and Barnaby flipping him a puck after the team’s pre-game warm up.

“Being a huge, huge Sabres fan, that was a huge thing getting a puck like that,” Bailey recalled. “I think that’s what started the dream.”

Now Bailey can almost see Buffalo from his view-challenged locker in Rochester.

“You never know who’s in the building,” he said of Blue Cross Arena. “The (Buffalo) GM could be here today or a scout could be here today watching you. It gives you that added incentive to play at the top of your game every night.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Heroics and highlight reel performaces by players of color in playoff games

03 Sunday May 2015

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Alec Martinez, Buffalo Sabres, Connor McDavid, Darnell Nurse, Edmonton Oilers, Erie Otters, Joel Ward, Justin Bailey, Nick Baptiste, Washington Capitals

Hockey playoffs are in full swing and players of color are at the center of the action.

From the National Hockey League to Canada’s major junior leagues to the alphabet jumble of various minor leagues, players of color are providing heroics and highlights in the early rounds.

Washington Capitals' Joel Ward getting it done in playoffs - again.

Washington Capitals’ Joel Ward getting it done in playoffs – again.

Washington Capitals right wing Joel Ward further enhanced his reputation as a clutch playoff performer with his game-winning goal against the New York Rangers with 1.3 seconds left in the third period in the first game of a second-round series opener at Madison Square Garden.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Ward’s buzzer-beater against Rangers all-world netminder Henrik Lundqvist marked only the third time that a winning goal had been scrored in an NHL playoff game with less than two seconds remaining.

Game-ending heroics are becoming old hat for Ward. He’s got three playoff walk-off (or skate-offs) goals, the most dramatic being a Game 7 overtime winner that vanquished the Boston Bruins from the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2012.

Anaheim Ducks left wing Emerson Etem is yet to score an NHL playoff game-ending goal. But he did recently notched a highlight reel goal in the Ducks’ opening round series against the Winnipeg Jets that melted the “White Out” of Jets fans inside the MTS Centre and drew oohs and aahs from amazed teammates.

Emerson Etem eats up Jets defenders on goal.

Emerson Etem eats up Jets defenders on goal.

Born in Long Beach, California, Etem wasn’t much of a scorer during the 2014-15 regular season, tallying only 5 goals and 5 assists in 45 games for the Ducks. But he has 2 goals in five games in the still-young playoff season – and loads of confidence after undressing the Winnipeg Jets.

A few rungs below the NHL, forward Connor McDavid is getting his share of snazzy playoff goals for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. The likely Number One pick in June’s 2015 NHL Draft is the Main Man in Erie, the straw that stirs the Pennsylvania-based franchise.

But folks lucky enough to catch the Otters’ playoff series against the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds on the NHL Network couldn’t help but notice Erie forward Nick Baptiste. He potted 4 goals in a crucial Game 4 against the Greyhounds, a team that featured defensemen Darnell Nurse, the Edmonton Oilers’ 2013 first-round draft pick, and Anthony DeAngelo, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 2014 first-round draft selection.

“It was one of those nights where you just try to shoot as much as you can, and they go in,” Baptiste said after the game. “Fortunate enough to get the goals, but more importantly, the win.”

Erie won the game 7-5 and eliminated the Soo from the playoffs four games to two. The series was a high-scoring affair that offered a glimpse of the future for the downtrodden Buffalo Sabres.

Sure, a bad Ping-Pong ball bounce or two in the NHL Draft Lottery cost the Sabres –  the league’s worst team in the 2014-15 season – the first-overall pick and a shot at McDavid in June’s draft.

But with the Number Two pick in the upcoming draft, Buffalo is poised to get a great player in Boston University forward Jack Eichel. And more help is on the way talent-wise to Buffalo in the near future in the form of players like Baptiste.

Nick Baptiste's performance in the OHL playoffs brought Erie Otters fans to their feet (Matt Mead/Matt Mead Photography).

Nick Baptiste’s performance in the OHL playoffs brought Erie Otters fans to their feet (Matt Mead/Matt Mead Photography).

The Sabres chose him in the third round of the 2013 NHL Draft. In the 2014-15 regular season, Baptiste tallied 32 goals and 32 assists in 53 games with the Otters and the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves. He has 11 goals and 9 assists in 15 OHL playoff games thus far.

Baptiste was one of the last players cut in tryouts for the Canadian team that went on to win the Gold Medal in the 2015 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship.

The Greyhounds also featured a future Sabre in right wing Justin Bailey. A Buffalo second-round pick in 2013, Bailey scored 34 goals and 35 assists in 57 games with the Greyhounds and the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers. The Western New York native tallied 7 goals and 7 assists in 14 playoff games for the Greyhounds.

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NHL head coaching diversity down to zero as Flyers fire Craig Berube

17 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Buffalo Sabres, Connor McDavid, Craig Berube, Erie Otters, Los Angeles Kings, Philadelphia Flyers, Ted Nolan

And then there were none.

The number of minority head coaches in the National Hockey League zeroed out Friday when the Philadelphia Flyers did the expected and fired Craig Berube after the team failed to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Ted Nolan, left, and  Craig Berube, were the NHL's only minority head coaches. Both have been fired.(Photo/Philadelphia Flyers).

Ted Nolan, left, and Craig Berube, were the NHL’s only minority head coaches. Both have been fired.(Photo/Philadelphia Flyers).

Berube, who is part Cree, joins former Buffalo Sabres Head Coach Ted Nolan, who’s Ojibwe, on the unemployment line. The two made history in November 2013 when they became the first two First Nations members to coach against each other in an NHL game.

“Do I think he did a good job last year? Yes,” Flyers General Manager Ron Hextall said of Berube. “And this year things didn’t go so well. So you take the whole piece of the pie. I don’t think you can evaluate a coach on 20 or 40 games; you have to evaluate him on the whole ball of wax. We felt over two seasons that a change was needed.”

The Flyers tapped Berube, 49, to replace Head Coach Peter Laviolette in October 2013.  About a month later, Buffalo brought Nolan back for a second stint behind the Sabres bench.

Now the two have received their walking papers nearly a week apart. Neither firing was unexpected. Flyers management felt it had a playoff-caliber roster. But the team finished sixth in the NHL’s Metropolitan Division with a 33-31-18 record that wasn’t Stanley Cup Playoffs-worthy.

Philadelphia Flyers let Head Coach Craig Berube go after two season behind the bench.

Philadelphia Flyers let Head Coach Craig Berube go after two season behind the bench.

The team was plagued by inconsistent play – world-beaters against top-tier NHL teams, doormats against lesser opponents – and some questionable coaching decisions. Berube mismanaged goaltender Steve Mason, arguably the Flyers’ best player in 2014-15. Berube appeared to rush Mason back between the pipes early after the goalie suffered injuries.

Nolan’s canning wasn’t a shocker but the rationale for it was. The Sabres, at 23-51-8, had the NHL’s worst record, a dubious distinction that now puts the team in the best position to land the first overall pick in June’s NHL Draft, which will likely be Erie Otters forward Connor McDavid.

After putting an underwhelming product on the ice, and after a season of fan and media talk about the Sabres tanking for the best shot at McDavid,  Buffalo General Manager Tim Murray said he let Nolan go because he thought the team was better than its record indicated.

“I didn’t foresee us being a 30th-place team,” Murray said at a news conference. “Certainly after the trade deadline, trading out guys I had a big part in that, there’s no question and I own that. But up to the trade deadline I was open to keeping guys, I was open to maybe discussing with guys that were coming due, but the place we  were in was the place we were in.”

Whatever the rationale, both Buffalo and Philadelphia are in the market for head coaches. Both teams may take runs at Detroit Red Wings Head Coach Mike Babcock, whose contract in the Motor City expires soon.

They like Mike. Several NHL teams are expected to bid for Red Wings Coach Mike Babcock's services. (Photo Courtesy of The Detroit News/David Guralnick).

They like Mike. Several NHL teams are expected to bid for Red Wings Coach Mike Babcock’s services. (Photo Courtesy of The Detroit News/David Guralnick).

However, Babcock will be in high demand – Detroit, Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins will surely be interested – and he’ll demand to be paid, at least $5 million per season.

The Flyers may take a look at former Pittsburgh Penguins and U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team coach Dan Bylsma; St. Louis Blues Head Coach Ken Hitchcock;  former Flyer player and Gold Medal-winning Canadian Olympic women’s hockey team coach Kevin Dineen; or even former Flyers Head Coach  John Stevens, currently a Los Angeles Kings assistant coach.

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Diversity among NHL head coaches declines after Buffalo Sabres fire Ted Nolan

13 Monday Apr 2015

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Boston University, Buffalo Sabres, Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Ted Nolan

Diversity within the National Hockey League’s head coaching ranks dwindled Sunday evening when the Buffalo Sabres fired bench boss Ted Nolan.

Nolan, who was in his second stint with the Sabres, piloted to team to a dismal 23-51-8 record, the worst record in the league. But many Sabres fans embraced the team’s race to the bottom for a chance at drafting Erie Otters forward Connor McDavid,  who’s ranked as hockey’s top prospect by the NHL’s Central Scouting bureau.

Ted Nolan won't be back behind the Sabres bench in 2015-16. The team fired him on Sunday. (Bill Wippert, Buffalo Sabres)

Ted Nolan won’t be back behind the Sabres bench in 2015-16. The team fired him on Sunday. (Bill Wippert, Buffalo Sabres)

The league will hold a ping-pong ball lottery Saturday to determine which of the 14 NHL teams that failed to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs gets the first pick. The Sabres have a 20 percent of winning it.

Sabres General Manager Tim Murray told reporters Sunday that he felt the team had a better roster than its record indicated.

“I didn’t foresee us being a 30th-place team,” Murray said at a news conference. “Certainly after the trade deadline, trading out guys I had a big part in that, there’s no question and I own that. But up to the trade deadline I was open to keeping guys, I was open to maybe discussing with guys that were coming due, but the place we  were in was the place we were in.”

Murray added: “I don’t know if I was disappointed (in Nolan). We decided to go with young guys in a rebuild and surround them with some high-character veterans and we’ve done that. We still finished in 30th-place. There’s been a lot of changes here and that’s on me. I’m not going to question his coaching decisions here in front of you guys. It’s a decision that was made and there’s a big picture to it.”

Nolan, who’s Ojibwe, had a 40-87-17 record with the Sabres since he took over Buffalo’s coaching duties in November 2013. The team’s poor showing over the last few seasons prompted it to trade stars like goaltender Ryan Miller, high-scoring forward Thomas Vanek, and unload bad free agent contracts like forward Ville Leino‘s.

Asked  by the Associated Press about his dismissal, Nolan said “I’m just going to reflect on it and come out with a statement in the next couple of days.”

Evander Kane will have a new coach and new teammates next season in Buffalo.

Evander Kane will have a new coach and new teammates next season in Buffalo.

Buffalo is looking to use the 2015 draft to reload – both on-ice and behind the bench. The drive for 2015-16 began in February when the Sabres acquired forward Evander Kane from the Winnipeg Jets in a seven-player trade.

Kane suffered a shoulder injury before the trade and didn’t play a single game for the Sabres. He knows he was brought in to add firepower to a team on the cusp of getting McDavid or Boston University forward Jack Eichel.

“There’s a lot of excitement for the future in Buffalo,” Kane told NHL.com in February. “Just looking at next year, they’re going to get a top pick and that’s exciting. Just to have one of those guys maybe to play with next year, plus the other young players on that team.”

There’s speculation that if the Sabres do land McDavid they’ll take a serious, and expensive, run at Detroit Red Wings Head Coach Mike Babcock, who’s in the final year of his contract in the Motor City.

Babcock, who guided Detroit to the Stanley Cup in 2008, could command several million dollars per season as teams like the deep-pocketed Toronto  Maple  Leafs, which fired Coach Peter Horachek and General Manager Dave Nonis Sunday, aggressively vie for his services.

Buffalo, Toronto, Philly…all believed to have interest in Babcock. He will get paid big $…that's a given. McDavid might tip the scale.

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) April 12, 2015

Nolan’s firing leaves only one minority head coach in the NHL – Philadelphia Flyers’ Craig Berube, who’s part Cree. But Berube might also be on his way out the door soon because the team – 33-31-18 – failed to make the playoffs.  The Flyers only have a 6.5 percent chance of winning the McDavid/Eichel lottery Saturday.

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