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TIME WARNER CABLE ADDS VERSUS HD FOR HOCKEY PLAYOFFS
Digital Cable Customers Will Receive Versus HD May 10th on Channel 708

BUFFALO, NY- May 8, 2007 - Time Warner Cable, the nation’s second-largest cable television operator, today announced the temporary addition of Versus HD to its HD offerings for digital cable customers on Channel 708. The addition of Versus HD will allow hockey fans to enjoy the hockey playoff games beginning Thursday, May 10 until the end of the hockey season. Versus will not black out any more games in this region and has pledged to cover two games of the Stanley Cup. Versus offers the Golf Channel from noon until seven and then begins its Versus hockey coverage at seven.

"Time Warner Cable has heard the clamor of our customers for Versus HD in order to see the hockey playoffs through the best picture available. We are pleased to have the technology and the ability to offer this great opportunity for the next month," stated Gordon Harp, Buffalo Division President, Time Warner Cable. "Behind the scenes we have had to work very fast and juggle some other commitments but we felt this was important to our customers in Western New York. As a company Time Warner Cable strives to provide the best products and services every day."

Versus will remain available on Channel 71 to standard package customers after this temporary viewing of Versus HD ends. Versus is the national cable home of the National Hockey league (NHL) and the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Now in more than 72 million homes, the network is a destination for sports fans, athletes and sportsmen to find exclusive, competitive events that audiences can’t find elsewhere.

As one of the customers that clamored about being able to see Versus in HD, this makes me so happy!

But it does make me wonder if they only did this because you can pick up CBC’s HD signal out of Toronto & all the games from here on out will be on CBC. I hope they prove me wrong & keep it past the playoffs.

The 2nd round of the 2007 NHL Playoffs kicks off tonight & I’m not sure if I’m upset or happy with the schedule.

On Sunday, NBC said that Game 2 of the Sabres/Rangers series was going to be on Saturday or Sunday, which I thought was great because it’d be a home game for the Sabres & Buffalo can always use a little bit of National exposure. But then they decided that the 1st 2 Sabres games would be on Versus, with Game 3 on Sunday at MSG in NY. The Saturday game on NBC is in Detroit.

Now, even though the NBC website says that the games for May 5th & 6th are “To Be Determined”, you can see on the Yahoo NHL page that Saturday the 5th is again in Detroit & Sunday the 6th is again in New York.

In order for the NHL to do this, they had to adjust their normal “on-off-on” scheduling for both of these series. The only good thing is that they did it without causing either series of play back-to-back games.

So while I wish that the NHL & NBC would come to buffalo, I’m happy that I’ll get to watch the away games on NBC in High Def

(NOTE - This page will be updated after each Sabres home game)

I got the idea for this project during last years Sabres Playoff run. For some reason, a lot of over-zealous fans took time out of their day to make their very own Stanley Cup. Some of them are not that bad, but others are, well, I’ll let you see for yourself

Round 1 - Sabres vs Islanders

April 12th 2007 Game 1

This young go-getter took the time to write all the players names onto the cup.

Isn’t that cute!

I agree with the sign….

"We are the Knights who say…Ni!"

April 14th 2007 Game 2

This man made me kiss his Cup after I took the picture.

April 20th 2007 Game 5

I asked the girl in the middle if I could take a picture of her & her Cup & I was told that it was "Our Cup"

Of course, The Sabres did win, so expect more Home Made Stanley Cups from Round 2!

Round 2 - Sabres vs Rangers

April 25th 2007 Game 1
I’m sad to say that I did not see any new Cups at this game, but Game 2 made up for it.

April 27th 2007 Game 2

I’m still trying to figure out what he used for the top of this one.

It’s a little blurry, but I think this one is all plastic & maybe from some sort of "Make Your Own Cup" kit.

Cute, but sad.

I honestly think the workers at the food stand made this one out of things they found in the kitchen.

Decent Cup, but yet another reminder as to why you should always wear a blank t-shirt under a white jersey.

At first, he thought I wanted him to take a picture of me with his Cup.  The he asked why I wanted a picture of him with it - the 1st person to question my motives!

May 4th 2007 Game 3

A cake mixing bowl, some tin foil & a poster.

Round 3 - Sabres vs Senators

May 10th 2007 Game 1


These 2 Home-Made disasters were being used to catch the free t-shirts that SabreTooth was throwing from the stage.

You can tell it’s Round 3 because people are holding the cup over their heads without being asked to do so.

May 12th 2007 Game 2

I had to pull over on the way to the game & snap this one.  Of course, I forgot to bring my camera into the game, so this is the only pic I have from Game 2 (but my fingers are crossed that there will be a Game 5 & a Game 7)

May 19th 2007 Game 5

I’m more concerned with the creep behind them.

She had a mini-cup around her neck - and why do girls put hearts on everything?

I had hoped to bring you pictures from the Stanley Cup Finals, but my Sabres got beaten by Ottawa 4-1

But a friend of mine invited me up for Game 3 in Ottawa!

Stanley Cup Finals - Senators vs Ducks

June 2nd 2007 Game 3

This was on the waiter’s head at East Side Mario’s before the game.

Nothing beats decorating the truck as well.

Not home made, but it is a nice image outside the arena.

The tinfoil under it had the batteries & he sat below me, so we got to see him turn on the x-mas lights.

You can tell by the dent that this was taken after the game.

That’s it until next year!

Seeing as I have confidence in my Buffalo Sabres I ordered The Bride & myself each a new jersey.

I already have a Ryan Miller Replica Home Jersey that I got at the beginning of the season as well as a blank vintage Sabres jersey that I’ve had for a couple of years. For my 2nd jersey, I choose Jason Pominville. I have him on my Fantasy Hockey Team (and will for probably another 5 years) and I really like how he plays. In his 1st full year, he lead the league in Even Strength Goals & had 34 goals & 34 assists total.

For The Bride, I had her look thru the Sabres Yearbook & pick out a guy that she liked (she’s not as up on hockey as me) She choose Paul Gaustad, which is a good choice as he’s another young guy that’s gonna be around for a long time.

If you have a jersey, post & let me know who you got & why.
(of course, I’m smart enough to know that no one will post because no on reads this piece of crap I call a blog)

Ok - the regular season has wrapped up for the Sabres & the playoffs start this week. I’ve got my 1st & 2nd Round tickets in hand, I’ve got my Miller jersey washed & I’ve shaved for the last time.

I’m not a big fan of shaving anyway & I rarely use a razor. I just take the trimmer, put it at the lowest setting & have at it. So today as soon as the Sabres/Flyers game ended, I grabbed the trimmer. I will not shave again until the Sabres have won the Stanly Cup! (or loose, but let’s not talk about that)

I did this last year as well, but I’m not sure exactly when I shaved for the last time. It might have been the day of or the day after the last game, but I know it was not immediately following the conclusion of the last game - and maybe that’s why we didn’t go to the finals.

(I know that my shaving habits have ZERO effect on how the Sabres do, but just shut up & let me pretend)

The Sabres are my true love. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve followed them. I’ll admit that I lost interest in hockey during the lockout, but about a month before the 2005 season started, days after watching some really old Stanley Cup games from the 70’s (people are still pissed that Philadelphia beat us) my wife gave me season tickets for Christmas (yes, I got my gift a couple months early) and those 2 events got me back on my hockey kick really quick.

As I type this, my Sabres are loosing to Pittsburgh 4-3 with 5:24 left in the third. I have hope.