News Article: Steve Ott already delivering the sandpaper

[Taro Tsujimoto]

TORONTO -- The Buffalo Sabres needed just one game of this new, shortened season to send a message to the rest of the league.

They intend on not getting pushed around anymore.

And the guy sending the message wasn’t who you’d expect. Which is exactly the point.

When Scott Hartnell of the Philadelphia Flyers hammered Sabres center Tyler Ennis from behind Sunday, Drew Stafford went after the rugged winger, and while he took the worst of it, that moment can do wonders for a team whose toughness has been questioned in recent years.

"A guy like Drew Stafford stepped up and fought a tough guy like Hartsy," new Sabres forward Steve Ott told ESPN.com before Monday night’s game in Toronto. "It not’s his usual thing to do that but Drew showed that we’re in this together, we’re going to stick up for each other. He’s got an 'A' on his chest and I was personally really proud and really excited for Drew."

I’m not a big proponent of fighting, but as long as it still exists in this game, you can’t ignore its influence. For skilled players to feel comfortable, they have to feel like someone has their back.

The additions of Ott and tough guy John Scott in the offseason signaled that the Sabres understood the need to beef up.

The Sabres appeared rattled last season in the wake of the Milan Lucic-Ryan Miller incident in which, the Sabres essentially never pushed back after the Boston Bruins winger ran over Buffalo's franchise goalie.

"Last year that whole Lucic thing sent this team for a tailspin, big-time," former Sabres tough guy and now TV color analyst Rob Ray said Monday. "I think just adding those guys was important."

Ott, Scott, Patrick Kaleta and Marcus Foligno are willing fisticuff participants, but the point of this season for the Sabres is to prove that there exists team toughness throughout; that nobody will get intimidated.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/21524/steve-ott-already-delivering-the-sandpaper

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[dire wolf]

yep - that was huge yesterday. Props to Stafford

 

[OkimLom]

How long are people going to bring up the Lucic Incident? I mean, it happened last year, nobody did anything about it, the guys in the locker room learned from it and started to stick up for each other. Management took the steps to fix it. They addressed it and the teams seems better for it.

I understand why people do it, but the people that shouldve learned from it, did and are better as a team for it.

Maybe its just me, but I'm so sick and tired of hearing about it.

 

[Paxon]

Ott was the best Sabre not on the top line. He made passes, got shots on net, helped keep offensive possessions alive, made some big defensive plays (esp on the PK), threw his body around (5 hits iirc), etc. I'm still not sure whether or not that dive call was justified, but even if he deserved it he had a great game.

 

[SackTastic]

How long are people going to bring up the Lucic Incident? I mean, it happened last year, nobody did anything about it, the guys in the locker room learned from it and started to stick up for each other. Management took the steps to fix it. They addressed it and the teams seems better for it.

I understand why people do it, but the people that shouldve learned from it, did and are better as a team for it.

Maybe its just me, but I'm so sick and tired of hearing about it.

You think it's bad now, wait until the first Boston game.

That hit is going to come up for years. If the Sabres don't hit, "oh look, just like they didn't after Lucic!!" If they DO hit, "oh look, they learned after Lucic!!"

 

[slip]

Didn't Stafford step up to Neil after he blindsided Drury back in the day? Point being, I think all this back slappin' and high fivin' over our "new" found team toughness may be a bit premature and could come back around and bite us in the ass if we're not careful. Let's keep perspective one game into a shortened season.

 

[Imagining Defeat]

Didn't Stafford step up to Neil after he blindsided Drury back in the day? Point being, I think all this back slappin' and high fivin' over our "new" found team toughness may be a bit premature and could come back around and bite us in the ass if we're not careful. Let's keep perspective one game into a shortened season.

Yeah I don't get it either...I recall Erhoff dropping the gloves a few times last year...a culture change doesn't happen overnight...no one is fearing us yet...that's not to say we're not headed in the right direction, but let's put the brakes on a bit

 

[flyingpig]

Yeah I don't get it either...I recall Erhoff dropping the gloves a few times last year...a culture change doesn't happen overnight...no one is fearing us yet...that's not to say we're not headed in the right direction, but let's put the brakes on a bit

Very true. Didn't happen for the Bruins overnight either after Savard. Took them a year and they supplemented their roster.

 

[joshjull]

Sandpaper is the official word of the Sabres 2013 season

 

[joshjull]

Didn't Stafford step up to Neil after he blindsided Drury back in the day? Point being, I think all this back slappin' and high fivin' over our "new" found team toughness may be a bit premature and could come back around and bite us in the ass if we're not careful. Let's keep perspective one game into a shortened season.

I agree with keeping perspective but I don't quite understand how this will bite us in the ass

 

[start winnin]

Yeah I don't get it either...I recall Erhoff dropping the gloves a few times last year...a culture change doesn't happen overnight...no one is fearing us yet...that's not to say we're not headed in the right direction, but let's put the brakes on a bit

We're not the Bruins. It's not about making other teams fear us, it's about letting other teams know we're not going to just let them push us around.

 

[Paxon]

I agree with keeping perspective but I don't quite understand how this will bite us in the ass

I think he means maybe if the guys on the team pat themselves on the back too much (or are pat on the back too much by the fanbase) and then lose the sense of urgency they may have previously felt to get tougher as a team, though if that's the case I don't really agree that it's much of a concern.

 

[Stasis]

Haven't been keeping up with everything...

Does McCormick get slotted in immediately on return, or is he gonna be on the roster only to replace someone who's struggling?

 

[slip]

I agree with keeping perspective but I don't quite understand how this will bite us in the ass

Guys on the ice letting their guard down because they believe their own press? Kind of in that sense. But like Rob says, it's not a huge concern.

 

[Paxon]

Haven't been keeping up with everything...

Does McCormick get slotted in immediately on return, or is he gonna be on the roster only to replace someone who's struggling?

I think it's fair to say no one really knows. He and Gerbe will both return, creating two extra players. Ellis seems to be the first most likely guy to be re-assigned because he'd be more of a help to Rochester than McCormick, while having a middleweight to plug in when desired would be useful to Buffalo.

 

[moltenlava26]

It will always be brought up because it was a huge deal. First your goalie gets run, 2 of your 3 captains are on the ice and do nothing, then one of your tougher players, also on the ice, does nothing. The 2nd biggest player in the NHL, also on the ice, does nothing. It put the Sabres organization in a terrible situation, and they went into the tank right after that. If you remember both the Sabres and Bruins had 5 game winning streaks going into that game...

I'm glad Darcy addressed it, not only in FA, but through the draft...aka Foligno. I can live with some of the penalities that come with the new attitude. Nothing is worse than having your hockey team look scared or intimidated.

 

[Stasis]

I think it's fair to say no one really knows. He and Gerbe will both return, creating two extra players. Ellis seems to be the first most likely guy to be re-assigned because he'd be more of a help to Rochester than McCormick, while having a middleweight to plug in when desired would be useful to Buffalo.

That makes sense, thanks.

 

[heartsabres*]

How long are people going to bring up the Lucic Incident? I mean, it happened last year, nobody did anything about it, the guys in the locker room learned from it and started to stick up for each other. Management took the steps to fix it. They addressed it and the teams seems better for it.

I understand why people do it, but the people that shouldve learned from it, did and are better as a team for it.

Maybe its just me, but I'm so sick and tired of hearing about it.

Until Buffalo plays Boston and Buffalo takes care of Lucic it will always be brought up. It is the way it is.

 

[JOHNBOY]

Until Buffalo plays Boston and Buffalo takes care of Lucic it will always be brought up. It is the way it is.

To be honest I'll always thinnk of that incident when they play Boston, even if Scott pummels Lucic every game they play this year....

 

[sba]

I'm glad Darcy addressed it, not only in FA, but through the draft...aka Foligno.

Foligno was drafted before the Lucic thing.

 

[joshjull]

I think this fits here with the talk about team toughness.

http://blogs.buffalonews.com/sabres/2013/01/scott-on-stafford-it-was-a-perfect-job.html

I went into the corner of the dressing room to solicit the opinion of 6-foot-8 John Scott, the Sabres' new tough guy. To say he loved what Stafford did was an understatment.

"I think that's what every team needs," Scott said. "And with [Stafford] being an assistant captain he's setting an example for everything else. It was a perfect job there. You couldn't ask for anything better. I was really amped up on the bench."

I think as the season moves along we will see more out of character moments from players thanks to the attitude infusion brought by Ott, Foligno and Scott.

 

[cardiffgiant]

How long are people going to bring up the Lucic Incident? I mean, it happened last year, nobody did anything about it, the guys in the locker room learned from it and started to stick up for each other. Management took the steps to fix it. They addressed it and the teams seems better for it.

I understand why people do it, but the people that shouldve learned from it, did and are better as a team for it.

Maybe its just me, but I'm so sick and tired of hearing about it.

434,231.6 times. It's important to note that this figure includes the number of times that someone partially brings it up, only to lose their train of thought or be interrupted. It also includes the (limited) number of times that random sounds in human dialogue form the phrase "Miller Lucic incident".

However, while the figure does include the number of times that it's mentioned when pirates teach the phrase to their parrots, it does not include any of the times that the parrots repeat it.

All kidding aside, it will never go away. Once everyone stops questioning the toughness of the team it will be all about how they're not longer the team that let Lucic blow up their goalie, and once they lose one or two tough guys from the roster it will be all about whether we're becoming that team again. That all might die down, but it's still too easy of a situation for teams to hype up when they promote a game or a series. Heck, we just saw the Campbell-Umberger hit during yesterdays opening video and it drew a lot of noise from the crowd, and that's about 7 years ago.

 

[Myllz]

He went into the corner of a circular dressing room?

/bored

 

[Jeremy2020]

We're not the Bruins. It's not about making other teams fear us, it's about letting other teams know we're not going to just let them push us around.

This post sums it up exactly.

 

[Myllz]

Wrong thread.