The Sabres event crew showed videos and photo montages from the Winter Classic; a full house was on hand primed for a big night for the Sabres.Unfortunately the end result was another Sabres loss, their fifth in a row, and the team is quickly dropping in the standings, with a tough tough three game road trip now staring them in the face.

The team played a lackluster and uninspiring first period, with Ottawa scoring on their first shot on goaltender Ryan Miller. Andrew Peters and Brian McGrattan dropped the gloves early and had at it, with Peters getting the worst of it. The Sabres managed to kill off a penalty in the first, but Ottawa made it 2-0 on their second man advantage early in the second period.

Ottawa made it 3-0 midway through the second period on a goal by Jason Spezza, and that was enough to chase Ryan Miller out of the net in favor of Jocelyn Thibault. Ales Kotalik answered with Buffalo’s first tally just seconds later, and the second period ended 3-1 in favor the Senators.

The big debate on the radio this morning seemed to be if Danny Briere and Marty Biron will hear boos from the hometown crowd tomorrow night.

Please.

Talk about making something out of nothing. First of all, nobody is going to boo Martin Biron. While he never became the dominant goaltender many thought he would, he still was a solid goalie, and one of the most popular players on the team. He spanned multiple generations of great Sabres teams, and gave us fans great quotes every time he got near a microphone. Plus, he gave us the classic miked-up quote of “Yo-Yo’s mad; go Yo-Yo”, when Yochen Hecht got in a fight.

As for Briere, I realize he left to go elsewhere. But the Sabres never made a serious, market value offer for him, and Philly did. He was a hell of a Sabre, and people forget that he almost beat the Hurricanes all by himself two years ago in the Conference Finals. I found this paraphrased quote from the Captain Milquetoast show this morning on why Danny didn’t sign with Montreal very interesting: After playing them eight times a year, it just didn’t feel right. Daniel Briere, a French-Canadien, is hated in Montreal because he didn’t sign with his hometown team. Good for him. Screw those Frenchies.

NBC Sports today announced that Bob Costas will host NBC’s broadcast coverage of the NHL Winter Classic between the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins, the first U.S. outdoor game in NHL history. The game will be held New Year’s Day beginning at 1 p.m. ET from Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo, N.Y.

Costas has a history broadcasting hockey, serving as the play-by-play commentator for the Syracuse Blazers of the old Eastern Hockey League in 1973-74 and also occasionally filling in for the late, great Dan Kelly on KMOX’s St. Louis Blues radiocasts in the last 70s and early 80s.

The NHL Winter Classic features several of the game’s greatest young stars, including Penguins center Sidney Crosby and Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller. Attendance at the contest is expected to surpass the NHL single-game record, set Nov. 22, 2003 when the Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers drew 57,167 to The Heritage Classic at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, the only outdoor game in NHL history. Ralph Wilson Stadium capacity exceeds 73,000 and tickets to the game sold out within several hours of going on sale.

As you may know, there’s a big to-do in the hockey blogosphere about blogger access to the press box. I’ll write more about that, and the piece that aired on Hockey Night in Canada, at a later point. I swear, I must have started a dozen different posts over the past year about how bloggers should have regular access to the press box (note: I do not want that for myself), but I have always canned them because I think the topic of bloggers writing about bloggers who want to blog is, well, I don’t know. It’s just not me.

Much of the conversation from the blogger end is that “we” can actually be more critical of the local team than “them” - those writers whose papers are owned by companies which interact with companies owned by the owner of the hockey team. Got that? If not, read it again.

Here in Buffalo, that’s clearly not the case. In fact, I would think that - my stunning good looks aside - much of this site’s popularity is due to the fact I am usually in direct opposition to the negative and downright destructive commentary of Bucky Gleason and Jerry Sullivan. (Although Jerry has been like a mouse of late. Maybe he’s worried about Santa screwing him this year.)

Nothing like an 8-1 win to get you feeling good about the home team, and there’s nothing like an 8-1 win to make sure your five-year-old kid has a good time. What’s really amazing is that I’m not sure he saw a single goal. We were up in the first row of the 300’s (ebay purchase for $95 for the pair - that’s a bargain) and his eyes were everywhere but the ice. The ribbon board was a big hit, but then again, so was the press box. Who knows, maybe he was looking for Bucky Gleason to try and figure out what exactly Daddy’s fascination is…

I’m not sure how it’s possible to look like shit in an 8-1 game, but Thomas Vanek sure managed to pull it off. It was as if his goal for the night was to give Carolina a power play for the entire second period while missing - or hesitating on - every single chance he had. Well, except one, that is. I don’t mean to diminish his goal, but it came at a time when the game was long decided and after misplaying multiple chances. I know he’s got about $10 million worth of gripping on his mind, but he just needs to let the puck fly and hope they start going in. Maybe his goal tonight will change that.