In nine months we’ll be four years removed from the impressive run that Team USA took to the sliver medal in Vancover. While the US entered the 2010 Olympics as an underdog expected to finish behind the Swedes, Finns, Russians and Canadians, they will not enjoy the same treatment entering Sochi. In fact, the US might boast one of the most impressive rosters in the tournament when they arrive in nine months.

Terry Pegula bought the Buffalo Sabres in January of 2011 for $189 million. There were reports that another bid was higher previously, but that buyer would have moved the Sabres out of Buffalo (report here). While the Sabres leaving Buffalo may not have been a real option, Pegula did save the Sabres franchise, and the surrounding community, in a way.

By keeping the Sabres in Buffalo, Pegula also kept the hockey team’s economic impact in the area. The table below is a breakdown from the State Comptroller’s office, estimating the annual impact the Sabres have on the Buffalo-Niagara region.

It’s a time of turnover in Hockey Purgatory Heaven with Lindy Ruff getting his walking papers while Jordan Leopold, Jason Pominville and Robyn Regehr each were shipped out of town before the deadline. It appears as if this summer will bring about more change via the trade market for the Sabres as they continue their rebuild.

I've written before about the love and mostly hate relationship with Toronto and Buffalo. Besides our love for hockey and tolerance for the cold weather, I tend to believe both entities are more different than some would like to believe. Canadians pride themselves on being a boastful bunch that takes their values seriously. They are proud of their heritage and you can just sense it whenever they blurt out "O Canada" during a hockey game. As for us, we tend to be a self-depricating bunch who mostly use our hands to massage the frustration off our faces. We are constantly down on ourselves and take any criticism to heart.

However, for today, we can add misery to the hockey love and tolerance for cold weather to the mix.

Hockey teams, like all sports organizations have hockey units and business units in their front offices. The hockey operations group is in charge of filling the roster with the best talent they possibly can, while the business department handles pretty much everything else, including (but not limited to) sponsorships, facilities, and marketing.

The heads of the business operations departments are titled team presidents. They are the presidents of the companies, and not necessarily in charge of the hockey operations. More often than not, team presidents are separate from the ownership group and hockey operations and have no experience in hockey operations.

Something that has been a popular point of contention these past few seasons is the mausoleum-esque atmosphere inside the F’N Center.

I don’t fancy myself to be a game presentation guru, I like to leave that expertise to Eric at 3rd Man In as he has a much better grasp on what it takes to put together a successful game presentation approach. However, I do enjoy spitballing ideas and seeing if they make any sense (this is how I come up with all of my brilliant patent pending ideas.

I swear, I thought it was over. The end credits for this horror movie we had been watching were about to roll. Grab your jacket and leave the stale popcorn at your theater seats because we were finally going to see the main villain get his. It always happens during the last five minutes of a movie, doesn't it? The mastermind for all the murders and the enabler of getting killers to do his dirty work was finally going to get his.

I thought the monster with nine lives had finally used up his final one. It was time to hug our loved ones after finally putting the 20th bullet in the bogeyman's cranium. There wouldn't be a bogeyman hiding in the closet, waiting to kill some stupid chick who went to get a sandwich after having sex. It was over. We could finally go home and watch the sunrise in astonishment because we were moving forward and surviving.

However, in a plot twist reminiscent of Michael Meyers coming back from the dead after being blown to bits by Jamie Lee Curtis or that old doctor who looks like Harry Neale, Darcy Regier still lives and is more powerful and dumber than ever.

How in the seven hells did we come to this?