The Great Pit of Carkoon may be the fictional desert home for the monstrous sarlacc that greedily consumes any living sacrifice dropped into its gaping maw.
Or Star Wars’ infamous sarlacc pit might well be located out back of the rink, a blaster’s shot away from the KeyBank Center, where the latest victims of the Buffalo Sabres organizational chart can be devoured.
One by one, new hopes arrive to Western New York.
They come with promise and plans, energy and enthusiasm.
One by one, the results — all that losing — swallows them whole.
Head coach Ralph Krueger and assistant Steve Smith, a pair of fresh casualties, were handed their walking papers by rookie GM Kevyn Adams on St. Patrick’s Day morning amidst a 12-game losing trench and a dead-last 6-18-4 campaign.
Another reason to day drink in Buffalo.
“It feels like we’re in a very deep, dark place right now,” Krueger had said after being shut out for a fourth time during the skid. “And the only way we get into any light is keeping the fight in the team and sticking together. We’re not going to get any outside help or pity.”
With no experienced president of hockey ops to turn to, we pity the plight of Adams here. We do.
Caught between an ill-advised ownership group (Terry and Kim Pegula) and a rookie interim coach (the suddenly promoted Don Granato), Adams put on a brave face and said mostly the right things after Krueger’s dismal record — 36-49-12, with a minus-59 goal differential — forced his hand.
To his credit, Adams did not act like the meme dog with the top hat sipping coffee as the house burns down around him.
This is not fine. And the first step to solving the problem is acknowledging how deep the rotten runs.
“We have to be better in every single area of this organization. It starts with me. I need to manage better,” Adams said. “We need to coach better. We need to scout better. We need to develop players better. We need to practise better. I mean, you name it, we need to do it better. Period.”
Adams went on: “There has to be a pride that goes with putting on a Buffalo Sabres jersey. There has to be a pride of showing up every day and being a National Hockey League player, of looking around and saying, ‘I’m one of the 700 [or so] to get to do this every day.’ And that has to be something that just is inside you and drives you to be better every single day. To love to look around the city of Buffalo and see Sabres hats and signs and people wearing jerseys — that matters, and that has to be within the DNA of our team.”
In a month that has also seen Darryl Sutter drive from the farm to the bench, the conclusion of the Krueger experience is both a failure for the out-of-the-box bench hires and another example that coaching can’t solve what ails this roster.
Face of the franchise Jack Eichel raved about Krueger in Year 1 of his transition from European soccer back to North American hockey, then put up an MVP-conversation performance in 2019-20. Krueger played an integral role helping Adams recruit fellow ex-Oiler Taylor Hall in the 2020 off-season.
But injuries, a harsh bout of COVID, mediocre goaltending, a treacherous East division and multiple cap-crushing contracts conspired to turn a bad team worse.
Again, the coach — one Adams maintains the players love and respect (and, yet, did not play hard for?) — takes the fall.
The PegulEra began in 2011 and has mowed through six coaches already: Lindy Ruff, Ron Rolston, Ted Nolan, Dan Bylsma, Phil Housley and Krueger.
(Ironically, it was Ruff’s Devils who delivered the final loss and healthy scratch Jeff Skinner who scored the final Sabres goal of Krueger’s run.)
Krueger will still collect a $3.75-million salary through 2021-22, as the search for his replacement begins immediately. Adams, who will also be hiring an assistant GM, refuses to put a timeline or a list of qualifications on that hire.
“This is about getting the right person — and it’s critical,” Adams said. “I do believe every crisis is an opportunity for positive change.”
For an executive who was told to fire 22 staff members upon his own hire in June, more change is coming.
Adams is open for business at the trade deadline, and he noted the volume of calls coming his way.
The GM’s own first two significant acquisitions, Taylor Hall and Eric Staal, must be flipped into longer-term assets, and conversations regarding potentially waving Hall’s no-move clause have begun.
“We’re open to anything and everything,” Adams said.
The less urgent but more important matter surrounding the rebuild of the rebuild is the future of superstar Eichel, under contract through 2026. His no-move clause, however, kicks in after the 2021-22 season.
Adams informed his captain of Krueger’s firing Wednesday morning but did not divulge Eichel’s reaction. The GM also bobbed and weaved when asked directly about the speculation surrounding Eichel’s future in Buffalo, home of the NHL’s longest playoff drought.
“From the beginning, one of the things I said was, building a relationship with Jack was important. We’ve spoken at length in the off-season and into the season,” Adams said. “Jack knows my door’s always open. We talk regular.”
The Eichel issue, much like the Krueger issue, boils down to one thing: winning.
Adams has called for more pride. But can pride exist without wins?
“Let’s not overcomplicate this,” Adams said. “We want to be better. We have to be better. And we will be better.”
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
