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Entries with the tag: lindy+ruff
All Lindy Ruff
by Paul on 11/30/09 at 09:09 PM ET
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from Kevin Allen of USA TODAY,
Question: Considering that the Sabres missed the playoffs last season primarily because goaltender Ryan Miller was injured for a lengthy period, can we assume that having Miller healthy and performing at an elite level is key to the Sabres leading the Northeast?
Ruff: He has played very well, but I think the team has played very well in front of him. He can play aggressively in certain situations because of the confidence he has that he has protection around him. For us, it’s been a combination. We have played more solid defensively, and when we do break down, he has made key saves at the right time. That has given our team confidence.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Buffalo Sabres | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Lindy+Ruff,
A Gentler Lindy Ruff
by Paul on 11/09/09 at 07:36 AM ET
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from Bucky Gleason of the Buffalo News,
Just before the season, Lindy Ruff pulled his leaders aside and told them they needed to take over the Buffalo Sabres’ dressing room. He made it clear that he was finished barking after every poor performance. This was their team, he told them, and taking ownership was their responsibility.
It was as if Ruff recognized that his style had grown stale, that he knew adjustments were required if his team was going to go anywhere. He has said numerous times this season that the Sabres’ core is no longer a bunch of kids. They’re pros who know what’s needed to win and should be treated accordingly.
Ruff hasn’t undergone a total makeover, but the shift in his approach has been obvious all year. The little things don’t seem to bother him as much as they did in past seasons. He’s been quick to compliment his players in practice. He’s giving them more leeway rather than stand over them with a firm hand.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Buffalo Sabres | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Lindy+Ruff,
Regier & Ruff Returning
by Paul on 04/17/09 at 03:08 PM ET
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via BuffaloSabres.com,
Tom Golisano and Larry Quinn today announced that General Manager Darcy Regier and head coach Lindy Ruff will return next season in their current roles with the organization. Ownership is very excited to have these two individuals return to help lead the organization back to the playoffs next season.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Buffalo Sabres | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Darcy+Regier, Lindy+Ruff,
Will Sabres Go In Another Direction?
by Paul on 03/21/09 at 03:02 PM ET
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from Bucky Gleason of the Buffalo News,
You can’t help but wonder if Regier and Ruff are inching closer to the door with every loss the Sabres suffer down the stretch. Something needs to give. That much was obvious after watching the Sabres mope through the final 25 minutes Friday night in a 6-4 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Have the players quit on their coach?…
Regier has two seasons remaining on his contract. Ruff is signed through next season. They are the longest-tenured GM-coach combination in the NHL. Quinn reiterated Friday night that his first instinct is to keep both, but he wanted to wait until the offseason. He’ll huddle with Golisano before making a final decision.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Buffalo Sabres | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Darcy+Regier, Lindy+Ruff,
Ruff A Survivor
by Paul on 02/04/09 at 05:48 PM ET
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from the CP via the Sporting News,
Lindy Ruff figures there’s no way to put together this kind of streak without a little good fortune.
As the longest-tenured man in a volatile profession, the Buffalo Sabres coach doesn’t get surprised when he hears that another member of the fraternity has lost his job. It’s something he’s seen happen time and again.
There have been 137 coaching changes in the NHL since Ruff was hired by the Sabres in July 1997, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. While that number alone is staggering, consider the anecdotal evidence - Craig Hartsburg has now lost three NHL head coaching jobs over that period.
All the while, Ruff keeps plugging away with the Sabres.
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Tags: Lindy+Ruff,
Pushing The Right Buttons
by Paul on 01/06/09 at 06:54 AM ET
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from Jerry Sullivan of the Buffalo News,
Lindy Ruff did not go to Yale. He never attended any college. But Ruff is one of the smartest and most intuitive coaches I’ve known, a man with a knack for pushing hockey players’ buttons and getting them to perform at a higher competitive level.
Ruff has been coaching the Sabres for 12 seasons. He is by far the longest-tenured coach in the NHL. He’s never been shy about speaking his mind. But the more secure he gets in his job, the more willing he is to single out players for soft or substandard performance.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a star. Slack off and Ruff will cut your minutes. He’ll bench you. He’ll call you out in public.
Somehow, it works.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Buffalo Sabres | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Lindy+Ruff,
Do It The Ruff Way Or Else
by Paul on 01/03/09 at 09:14 AM ET
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from Bucky Gleason of the Buffalo News,
Ruff laughed Friday at the suggestion that his words have grown stale with a team that has been largely intact since the beginning of last season. He shrugged it off as a product of losing. In fact, he has tried everything. He has pushed and pulled back. He’s gone soft and been tough. And now he’s removing all wiggle room.
“It’s not my job to look the other way,” Ruff said Friday after his team prepared for today’s matinee in Boston. “I’m not the type of guy that wants to embarrass people, but I am going to be tough. It’s going to be, ‘You’ve got to play this way, or you won’t be able to play.’ We’ll either take off and go, and everybody gets hunkered in, or you’ll keep waddling until we have to destroy a couple pieces.”
Translation: Ruff’s way or the highway.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Buffalo Sabres | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Lindy+Ruff,
If You Don’t Want To Compete, You Won’t Play
by Paul on 12/31/08 at 08:44 AM ET
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Sabres coach Lindy Ruff after the Sabres 4-2 loss to the Capitals last night....
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Morning Line
by Paul on 11/22/08 at 09:21 AM ET
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“We did a great job of making their goaltender look good. We missed, by my count, four wide-open nets. [Drew Stafford] missed a wide-open net, missed two of them. [Jaroslav] Spacek missed a wide-open net. [Jason Pominville], wide-open net. But when you haven’t been going good, you don’t get breaks.”
-Sabres coach Lindy Ruff after losing their 4th game in a row. More on the game from John Vogl of the Buffalo News.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers | KK Hockey | Permalink
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Sabres Want To Hit The Ice Running
by Paul on 09/14/08 at 07:37 AM ET
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from John Vogl of the Buffalo News,
As with most Ruff-coached teams, the concentration will be on solid defensive play. But Ruff doesn’t want the phrase “defense first” to scare anyone. The Sabres were fourth in the league in scoring last year and led the NHL the year before, so he knows he has to let his firepower flame.
“I didn’t like our play away from the puck, and that’s going to be an area of focus through camp,” Ruff said. “We want that area stronger, and at the same time still play the style that’s made us successful. I don’t think we want to get away from that.
“I think that can be done, but that’s going to take a little more commitment from different individuals on this team.”
Filed in: NHL Teams, Buffalo Sabres | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Lindy+Ruff,
NHL Conference Call with Lindy Ruff and Barry Trotz
by Alanah McGinley on 04/24/08 at 04:07 PM ET
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On today’s NHL conference call for the media, the guests were Buffalo Sabres’ coach, Lindy Ruff, and Nashville Predators’ coach Barry Trotz. The coaches were invited to help preview the semifinal round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Here is the transcript from the Q&A.
Q. I wanted to ask you both, if you were to make a pick here of the final four teams in each conference, why wouldn’t you pick the team that did best against your own team? For instance, Buffalo did well against Montreal and Philly but 0-4 against both Pittsburgh and the Rangers. Nashville did well against Detroit and Colorado but 0-4 against San Jose, and 3-1 against Dallas.
Filed in: NHL Talk, NHL Playoff Talk | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: barry+trotz, coaching, interviews, lindy+ruff, media, playoffs,
NHL Conference Call: Lindy Ruff and Ken Hitchcock
by Alanah McGinley on 04/08/08 at 03:01 PM ET
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Today, the NHL hosted a teleconference call for the media to ask questions of Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff and Columbus Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock.
Here is the transcript of that Q&A.
Q. The emphasis has been in the west all year now. Now the popular belief is whoever comes out of the west is going to be the Stanley Cup champion. Do you have that sense, as well?
KEN HITCHCOCK: No, I don’t. I think one of the problems is when you have so many good teams that what’s left of your team at the end of the three series that you have to play in sometimes isn’t much. I think a lot of it depends on the damage that gets done in some of these series.
I think when you look at the competitiveness of the teams and the closeness of really almost all eight teams in the playoffs, you know, I think health is going to be a major issue on whoever comes out from this series because it has the makings, especially in these early rounds, of some really long series here.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ken+hitchcock, lindy+ruff, media, nhl+conference+call, transcripts,
Decisions in Buffalo
by Alanah McGinley on 03/17/08 at 01:54 PM ET
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From John Vogl at The Buffalo News,
The Buffalo Sabres’ coach could face his toughest decision of the season Wednesday when his suddenly impressive team returns to the ice to face Tampa Bay. The Sabres have won two in a row and, at times, looked dominating doing it. All four forward lines were solid, with a player from each scoring Saturday during a 6-2 victory over Toronto.
But once again, Connolly could become a factor. The oft-injured center might be healthy enough to play against the Lightning. He sat out the three games last week, and the team has three days between games this week. That might be enough time for Connolly’s sore hip to get enough rest.
So, what’s a coach to do? Does he stick with the same lineup, reward the 12 forwards who spent the weekend playing well? Or does he risk disruption by inserting Connolly, one of his finest all-around players and a guy who can make a difference when healthy?
more… with Sabres one point out of 8th in the East
Filed in: NHL Teams, Buffalo Sabres | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: lindy+ruff, tim+connolly,
Ruff Upset With Shanahan Cross-Check
by Paul on 01/17/08 at 07:26 AM ET
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from the Buffalo News,
As Lundqvist made the save, however, Rangers veteran Brendan Shanahan cross-checked Clarke MacArthur into the goalpost. That dislodged the net and caused a faceoff. It also raised the ire of Sabres coach Lindy Ruff.
“There should probably be a suspension on that last play,” Ruff said after the 2-1 loss in Madison Square Garden. “The league definitely has to look at it. That was a definite intent to try to hurt somebody. He could have a broken neck, he could have a broken shoulder, he could have a broken back, he could have a number of things....”
“It was harder than I would have wanted,” said Shanahan. “It certainly warranted a penalty. I’m glad the kid didn’t get hurt....”
Watch the video…
Filed in: NHL Teams, Buffalo Sabres, New York Rangers | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Brendan+Shanahan, Lindy+Ruff,
Ruff Has Seen Enough Turnovers
by Paul on 11/11/07 at 09:25 AM ET
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from the Buffalo News,
Maxim Afinogenov has just three goals on the season, none in the last five games. He keeps giving away the puck, as his team-worst minus-9 rating shows.
When yet another giveaway led to the Boston Bruins’ first goal Saturday night, Afinogenov found a seat on the bench for most of the third period of the Buffalo Sabres’ 2-1 loss at TD Banknorth Garden.
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Tags: buffalo+sabres, lindy+ruff, Maxim+Afinogenov,
Too Much Zone Defense
by Paul on 11/09/07 at 08:22 AM ET
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from the Buffalo News,
This isn’t the NHL. It’s the English Premier League.
The upgraded style of play that resulted from the lockout has been victimized by strategy. Coaches adjusted to the rule changes intended to promote skill and skating. Defense reemerged as the great equalizer for offensively challenged franchises. Nowadays NHL players are always in the zone, be it a 2-3, a 1-4 or variations thereof. The game can’t breathe.
“Zone defense right now, I would put it under the label of killing the game,” Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said Thursday. And he plays it.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Buffalo Sabres, NHL Talk | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: buffalo+sabres, lindy+ruff,
A Developing Trend
by Paul on 11/07/07 at 07:32 AM ET
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from the Buffalo News,
The Sabres still have talent but five of a kind has become genuinely unkind this season. They have been stifled by their own play and not-so-subtle changes in a league that has returned to tight checking and close quarters. Teams are intent on buckling down on defense and exploiting teams relying too much on skating alone.
“The message is there,” Ruff said after practice Tuesday. “You watched the playoffs. You saw how tight it got, and the scoring chances got fewer and fewer. Coaches are pretty good at looking at video and wondering what’s going on and [experimenting]. There is a little bit of a trend developing.”
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Tags: buffalo+sabres, lindy+ruff,
Lindy Ruff Gunning for 2010 Olympics Job
by Alanah McGinley on 10/16/07 at 11:16 AM ET
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From Mike Zeisberger at the Toronto Sun,
And he would like nothing better than to be part of the Canadian contingent that is seeking to repeat the championship effort turned in by Joe Sakic and company back in 2002 in Salt Lake City.
“It actually crossed my mind when I was watching Team Canada at the 2006 Games in Turin,” Ruff said yesterday. “I just thought to myself that it would be nice to be involved. It’s a tremendous honour just to be considered in any capacity.”
Ruff’s name already has been discussed by Hockey Canada officials, joining a list of candidates that includes New Jersey Devils coach Brent Sutter, St. Louis Blues coach Andy Murray, the Detroit Red Wings’ Mike Babcock, Stanley Cup-winning coach Randy Carlyle of the Anaheim Ducks and the Phoenix Coyotes’ Wayne Gretzky.
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Tags: lindy+ruff, olympics,
