Sabres coach calls Hurricanes 'arrogant'
[...]
[Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff] accused the Carolina Hurricanes of being "arrogant."
He said the 'Canes laughed at his players as they skated past the bench when they won 4-0 in Game 4.
And, if that wasn't enough to get the pot boiling, he also accused them of having champagne on ice to celebrate their series win in Buffalo which failed to materialize.
Honestly, "champagne on ice"? For a semi-final game? Sabres captain Daniel Briere said he used that accusation by Ruff "as motivation" for Game 6, which was won on an OT winner by Briere himself. I'm sure the rest of the hard-working Sabres team felt the same way, painting themselves as victims in this gruelling seven-game match-up.
Know that these are all high-calibre and focussed professional athletes and if they didn't use whatever motivation which was afforded to them, then they wouldn't be where they are today. If they want to believe that the Hurricanes were "laughing" at them during the 4-0 romp, so be it (though I beg to know exactly which emotions should a team express while moving one game closer to the Stanley Cup finals).
As for the "champagne comment", though, how stupid would that motivation appear for the rest of the playoffs, provided that the Sabres get by the Canes tonight? There never was any champagne in the dressing room that night, and anybody who says otherwise is a bold-face liar. And Lindy Ruff said otherwise. How will his own players believe his motiviations from here on out?
Picture yourself in the near future. You're in the Buffalo dressing room, 10 minutes before Game 5 against Edmonton, where the Sabres are down 3 games to 1 and trying to stave off elimination:
RUFF: All right team, enough's enough. These bastards are thinking they are going to win tonight. Are we going to let them?!
PLAYERS: NO!!!
RUFF: These guys were laughing at us last game. Remember that? Are we going to let them laugh at us?!
PLAYERS: NO!!!
RUFF: These guys are so cocky, they have champagne chilling in their dressing room as we speak. They think the series is over. Are you going to let them get away with thinking like that?
[crickets]
RUFF: What? Don't you guys believe me?
PLAYERS: No.
Lindy Ruff is an incredibly talented coach in the best hockey league in the world, but when it comes to media sparring, he shows everyone his true self, that being, a dumb meathead of a hockey player.
