Team Approach Is a Sabre Staple

One of the NHL’s hottest teams over the last month is from New York -- and it’s not the Rangers.

The Buffalo Sabres, situated so far away from New York City as to draw a large chunk of Canadian fans, have won 17 of their last 20 games and rank fourth in the Eastern Conference.

They haven’t lost successive games since early November and have maintained one of the league’s most potent power plays, even though they don’t have a top-25 scorer and have a payroll set at $27 million to $29 million, well below the $39-million cap.

“The new collective bargaining agreement is part of it, that it took the talent around the league and spread it out,” Sabre General Manager Darcy Regier said of his team’s success.

“The effect of the [agreement] and the salary cap has been to disperse talent more evenly, and that’s a good thing. We’re seeing a league that, top to bottom, is more competitive in the standings than any I can remember. The game is better, and the league is better.”

The Sabres added only one free agent, defenseman Teppo Numminen. The team has improved because of maturity, the evolution of a mobile, puck-moving defense, and the three capable goaltenders, Ryan Miller, Mikka Noronen and, most recently, Martin Biron.

Players also seem to have developed a we’re-all-in-this-together mentality through the club’s bankruptcy and subsequent purchase by businessman Tom Golisano. With Regier in place since June 1997 and Coach Lindy Ruff behind the bench since July 1997, it has provided stability.

“It’s leadership, and not just from Chris Drury or Daniel Briere, but every player,” Regier said. “Of all the teams we’ve had in Buffalo in the [eight years] I’ve been associated with it, this team has the best leadership. We’ve used 30 players and we’ve gotten contributions from everyone.”

There still are hurdles for the Sabres to clear, and they have posted some of their victories against East weaklings such as Pittsburgh and Washington. But Regier said the Sabres might have turned a corner.

“Buffalo, in the fall, is an NFL and Bills city, and as the Bills’ season ends, fans switch over to hockey,” he said. “We started real slow, but I think people have gotten into the game and like the game more.”

Woe, Canada

The Canadian Olympic Committee, after a brief display of hand wringing and distress, unanimously approved the men’s hockey roster nominated last week by Team Canada executives, even though Todd Bertuzzi was included among the 26 players.

Maybe the committee approved because Bertuzzi was included and it considers a gold medal worth any price.

Bertuzzi last week finished serving a year’s probation, part of his punishment after pleading guilty to assault causing bodily harm for his blindside hit of Colorado’s Steve Moore. The attack left Moore with two broken bones in his neck and apparently ended his career.

Bertuzzi’s inclusion caused a stir in the Great White North, with opponents saying that naming him to the team contradicts the Olympic ideals of sportsmanship and fair play.

Sorry to break the news, but the last remaining shreds of idealism surrounding the Olympics disappeared years ago, around the time the NHL decided that the benefits of international exposure were worth corrupting its season every four years.

You want the best of the best? That means taking the pros, and all the baggage they bring with them.

For Canada, that means Bertuzzi as well as Dany Heatley, who pleaded guilty to second-degree vehicular homicide for his role as the driver in a car crash that killed friend and teammate Dan Snyder in 2003, when they played for the Atlanta Thrashers.

Bertuzzi has long been considered a premier power forward, though he has been erratic lately. He was suspended during last season’s lockout, and like many players who were idle during that time, he has had difficulty regaining his scoring touch.

Heatley, who requested a trade from Atlanta, is among the NHL’s leading scorers and is a prime reason the Senators might get deep into the playoffs this season.

The Canadian Olympic Committee had no rule on its books that would have allowed it to reject Bertuzzi’s nomination. And because the legal bills to defend Bertuzzi’s exclusion would have been astronomical, the clause in the Canadian Olympic charter that says an athlete should be chosen not only because of his on-field performance but “on his ability to serve as an example to youth of his country” gets ignored.

Of course, Team Canada was going to take Bertuzzi. Hockey is Canada’s game, eh? Winning is everything, right? Bertuzzi might score a few goals for the defending champions and then the members of the Canadian Olympic Committee will sprain their arms patting themselves on the back and everything will be just dandy.

Except that it isn’t. And never will be again.

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Flaming Out

The Calgary Flames are among the few teams that believe they were hindered by the crackdown on obstruction.

“At the beginning of year, we talked a lot about team identity,” Jarome Iginla said. “Successful teams have a style of play, they keep it and thrive on it. I think with the new rules, we were uncertain if we could play physical, and that’s our style. We got away from what we do best. You could see guys were uncertain how to play.

“What we learned was you can still play physical in the new NHL, you just had to skate. We found our identity and are thriving again.”

Iginla credited the team’s defense, led by Canadian Olympic pick Robyn Regehr, whom Iginla said, “has never received the credit he deserved when we went to the finals. He’s a handful. Then you have [Miikka Kiprusoff] in net and he has been incredible since the day he got here. He’s the No. 1 reason we’re playing well now. We have been a team that was strong from the back out, and we’re back to being that team.”

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Slap Shots

See the future today: the World Junior Championships, featuring the best players 20 and younger from 10 hockey-playing nations, began Monday and end Jan. 5, with all games in and around Vancouver.

The NHL “Center Ice” package is scheduled to carry three games involving the favored U.S. team, starting with a tape-delayed showing today of Monday’s U.S.-Norway game. The U.S.-Finland game, to be played on Wednesday, will be shown on tape delay on Thursday, but the New Year’s Eve game between the U.S. and Canada will be shown live at 4 p.m. PST. USA Hockey’s website, www.usahockey.com, plans to have live audio streaming of all Team USA games.

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Sabre Olympians

Buffalo Sabre co-captain Chris Drury, left, was named to his second U.S. Olympic hockey team last week. He was scoreless in six games but won a silver medal at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. The other Sabres named to national teams for the Olympics in Turin, Italy:

* Jochen Hecht: Named to the German team for third time in his career. He scored two points in four games at the 2002 Games, and had one goal in four games at the 1998 Games in Nagano.

* Teppo Numminen: Will be making his fourth appearance for Team Finland. He played in the 1998 and 2002 Games, and the 2004 World Cup, scoring eight points in 16 games.

* Toni Lydman: Also playing for the Finnish team, the first-time Olympian played for Finland in the 2004 World Cup, contributing three assists in six games.

* Maxim Afinogenov: Will be suiting up for the Russians for the second consecutive Olympics. He had four points in six games at the 2002 Games.