Mancari’s shootout winner caps 6-5 victory

This year's downtown Buffalo New Year's Eve acettiviis were bumped up by two significant events which have been part of a general renaissance movement over the past few years. The saving and restoring of the Statler is nothing short of miraculous as entrepreneur/resturanteur Mark Croce bought and brought the building back from the brink (it was literally falling down) with construction/restoration work all during the 2011 calendar year so as to sufficiently have three floors ready for a 4,000 person $125-$150 buffet/bar/bands and dancing event, the Ice Ball. HUGE factor! In addition, Terry Peguala's people restored the New Year's Eve Tux and Pucks Sabres game, bring 18,000 more downtown to First Niagara Center. Buffalo has seen other festival successes in recent years with the Taste of Buffalo (biggest two-day outdoor food festival nationally), the National Garden Festival/Buffalo Garden Walk (the first and now the biggest in the nation as garden tourism takes off), a renewal of the Waterfront with small, grassroots activity after the government-backed Bass Pro plan failed, and the two-day National Chicken Wing festival on Labor Day weekend with restaurants from throughout the country competing and serving wings and things. The National Preservation Trust meeting in October highlighted the architectural treasures, beyond just the Frank Lloyd Wright and Olmsted parks legacies. Although Buffalo's problems are many, there is a feeling that an explosion of growth is just over the horizon, especially with the development of the University of Buffalo downtown Medical Corridor.Perhaps the common thread throughout has been success by businessmen and entrepreneurs where government had spun its wheels in failure for decades. All of last evening's Buffalo events were privately sponsored, although the government did provide support with police security, public transit, etc. If Rochester wants tens of thousands downtown on New Year's Eve, get the government out of the sponsoring business. The major sponsors for the only free event, the Ball-Drop and Fireworks were Independent Health, WNY Chevy Dealers and WKBW TV which broadcasts it live. The Buffalo Police Athletic League is the producer and reaps financial benefits from coordinating the event. From what I saw on television there were kids and families at the Ball-Drop/Fireworks even as family-friendly First Night finished by 10 PM (several thousand were there, too). All of the Buffalo ideas have developed a life of their own and have not been imposed from above as the only way to celebrate. The enthusiasm has been from the ground up. If people didn't feel that downtown Buffalo was the place to be New Year's Eve (especially suburbanites) everything would have flopped. Enthusiasm is infectious. Good luck! Perhaps this is the time to discuss next New Year's Eve in downtown Rochester and develop a ground-swell of support. Happy New Year!!!

It was a really good game overall, and both teams put on a great show for the home opener. We can probably expect a lot more games at that caliber as long as the NHL is locked out. I thought the team played a really good game, minus allowing that comeback which was a little bit ridiculous no matter whether this was the Admirals team that just won the Calder Cup. The one thing I completely disliked was this new hybrid icing system that seemed to be put in place last night with no touch up required. I'm completely a fan of player safety and everything, but this system just kills the flow of the game and was laughable in my opinion. Bring back the traditional icing.