I'm old enough to remember watching Hall of Famer Gilbert Perreault bedazzle the entire sold out crowds at Memorial Auditorium. "Bert" had a flare for the dramatic and he made the ridiculous look sublime. All I remember were his gorgeous end to end rushes that resulted in picture perfect goals. Those were the days when Gilbert would create a handful of such magical moments inside each and every game where I would turn to the guy or leady seated next to or behind me and ask : "Did you see that?".
On Wednesday night inside Erie Insurance Arena, I witnessed one of those rare, magical, jaw-hit-the-floor moments types of moments when Connor McDavid channeled his inner Gilbert Perrreault. Talk about chillsworthy! McDavid took a puck 200 feet through and around Guelph Storm players who are pretty good in their own right. Its like teh kid has a cape on his back and he can fly away and over danger.
Would you look at this work of art?
I am fortunate to have been in the building to watch the kid take his scoring game to another level on Wednesday night. It felt like 1975 all over again for me.
McDavid had never scored a hat trick, nor scored four goals in a game, nor collected 6 points in a junior game until Wednesday night. I witnessed history.
McDavid scored our goals and added two assists in the 8-4 drubbing of the Storm.
McDavid is a rare breed of cat who will be a star in the NHL for the next 15 seasons.
McDavid is truly a generational player. Tim Murray and the Sabres better not screw up their opportunity to draft McDavid first overall in the June NHL Draft. This kid is special.
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ts a night off on the Sabres beat. I'm in Erie to watch Connor McDavid and his Otters against the Guelph Storm.
Connor McDavid's assault on the Ontario Hockey League continues tonight. McDavid scored four goals and added an assist. That was the first hat trick of McDavid's illustrious career.
Dylan Strome had four assists and Nick Baptiste had a goal and 3 assists.
McDavid has extended his team record consecutive games scoring streak to 22 games with his 6 point night (4G,2A).
McDavid now has his sights set on the Erie Otters team points scoring record of 128 points set last season by Connor Brown (Toronto Marlies).
In 37 games played, McDavid has scored 36 goals and added 62 assists. He's +47.
He's scoring at a 2.6 points per game pace. McDavid missed 20 games in November and December when he sat out with a broken bone in his hand and participated in Team Canada's gold medal winning experience at the IIHF Worrld Junior Hockey Championships in Montreal and Toronto.
In 68 games played last season, Brown scored 45 goals and added 83 assists for the Otters. He was +44 and scored at a 1.88 points per game clip.
McDavid now needs 34 points to tie Brown's team scoring record in his remaining 11 games.
McDavid has shown the uncanny ability to score goals and collect assists in large bunches this season as he did last Saturday night when he dropped five points points on the Peterborough Petes.
It will be all the more remarkable if McDavid breaks Brown's record considering he misses 35% of his team's games this season.
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Now that the Pittsburgh Penguins, Winnipeg Jets, and Minnesota Wild have addressed their forward needs with trades, keep an eye on the Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins.
All three teams had been scouting Buffalo's Chris Stewart for some time.
The Pens traded for Maple Leafs versatile forward/PKer Daniel Winnick on Wednesday afternoon. The Jets acquired top seven forward forward Jiri Tlusty from Carolina on Wednesday. The Wild acquired depth forward Sean Bergenheim from the Panthers on Tuesday.
Today, the Chris Stewart to Boston trade rumors just won't die down. The two teams have been linked in trade talks since December. Stewart is still the centerpiece of a trade. I've been told that the Bruins also admire Torrey Mitchell's puck possession and penalty killing abilities.
The Bruins would be wise to strike now before both pending UFAs are snapped up on Monday's trade deadline day.
The Sabres are said to be zeroed in on two Providence Bruins: goalie Malcolm Subban (6'2" 200 lbs.) and forward Brian Ferlin (6'2" 210 lbs.).
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