Written by Heather | 04 November 2011

Now, isn't it nice, what a good win can do? After cooling off after the last game and reading some other thoughts on Ryan Miller - I especially recommend checking out Joe's thoughts - I want to clarify that I have no desire to see Ryan Miller traded, and I don't even think he should suddenly lose his starting spot. I would like him to play better, however, and I would like him to maybe occasionally just say, "Hey, I sucked" instead of being all prickly and defensive.  I think some people are way too hard on him, but I think some people are way too easy on him. Thomas Vanek, Derek Roy, Jason Pominville, all those guys have taken more than their fair share of abuse over the years. Ryan can suck it up and take some lumps too.

After the Philadelphia game there was a lot of discussion in my Twitter feed about booing and by "discussion" I mean people criticizing fans for booing. I just don't get that. I'm not a big booer myself. If I'm at a game where people start booing I'll often give a small, short boo and and an "eh, get outta here" wave of my hands. But if others want to boo, boo away, man. There are only so many ways we have to make our feelings known to players and coaches, you know? Mike Schopp always talks about people being so angry all the time, but to me, booing isn't necessarily anger. Sometimes it is, but sometimes it's disappointment, sometimes it's frustration, sometimes it's disagreement. It's just hard to express those things in a game environment. You can't simultaneously yell, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME? AFTER LOSING TO FREAKING FLORIDA YOU'RE GOING TO GIVE UP TWO GOALS IN WHAT FEELS LIKE 45 SECONDS?" so you boo. You can't yell, "I PAY LOTS OF MONEY FOR THIS EXPERIENCE AND I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A DECENT CHANCE AT SEEING A WIN!" so you boo. I think the booing in that game was about a lot more than just Ryan Miller. For the last three or four years, these guys have been, for whatever reason, incapable of playing consistently good hockey in Buffalo. That means that the home crowd is seeing the worst efforts and in some cases, we're talking REALLY bad losses. I'm sorry, that freaking blows. I go to three or four games a year, and that blows. If I dropped thousands of dollars on season tickets and watched loss after loss after loss - especially when those losses are then followed by the same awful platitudes about PRESSING TOO MUCH and TRYING TO HARD FOR THE HOME CROWD - I'd be feeling a little surly too. You can't demand that a crowd be engaged when things are going well and then shut off its emotions when things aren't going well. The flip side of being irrationally excited and proud when a team or player is doing well is being irrationally upset and annoyed when they're not. I think booing can actually be a pretty fun emotional release, but I can at least understand not liking the idea of it.  What I can't understand is any fan - or journalist, or talk show host, or ANYONE - telling another fan that he or she is doing it wrong. There's no right way to be a fan.

At any rate, I think tonight is all any of us want - a simple, straight-forward effort which leads to the occasional win.  Drew Stafford acting very serious while wearing a golden helmet helps.

More in-depth thoughts tomorrow night.  Maybe.