Carey's Corner

Welcome, one and all, to a new semester of Buffalo sports. The weather outside is still frightful, but we no longer have the thought of the holidays to keep our spirits up.

To make the long trek to summer easier, we at The Spectrum are introducing you to a new feature: Carey's Corner. Yes, it's named after me – be jealous.

In this section, we will bring you the news that's just barely fit to print. The content will change from issue to issue, but this will be the place to look for news about the University's lesser-known sports, such as club and intramural sports. It will also be the home of predictions, profiles, and anything else we feel like writing about.

Let's kick this thing off right with a sport that many UB students are unfamiliar with: ice hockey. As some of you know, UB does not have a Division I hockey team.

Instead, those students who love the cold and hate their teeth come together to play on the University's club team. The Buffalo Bulls play in the American Collegiate Hockey Association and, more specifically, the Eastern Collegiate Hockey League. This league may not be Division I, but that does not mean that the competition is not intense.

The team had been on hiatus through the break but started the second half of the season off by splitting its weekend matches at home. The Bulls defeated the Niagara Purple Eagles, 5-1, but fell to Mercyhurst College, 4-3.

The Bulls are in good position moving forward, as they currently sit atop the ECHL standings with a 17-6-1 record. The Bulls will next hit the ice with a pair of games against SUNY Canton. The team will come back to the Northtown Center at Amherst (formerly known as the Pepsi Center) on Jan. 28.

Continued from January 21^st issue of The Spectrum...

The basketball and hockey seasons are in full swing, and the constant action is giving sports fans everywhere plenty to drunkenly yell about in bars across the country. With that in mind, let's talk about football. The NFL playoffs are winding down, and with just two weekends left (yes two, the Pro Bowl doesn't count) before I slip into the deep depression that always seems to last until late August, we find ourselves with only four teams standing.

The first game on Sunday is yet another iteration of the league's oldest rivalry. The Green Bay Packers travel to Chicago to face off against the Bears. This will undoubtedly be an absolute brawl seeing as these two teams cannot stand each other and at the end of the day there will be only one victor. That's right, the Seattle Seahawks. After being the first team in NFL history to make the playoffs with a losing record, I predict that the Seahawks will again rewrite the history books by being the first team to ever win a playoff game after being eliminated from the playoffs. I tried to get a little more insight into how this is going to come about, but the devil was unable to comment as there is a clause in his contract with Pete Carroll that forbids discussing it with the media.

The AFC Championship Game features two teams that pride themselves on keeping their opponent's scores low. Unfortunately, these teams also seem to pride themselves on embarrassing themselves and their cities with their off-the-field behavior. The contest will be fierce, as Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will spend the full 60 minutes of game time at the bar picking up teenage girls, rendering him a complete nonfactor. The Jets will fail to capitalize on this opportunity, however, as they will be too busy degrading a mildly attractive towel girl in the locker room. Picking a winner for this game is going to be difficult, but when the clock hits 0:00 I believe the Steelers will be triumphant with a score of three sexual harassment suits to two.

E-mail: sports@ubspectrum.com