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JILL SCHMELZER Amherst Reporter

+ 'RUFF' LANDING - I had the opportunity to cover Friday's Buffalo Sabres game against the Vancouver Canucks with Associate Editor Jessica Finch. We arrived at HSBC Arena early and took the elevator up to the press box where we were to sit and watch the game, record stats and be unbiased. This was a difficult task for me because in recent years I have become a big fan of the sport. I found myself trying really hard to restrain myself from leaping out of my chair and yelling to our players. But overall, I thought Jessica and I did a pretty good job of containing our excitement. I was wrong. As the scout from the New York Rangers, who was sitting next to me, got up to leave with three minutes left in the third period he told us he hoped "our team" did well. Busted. We weren't as smooth as we thought. Oh well. After the shoot out, and an exciting win for "our team," we rushed back to the elevator with the other members of the media and traveled down to the locker room where we were to conduct interviews for our stories.

I entered the relatively clean room where the players were changing out of their uniforms and into other clothing. I noticed that Brian Campbell was sitting at his locker and there were no media people surrounding him. So I strolled over to where he and three fellow Sabres were talking about the game. As I approached the redhead, I called out to him, asking if he would be willing to let me speak with him. Just as he was agreeing, the heel of my right shoe caught on the strap of one of their equipment bags. Sure enough, I stumbled into the locker next to Campbell, hitting my knee and right ring finger so hard on the ground that I thought I might cry right then and there.

Surprisingly, I held it together. The players held back their laughter and very kindly asked if I was OK. I replied, "Oh yeah, I'm totally cool." I thought to myself, "Since when has the word 'totally' entered my vocabulary?" Although I was "totally" embarrassed, I asked my questions as coolly as possible and left the locker room as fast as I could.