It's Miller time

As the Sabres go deep into another playoff run, I want to take a moment to point out a couple of things that Ryan Miller does so well. A couple of things that I think make him a classy competitor.

The first is that during the National Anthem’s, Ryan Miller faces each flag. Ryan Miller shows respect to the Canadian flag during the Canadian Anthem and to the American Flag during the American anthem.

It might be an obvious nod to the many Canadian fans of the Sabres who cross the border to see the games, but Buffalo plays both Anthems regardless of who is playing. Round three will be on CBC, and they show the anthems. So we might get a chance to see Miller looking at the flags (Versus doesn't show the anthems, something that annoys me to no end). I think his respect for the flags is one of the more classy things I’ve ever noticed in sports.

The other thing I think is interesting is how Ryan Miller simply says “Play Hockey” to describe playing well.

When asked about a late goal he gave up in a nothing-nothing tie, Miller said that it was good to see the team 'play hockey', and bail me out. He didn’t say it was good to see the team play well. He never says he played poorly. Just hockey.

I think that’s awesome. I think that's the mindset of a champion. A player who expects to play well so much, that his term for it is to merely play.

It might seem like a semantic thing to not ever use play well and play poorly. But I think it's part of what makes him mentally strong. It’s a great mindset to get yourself into. It means you never think in terms of a sliding scale. You play hockey, or you don’t.

I saw him standing on my street once, just after the run in last year’s playoffs. I gave him a guy nod.

I honestly think he’s become my favorite athlete. Partly because of the classiness during the anthems. But mostly because to him, playing bad means not playing.