Weber has ?angel? with him

[Goose Nasty]

I read this on the buffalo news, and I thought it would intrest some of the members on this board.

 

In just five games, 20-year-old Mike Weber hasn?t looked out of place on the Buffalo Sabres? defense. Injuries to Jaroslav Spacek, Dmitri Kalinin and Nathan Paetsch created an opportunity and Weber has taken full advantage.

 

Weber has put together a plus-12 rating in that span, including a plus-5 in Buffalo?s big comeback win over Tampa Bay last week.

 

?I don?t think I?ve stopped smiling too much away from the rink,? Weber said after a recent practice. ?It?s a great feeling. That game [against Tampa Bay], I don?t think I stopped smiling on the ice either.?

 

But ask Weber about his very public pain and he stops smiling. He looks at the ground, shuffles his feet and measures his words to keep his composure. Every day he goes to a hockey rink is a reminder.

 

Weber was a former teammate and close friend of Windsor (Ont.) Spitfires captain Mickey Renaud, a 19-year-old junior hockey star who collapsed and died suddenly in his home Feb. 18. (Renaud?s father, Mark, played for the Sabres and Rochester Amerks in the 1980s.) Mickey?s death was front-page news across Canada.

 

?He was my best friend, my workout partner the last three summers,? Weber said. ?I was an extremely close friend with him, his family, his brother and sister. It?s a tough thing but I guess now for sure I have a guardian angel watching over me. I know that he?s watching.?

 

Weber was playing in Rochester when he got the news of Renaud?s death. He left the Amerks for a few days and returned to Windsor, his junior home for the last three-plus seasons. The funeral in Renaud?s hometown of Tecumseh included a procession with youth hockey players standing on the side of the road tapping the street with their sticks, the time-honored form of applause often seen on the ice.

 

?Cunney [Rochester coach Randy Cunneyworth] was more than supportive,? Weber said. ?Up here, [sabres General Manager] Darcy Regier let me go to the funeral for a couple days. It?s not about hockey when things like that happen.

 

?Mickey was a hometown kid, born and raised just outside Windsor. It?s pretty impressive how many people came out to support the family and how many people Mickey touched through hockey and through his charity work. Almost 2,000 people were in the church and the streets were lined for him. That?s a pretty special thing.?

 

Weber returned to Rochester and tried to refocus his season after Renaud?s death. It wasn?t easy in part because the Amerks have been a disaster on and off the ice all season. Like many of his mates in Windsor, Weber got a tattoo on his arm in Renaud?s memory. A few days later came the call to Buffalo.

 

Renaud was a fifth-round draft pick of the Calgary Flames last year and was a good bet to be in the NHL soon. Someday, whether in HSBC Arena or the Saddledome, Weber and his junior hockey buddy were going to go head to head in a corner as both lived out their dreams of being NHL players.

 

?It?s even more emotional for me now when I?m hearing stories about his family watching our games, having a tough time watching because they?re crying but so happy for me, so overwhelmed,? Weber said. ?It was so tragic. I lost a brother really. I?ve got to play for him because he should have been in the same position as me next year playing his first year [in the NHL]. I know in the same breath, he?s helping me out.?

 

In Buffalo, Weber has also had plenty of help from defense partner Andrej Sekera, who was also his partner in Rochester. Sekera is the puck-handler not shy of joining the rush, Weber the physical guy who looks to chip the puck out of his zone and make the first pass.

 

?[The Buffalo coaches] knew we played together down in Rochester so they put us together,? Sekera said. ?So far, so good. . . . He?s just playing his game, a stay-at-home defenseman who?s tough in the corners. He?s doing real well here.?

 

?[Weber] has got a long ways to go but he?s played good hockey for us,? said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. ?Part of the reason he?s been successful is that he?s worked extremely hard. He isn?t a guy we have to push to work.?

 

Ruff joked that Weber?s plus-minus would be about plus-100 at the rate he?s going. Until struggling some Friday against Toronto, when he was minus-1, Weber has rarely been on the ice for too many scoring chances against the Sabres.

 

?I?ve just got to continue to keep it simple,? Weber said. ?Mine and Sekera?s theory is make a good first pass, keep it out of our zone and change. I don?t want to let anyone down. . . . I don?t want to let [Ruff] down or have the coaching staff lose trust in me.?