30 Plus Seasons in 30 Days

[mphs mike]

I'll start 1974-75 with pleasure. We'll have a long string of memories, so let's start with the regular season -

 

2d round pick Danny Gare scores his first NHL goal on his first regular season shift, seconds into the opener against the Bruins.

 

The Sabres have their first 100 point regular season, finishing tied for first with 113 points, long before you got a point for losing and 3 point games existed.

 

Don Luce scores his 8th shortie of the season against the Pens, tying the NHL record. It is also his 30th of the year.

 

Rico scores 52 again and is named 1st team LW in the post season all star squad. 50 was significant back then, as the year before Rico was only the 10th player in NHL history to accomplish it.

 

In seperate trades the Sabres pick up Fred Stanfield from the North Stars and Gerry Desjardins from the Isles.

[Stoner]

This was the first season of the Wales and Campbell Conferences. Wales consisted of the Adams and the Norris; the Campbell of the Smythe and the Patrick.

[Stoner]

I use April 27, 1975 as my birthday on here because I consider it my first day as a Sabre fan. My memory might very well be playing tricks on me, but the way I remember it is that Game 1 of the Stanley Cup semifinals at the Aud was on Channel 7. We got 2, 4 and 7 in PA, and we were a Channel 7 house. Irv et al. My mom went to turn the news on at 11 o'clock and overtime was just beginning. I had never seen a hockey game. It didn't take long -- 4:42 to be exact -- for Danny Gare to end it. I vividly remember him sliding into the boards. A month later I was so attached to the team that I cried my eyes out under a blanket, lying on the floor in front of that old black and white TV, when the Flyers won the Cup. I was eight years old.

 

Nobody tell me the game was on a weeknight when I would have been in bed, or that Sabres games that year weren't on Channel 7. :)

[Taro T]

I use April 27, 1975 as my birthday on here because I consider it my first day as a Sabre fan. My memory might very well be playing tricks on me, but the way I remember it is that Game 1 of the Stanley Cup semifinals at the Aud was on Channel 7. We got 2, 4 and 7 in PA, and we were a Channel 7 house. Irv et al. My mom went to turn the news on at 11 o'clock and overtime was just beginning. I had never seen a hockey game. It didn't take long -- 4:42 to be exact -- for Danny Gare to end it. I vividly remember him sliding into the boards. A month later I was so attached to the team that I cried my eyes out under a blanket, lying on the floor in front of that old black and white TV, when the Flyers won the Cup. I was eight years old.

 

Nobody tell me the game was on a weeknight when I would have been in bed, or that Sabres games that year weren't on Channel 7. :)

Twern't that an afternoon game? It definitely was a Sunday.

[Stoner]

Twern't that an afternoon game? It definitely was a Sunday.

 

I found a few "what day of the week was..." sites. It was a Sunday indeed. Afternoon? Damn you Taro.

[Stoner]

The one clip of Danny Gare's goal on YouTube featured Tim Ryan doing the play by play. According to Wikipedia (I know, I know):

 

1970s

From 1972–1975^[1][2], NBC not only televised the Stanley Cup Finals (in actuality, a couple of games in prime time), but also weekly regular season games on Sunday afternoons. NBC also aired several regular season and playoff games in prime time during this period (namely, during the 1972–1973 season).

 

---

 

 

That can be interpreted a number of ways. I've heard Ted Darling's call of that goal. Was he on radio?

 

 

 

[darksabre]

PA! Happy 5000 posts!

[spndnchz]

Twern't that an afternoon game? It definitely was a Sunday.

 

He had an early bedtime back then too.

[spndnchz]

I use April 27, 1975 as my birthday on here because I consider it my first day as a Sabre fan. My memory might very well be playing tricks on me, but the way I remember it is that Game 1 of the Stanley Cup semifinals at the Aud was on Channel 7. We got 2, 4 and 7 in PA, and we were a Channel 7 house. Irv et al. My mom went to turn the news on at 11 o'clock and overtime was just beginning. I had never seen a hockey game. It didn't take long -- 4:42 to be exact -- for Danny Gare to end it. I vividly remember him sliding into the boards. A month later I was so attached to the team that I cried my eyes out under a blanket, lying on the floor in front of that old black and white TV, when the Flyers won the Cup. I was eight years old.

 

Nobody tell me the game was on a weeknight when I would have been in bed, or that Sabres games that year weren't on Channel 7. :)

Nice post. **sigh** I'll have 2 wait a few years for mine.

Gare at 1:10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCZGe7Ydvo4

[Ohiofan]

I use April 27, 1975 as my birthday on here because I consider it my first day as a Sabre fan. My memory might very well be playing tricks on me, but the way I remember it is that Game 1 of the Stanley Cup semifinals at the Aud was on Channel 7. We got 2, 4 and 7 in PA, and we were a Channel 7 house. Irv et al. My mom went to turn the news on at 11 o'clock and overtime was just beginning. I had never seen a hockey game. It didn't take long -- 4:42 to be exact -- for Danny Gare to end it. I vividly remember him sliding into the boards. A month later I was so attached to the team that I cried my eyes out under a blanket, lying on the floor in front of that old black and white TV, when the Flyers won the Cup. I was eight years old.

 

Nobody tell me the game was on a weeknight when I would have been in bed, or that Sabres games that year weren't on Channel 7. :)

OMG I'm older than PA!!!!!!! I was 11. And after that last game, I too, ran from the room and cried. My dad found me on the kitchen floor sobbing and said "Hey! Get up! And go to bed...it's just a game kid, just a game"

 

I am terrible with dates and times...and too busy to look anything up, but does anyone remember when we eliminated Chicago and the Aud played the song "The night Chicago Died" We were so excited and it was good....This may have been the winter I got my SABRE-JAK and wore that damn thing all thru a Buffalo winter without getting pneumonia. It was little more than a windbreaker but I begged and begged and my parents finally gave in and said "girl, you're gonna freeze your a$$ off..."

[R_Dudley]

I use April 27, 1975 as my birthday on here because I consider it my first day as a Sabre fan. My memory might very well be playing tricks on me, but the way I remember it is that Game 1 of the Stanley Cup semifinals at the Aud was on Channel 7. We got 2, 4 and 7 in PA, and we were a Channel 7 house. Irv et al. My mom went to turn the news on at 11 o'clock and overtime was just beginning. I had never seen a hockey game. It didn't take long -- 4:42 to be exact -- for Danny Gare to end it. I vividly remember him sliding into the boards. A month later I was so attached to the team that I cried my eyes out under a blanket, lying on the floor in front of that old black and white TV, when the Flyers won the Cup. I was eight years old.

 

Nobody tell me the game was on a weeknight when I would have been in bed, or that Sabres games that year weren't on Channel 7. :)

 

Oh crap I'm older than PA as well... I was 16 at this point.. anywho what i remember best after that Danny Gare game was The Sabres would go on to take a 2-0 series lead before losing the next 2 in Montreal to set up a crucial 5th game at the Aud where Rene Robert scored in overtime to give the Sabres a 5-4 win. Not wanting to chance things the Sabres closed the series out in Montreal in Game 6 with a 4-3 win... That was back in the day Montreal owned the Stanley Cup and beating them to advance to the SC finals was a huge feat for such a then young club.... Unfortunately waiting for us was the broad street bullies. The Fog game, the Lorentz Batman incident and what ultimately in my book would be the difference in the finals, Bernie Parent...... I remember the banner in the old spectrum saying, "Only God saves more than Bernie Parent" and it was true in that series.

[Stoner]

I am glad that we're keeping 74-75 open for a while. Was anyone at the Niagara Falls airport when the Sabres returned after eliminating the Canadiens? Was anyone at the fog game?

 

Here's a cool clip of Robert's OT goal in the fog, from above. No fog visible. A rare look. 1:15 mark

[spndnchz]

The Bat

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvzp32zYtCY

[Stoner]

OK, on to 75-76. The season started at the Aud on October 9 with a 4-0 shutout of the Wings. Roger Crozier got his 10th and last shutout as a Sabre, but he had to make only 18 saves. One thing I'm wondering about as I look at the media guide is how the capacity of the Aud increased from 15,668 to 16,433.

[Taro T]

OK, on to 75-76. The season started at the Aud on October 9 with a 4-0 shutout of the Wings. Roger Crozier got his 10th and last shutout as a Sabre, but he had to make only 18 saves. One thing I'm wondering about as I look at the media guide is how the capacity of the Aud increased from 15,668 to 16,433.

An excellent question. Hopefully someone will have the correct answer.

 

At least part of that increase was most likely due to the addition of more SRO tix.

 

A sellout was 15,516 back when the streak began on October 15, 1972. It bumped to 15,668 on November 12, 1972.

 

I only made it to a couple of games prior to '75-'76, so I don't remember if there were also changes to the "luxury" boxes prior to then.

[Eleven]

I hope the 1974 draft counts as part of the '74-'75 season, but if not, please forgive me...I need to mention the single greatest draft pick in Sabres history:

 

In 1974, Punch Imlach drafted Taro Tsujimoto with the 11th round pick. For those who don't remember, Tsujimoto was a world-beater of a scorer, but he wouldn't defect from Japan. In the '73-'74 J-League season, Tsujimoto scored 162 goals and 322 assists in just 64 GP, with over 300 penalty minutes. He could eat seventy hotdogs in ten minutes, he was an undercover spy for South Korea, and he once performed with Cirque du Soleil as an acrobat. He dated Farrah Fawcett before Fawcett was born. He invented all of the Chuck Norris jokes that we have today.

 

In short, he was the most interesting man in the world. He didn't always drink beer, but when he did, it was Dos Equis.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taro_Tsujimoto

[SwampD]

I hope the 1974 draft counts as part of the '74-'75 season, but if not, please forgive me...I need to mention the single greatest draft pick in Sabres history:

 

In 1974, Punch Imlach drafted Taro Tsujimoto with the 11th round pick. For those who don't remember, Tsujimoto was a world-beater of a scorer, but he wouldn't defect from Japan. In the '73-'74 J-League season, Tsujimoto scored 162 goals and 322 assists in just 64 GP, with over 300 penalty minutes. He could eat seventy hotdogs in ten minutes, he was an undercover spy for South Korea, and he once performed with Cirque du Soleil as an acrobat. He dated Farrah Fawcett before Fawcett was born. He invented all of the Chuck Norris jokes that we have today.

 

In short, he was the most interesting man in the world. He didn't always drink beer, but when he did, it was Dos Equis.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taro_Tsujimoto

What a great story. I never knew this before tonight. I love this thread, it's some good cheeze.

[Eleven]

What a great story. I never knew this before tonight. I love this thread, it's some good cheeze.

 

Well, PART of it is true. The name, year, and round might be it, though. I'll leave it to Taro_T (the namesake) or PASabre (who was in his early forties) to tell the correct version of the tale. Or you can just click on the wikipedia link in my other post.

 

It's still the funniest draft story in any sport that I know of.

[Stoner]

Well, PART of it is true. The name, year, and round might be it, though. I'll leave it to Taro_T (the namesake) or PASabre (who was in his early forties) to tell the correct version of the tale. Or you can just click on the wikipedia link in my other post.

 

It's still the funniest draft story in any sport that I know of.

 

Good stuff Eleven. Do you have the Wieland book? His story surrounding the additional prank of convincing Seymour Knox that Taro was actually at training camp one year is classic.

[Eleven]

Good stuff Eleven. Do you have the Wieland book? His story surrounding the additional prank of convincing Seymour Knox that Taro was actually at training camp one year is classic.

 

I don't, and I really, really need to see that. Sounds like a Sidd Finch prank on a smaller level.

[spndnchz]

Bob Sauve selected in the first round.

[spndnchz]

An excellent question. Hopefully someone will have the correct answer.

 

At least part of that increase was most likely due to the addition of more SRO tix.

 

A sellout was 15,516 back when the streak began on October 15, 1972. It bumped to 15,668 on November 12, 1972.

 

I only made it to a couple of games prior to '75-'76, so I don't remember if there were also changes to the "luxury" boxes prior to then.

 

Sellout was 16,433 in 1975-76. They would sell out for 5 seasons straight.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Back in the 1970's:

Anybody remember back at the Aud how they would turn off the power to the escalators? Wasn't it to conserve on energy?

 

:lol:

[spndnchz]

Okay, somebody has to pick up the ball here. I'll be out o town and promised I wouldn't log on a computer (yeah, like that'll work). We need to be in the early '80's by the end of next week if we expect to make it.

 

So somebody pick up your balls. :thumbsup:

[R_Dudley]

OK, on to 75-76. The season started at the Aud on October 9 with a 4-0 shutout of the Wings. Roger Crozier got his 10th and last shutout as a Sabre, but he had to make only 18 saves. One thing I'm wondering about as I look at the media guide is how the capacity of the Aud increased from 15,668 to 16,433.

 

Well I can't say for 100 % sure but something they did around then was to introduce the standing room only tickets. I only ever had them up in the oranges where they let you stand around the the corners and sides along the edge walls from the expansion when they raised the roof. The first time Playoffs and sell outs were the spawn of that brain child. They used to let them stand several deep and that certainly could account for a good several hundred extra tickets as a recall. Or don't recall..