Sabre fandom: who, what, when, how and why?

[dudacek]

This popped up elsewhere but deserves its own thread.

Tell us about your fandom.

• When and how did you become a fan?
• Who is your all-time favourite Sabre and why?
• Most exciting moments as a fan? Most frustrating?
• How would you improve the current team?

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

<five_year_old_me>Can I play?  Huh?  Can I play?  Can I play?  Can I play?  Huh?  Huh?  Huh?</five_year_old_me>

Fell in love with hockey as a 5 year old with the Sabres' inaugural season.  As the first non-Caucasian in the Williamsville CSD, knowledge and understanding of hockey was a great social equaliser for me, so I have a special place in my heart for the Sabres.  When kids stop beating you up because your father's field hockey experience from India (there, field hockey as big as ice hockey in Canada) is reflected on the ice, you just have that little bit of extra passion for the game.

Favourite Sabre is a hard one.  In my youth, it was Tim Horton because I just loved his efficient defencive play.  Obviously, Gilbert Perreault was my favourite offencive player.

Most Exciting?  I was at the Aud on 1 April 1973, when the fans could feel the team getting into the playoffs for the first time.

Most frustrating? Let's see.  Bernie Parent, Billy Smith, Brad Park, Mogilny's and LaFontaine's injuries, LaFontaine's next injury, Petr Bontra, Bret Hull, losing Hasek, lack of defencemen, Black Sunday, the announcement of the tank.  Pick one and you're right.  Pick another one and you're right.

How would I improve the current team?  Make sure I have Eichel plus at least 3 more proven NHL centres in the opening night line-up.  Have 12 genuinely NHL quality forwards in the line-up.  Go 4 deep on each side of defence.  Improve on Carter Hutton.

 

[WildCard]

. Brother and Grandpa were big fans. Got into them the 2005-2006 season, easy to understand why

. Eichel - pushed for the tank, never had a superstar on our team in my life like that before. 2nd would be Ryan Miller, loved his compete, attitude, and his dominate season

. Senators brawl, winning in that shootout and everything about that, watching it live, was amazing. Close 2nd is Brier's OT goal against Philly in game 1. First playoff experience, was in an old van with my headphones plugged into the radio searching for any station I could that had the game, driving all the way up from SC at night. Arrived at my Great-Grandmother's house just in time to run inside and switch on this old, box tv and hear 'DANNY BRIER! DANNY BRIER!'

. Sell them

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Became a fan at age 6 in 1970.  Grew up in The Great Satan and had family in Buffalo.  Always loved hockey and grew up watching the French Connection.

Eleven.  Do I have to really tell you why?

Winning the wheel spin.  Briere winning game 6 in OT.  Still waiting for those to be topped.  Brad Friggin' Park!!  No goal.

Bring in a real solid 2C.

+++++

Most frustrating not on ice event ... the decision to tank ... I was going to play nice and I hope this does not derail the thread into that debate again.

Edited July 8, 2020 by New Scotland (NS)
I am an idiot

[LTS]

I can't pinpoint when I became a fan.

Grew up in Buffalo, watched games when the were on the local broadcast stations but it was just sports and I would watch almost anything then.  I wasn't a passionate hockey guy.  We were a football household. It was mostly the Bills all the time.  Every Sunday we sat down, made wings, watched football.  Hockey was nice, if it was on.

I slowly became a bigger hockey fan progressing towards 88-89.  I had been to games, but I knew the big names around the league and most of the Sabres but I can't recall much of it today and I attribute that mostly to just not caring enough at the time.

From about 88-89 I really became a fan... and then became a serious fan.  If I lived in Buffalo I am sure I would have splurged for season tickets, but life wasn't going to go in that direction... I ended up in Rochester and that was that.  I began playing hockey in college and it was then that hockey truly dominated my life.

Too many exciting moments.. 1999 is the most frustrating.. to be that close.  2006 playoffs the next.. 

The team needs to return to being genuine.. it's that simple.  The owners started with the whole passion for hockey but have migrated to "we know more than you, shut up" mentality. Fix it and the team... ?

[Marvin]

Thanks for the compliment, @dudacek.  ?

[That Aud Smell]

Sure, I'll play.

Among my earliest memories are watching hockey (Sabres?) games on a snowy black and white amidst a blueish haze of cigarette smoke (from my dad). Were those Sabres games? Or just HNIC? No matter.

I recall my older brothers and others being fired up for the playoff run in 1979-1980. Unfortunately the Islanders had other plans. I've heard many a time that that was the best Sabres team ever - Perreault at the peak of his powers, Gare sniping, etc.

I got a real head of steam as a fan when games started being broadcast on cable TV. That was in the Scotty Bowman era.

Favourite Sabre is easy: Gilbert.

Most exciting moment as a fan was probably seeing Gretzky play at the old Aud during the season where he scored a bajillion goals. Because I was a kid. And the excitement you can have is a kid is so pure. It was one of only a handful of games I attended when I was young.

More analytically, the most exciting moment was Game 6 of the 2006 ECF. Top of the 300s. Briere pots a powerplay goal. Back to Carolina we go.

As for improving the current team, that's beyond my pay grade. You need more good NHL players. Preferably forwards. I think the D is in okay shape. Goaltending is mostly fungible. 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

@That Aud Smell, 

1979/80 probably was the best all round Sabre team ever.  2005/06 was a very close second.  I have had this debate with myself many times.  I always win the debate.

[chileanseabass]

When and how did you become a fan?  - Started going to games with my Dad at the Aud in 1988... we moved to Buffalo in 1985 (I was 5).

Who is your all-time favourite Sabre and why? - Rob Ray and Dale Hawerchuk... always enjoyed Ray's antics and Hawerchuk just had a ton of talent

Most exciting moments as a fan? Most frustrating? - Exciting is going to playoff games at the Aud with my Dad in the late 80's/early 90's.  Frustrating - Jay McKee's staph infection

[Sabres Fan in NS]

CSB sighting!!

Hello, CSB, how are you doing?

[That Aud Smell]

Ooh ohh. I missed most frustrating.

"RORY!! THE PUCK IS BETWEEN YOUR SKATES!"

[darksabre]

1. I actually have no idea how I became a Sabres fan. My parents weren't big sports fans or anything. We didn't have cable. But it had to be the mid 90s. I already liked the team when they were playing Ottawa in the playoffs '97. That was also the season I went to my first game. I feel like I was aware of the team prior to that though...

2. Favorite player? Gosh, I dunno. I guess Hasek would be the one player who would still leave me awestruck if I were to meet him in person. I like RJ more than any of the players though ?

3. Most exciting moment is still being at the party in the plaza for the Drury buzzer-beater. Most frustrating? Losing to Carolina in '06. I'm still mad. That was our Cup.

4. Improve the current team? I would simply sign actual hockey players.
 

[Thorner]

Because of my Dad, I've been a fan for pretty much as far back as my memory operates. Most exciting moment so far is 06 playoffs. 

[Marvin]

2 hours ago, chileanseabass said:

Frustrating - Jay McKee's staph infection

Some guy posted that McKee was going to the hospital on another site shortly after game 6.  After the high of that win, I came positively unglued.  Speaking of which...

1 hour ago, That Aud Smell said:

Ooh ohh. I missed most frustrating.

"RORY!! THE PUCK IS BETWEEN YOUR SKATES!"

I hated the puck-over-the-glass penalty before that penalty (treat it like icing, duh), but I have HATED it ever since.

1 hour ago, darksabre said:

Losing to Carolina in '06. I'm still mad. That was our Cup.

I gotta admit - it was so close I could almost taste the difference in my wings and pizza.

Showing my age here.  With about 5 minutes left in the 3rd, a stickless Ed Van Impe gloved the puck out of the crease with Rick Martin bearing down on it.  If they call the penalty, I think he scores and the dam breaks and the Sabres force game 7.  Hell, if they enforced the blasted rules, the Sabres would have blown the Flyers out.

And now you know why the back-sliding to the clutch-and-grab angers me more than most.

[Sabre fan]

my late brother was a Toronto Maple Leaf goalie prospect that came up through the Leafs' organization from York Steel to Marlies and was actually tutored by Johnny Bower for a while (he even had some of Bower's equipment). When expansion came in Washington voiced interest and he did not want to go there this he retired but I was lucky enough to meet Punch Imlach and when he went to Buffalo in 1970 I went with him and have been a die-hard fan since day one (been a long road)...

   Obviously I remember drafting Mr. Perreault and he was and still is my favorite Sabre (though Briere Hasek etc come close). Most exciting and frustrating both were in that bloody Dallas series (need I say more???). To improve this team I would have never traded ROR who would improve this team immeasurably (we need a real legitimate ine center just like ROR who can take big faceoffs, kill penalties etc).

   In the end, I feel bad for getting my son hooked on the team as at 23 all he has pretty much known in his years as a fan is complete frustration!

Edited July 8, 2020 by Sabre fan

[LGR4GM]

3 hours ago, dudacek said:

This popped up elsewhere but deserves its own thread.

Tell us about your fandom.

• When and how did you become a fan?
• Who is your all-time favourite Sabre and why?
• Most exciting moments as a fan? Most frustrating?
• How would you improve the current team?

Im young.

I barely remember much of 99 but it made me curious to watch hockey. 

2005 was it. I loved watching every game. It became a thing with me and some buddies. 

My fav player is Pommers because of the Ottawa goal and that he came back and was always just a great dude. Met him once and was very kind. 

Exciting, I was outside the Arena for the Rangers game we won. It was electric. 

Frustrating... the 2019 NHL draft. Are you ***** kidding me with Johnson?

Analytics involved in decision making. 

[Weave]

4 hours ago, dudacek said:

This popped up elsewhere but deserves its own thread.

Tell us about your fandom.

• When and how did you become a fan?
• Who is your all-time favourite Sabre and why?
• Most exciting moments as a fan? Most frustrating?
• How would you improve the current team?

I don't ever remember not being a fan.  I remember being told to go to bed during 1st period intermissions and being angry about it.  I remember using a crystal radio I made from a Heath kit to listen to Sabres games and Leafs games.  I remember Peter Puck at 1st period intermission on HNIC, the Grapevine in the second.  Growing up we watched hockey every night it was televised.

Favorite all time Sabre is tough.  Mike Ramsey was my favorite through the 80's and into the 90's.  He was just plain steady and did whatever needed to be done.  Someone needed to defend Gretz?  Ramsey gets the call.  Someone needed to neutralize Neely?  Again, Ramsey.  Someone needed to get in a scrum?  Ramsey will be there.  Someone needed to cover up Housley's mess in the corner?  Yup, Ramsey.  LaFontaine and Mogilny came close to what Ramsey did to me.  LaFontaine seemed too good to be true.  So genuinely talented, so genuinely intense, so genuinely nice and well spoken.  And that battle with Lemieux for the scoring title? Mogilny.... growing up in the middle of the Cold War, Mogilny's story, and then his on ice performance was just too cool to not fall in love with.  All that talent and a giant middle finger to the USSR?  Gimme some.

Most exciting moment? May Day for me.  Broke 10 seasons of 1st round playoff losses.  Came against the hated Bruins.  Brad May was still thought of as our power scoring forward. And that playoff series was INTENSE. I about lost my mind when he scored.

Most frustrating... The Tank.  And it's not even close.  Darkest time of my fanhood knowing the team made the decision to lose on purpose for multiple seasons.  I'm still bitter.

I got nuthin regarding how to improve the current team.  I think we may be still halfway through a bad period.  We just don't have enough marketable talent to  make meaningful moves without opening another hole.  We're still suffering from the decision to wipe an entire NHL roster off the team.

Note to Theana, this is a happy kind of thread.  You want to prove you really are a super fan and not a bot or troll, lay your soul out in here.  Let's see how deep the fandom goes.

Edited July 8, 2020 by Weave

[Neo]

On 7/8/2020 at 3:14 PM, New Scotland (NS) said:

@That Aud Smell, 

1979/80 probably was the best all round Sabre team ever.  2005/06 was a very close second.  I have had this debate with myself many times.  I always win the debate.

Fun fact from that season.  Perreault, Martin, Luce, Gare, Ramsay, D Smith, Seiling, McKegney, Van Boxmeer, Dunn, Schoenfeld, Hajt, and Playfair missed 14 games, total.  Thirteen players.

 

 

Edited July 9, 2020 by Neo

[thewookie1]

7 hours ago, dudacek said:

This popped up elsewhere but deserves its own thread.

Tell us about your fandom.

• When and how did you become a fan?
• Who is your all-time favourite Sabre and why?
• Most exciting moments as a fan? Most frustrating?
• How would you improve the current team?

 

- I became a fan when I was about 7 years old. My great-grandparents had season tickets and my Dad and I would take them to about half their games. My first real memories of hockey were of that 99 playoffs in which I went to a game in the 1st and 2nd round; remember watching one of the Leafs' series games at my grandparents and desperately trying to stay up during Game 6 of the Finals only to conk out by the end of the 2nd OT. I was completely distraught the following morning upon seeing my Dad hadn't woke me up to see the Sabres winning goal replayed in OT. I got to go to somewhere between 15 and 21 games in 2000-2001 and by then I had become rather hooked. My great-grandparents passed away in 2002/4, Hasek left us, and between those and the 05 lockout I actually lost interest for some time before the 05-06 team got me right back into it again. 

-My favorite players would be Hasek and Drury. The Dominator was incredible to watch with his sprawling saves and clutch performances. When he left in 2001 I was heartbroken. Chris Drury was another player I really loved; he was everything I loved about hockey and sports in general. He was good at everything but not elite; he was clutch, he wasn't a fighter but wasn't a wimp either, you could put him out there in any situation. His clutch play also resonated with me as I personally was rather clutch in baseball and flag football during that time. He was kind of what I wanted to be if I were a hockey player, someone who wasn't the best but had such dogged determination that he came out on top more times than not. Again when he abandoned us I was badly hurt and my interest wavered some.

-Best moments, working my middle school dances on the nights of the high score Sabres-Sens playoff game and the following year the Drury goal against the Rangers. For the former, myself and one other guy kept bugging the DJ to find out the score which kept changing. For the latter I was 8th grade class treasurer, wasn't a fan of most of the music, and the class president was busy with his girlfriend so I took up residence at our little snack shack and listened to most of the game on a radio. The goal was when we were just finishing cleaning up and most of us gathered around the radio and when the goal was scored we all yelled so loud my ears stopped registering it. I'll never forget that. Another great moment was winning the Dahlin lottery, felt so happy to finally for us to win something.

Most frustrating has to be all the common ones like NoGoal, Drury and Briere's departures, Hasek's departure, losing the McDavid lottery, feeling so torn about the tank that it actually made me stressed, all these god awful seasons where we spin our wheels. 

- Everyone by now knows how I would fix the team so I'm going to rehash it all. ? Other than that I would hire myself to work with the team seeing as I have the education and such and would love the opportunity to help the team succeed either on the hockey or business side. There is so much the Sabres could do in terms of marketing like uniforms that they seem incapable of either seeing or unwilling to do. 

 

[sabremike]

7 hours ago, dudacek said:

This popped up elsewhere but deserves its own thread.

Tell us about your fandom.

• When and how did you become a fan?
• Who is your all-time favourite Sabre and why?
• Most exciting moments as a fan? Most frustrating?
• How would you improve the current team?

I became a Sabres fan on April 14th 1997. What happened on April 13th? I said goodbye to the team that I loved more than any other team who I have ever rooted for and was just about the most painful day of my entire life. Decided to support the Sabres because they were based in NYS and were the only one of the 3 remaining Adams Division teams I didn't hate. Also loved Nolan from his days as a Whalers assistant. So of course he was de facto fired after the season.

Favorite Sabre:

But before Tage it was Captain Crunch:

At that period of time I was really close to just checking out of the sport altogether. Honestly I will probably never get over losing my Whalers and there isn't a day that goes by where I don't think about them and just how much I miss them. But those late 90's Sabres were the reason I didn't just give up on the sport. They were a blue collar team that punched way above their weight and nobody else epitomized more than Mike Peca.

Most exiting moment: Really that whole 99 run to the finals. 

Most frustrating: Game 7 vs Carolina. Seeing that slimy disgusting lying bastard Karmanos get his filthy hands on the cup at our expense made me sick beyond words. At least karma got that SOB in the end and his own kids hate him.

How to improve the current situation: I quote the legendary Bobby "The Brain" Heenan on how he would've fixed WCW: "I would've got everyone who was running the place in a room and rolled in a hand grenade".

 

[Indabuff]

Polish Catholic from Cheektowaga.  I'm fairly certain at a very young age I was told by some old guy (likely nicknamed "Stosh") at some hole-in-the-wall tavern on Broadway that my parents used to go to that not being a fan was sacrilegious and could result in excommunication.

 If I'm not mistaken that same gentleman tried to convince me that eating one of the pickled eggs in the jar with the murky liquid sitting on the bar would put hair on my chest.  

[Weave]

5 hours ago, Indabuff said:

Polish Catholic from Cheektowaga.  I'm fairly certain at a very young age I was told by some old guy (likely nicknamed "Stosh") at some hole-in-the-wall tavern on Broadway that my parents used to go to that not being a fan was sacrilegious and could result in excommunication.

 If I'm not mistaken that same gentleman tried to convince me that eating one of the pickled eggs in the jar with the murky liquid sitting on the bar would put hair on my chest.  

We all knew Stosh and he told all of us the same thing.  Now I’m Stosh.

[French Collection]

French Canadian kid that was a Habs fan like most of the people in mylife. Decided to have my own team after watching the French Connection and the Fog Final.

I was able to catch some games at relatives’ homes that had cable.

Favourite player has always been Gilbert, the only guy that could go end to end like Orr. Had to stop at the Victoriaville Arena a few years back to see his “shrine”.

Favourite memory was the run of ‘99. I had just moved to Kapuskasing Ontario and was living in an RV by myself for two months waiting to take possession of our new home. No wife, kids or dog. TV was all mine for every second of every game.

Low point was the foot in the crease.

Key ingredient is a 2C, get one.

 

[nucci]

My dad and older siblings went to Bisons games at the Aud. 1st Sabre game Dec 1970 in the grey seats

[That Aud Smell]

1 hour ago, French Collection said:

I had just moved to Kapuskasing Ontario

Hey now!