Sabres fandom—What hooked you?

[Porous Five Hole]

To be honest, I don’t quite remember my moment. It was probably the LaFontaine/Mogilny offensive explosions. However, my first Sabres home game was the first season of the goat heads and the Hasek era of domination at MMA.  
 

What spurred this post was the flick of the matchbox match for my wife last night. 
My wife is a slow to develop hockey fan. We haven’t been married too long, and the Sabres have blown butthole our entire relationship. Her dad isn’t a hockey fan, so other than the casual Amerks game…she never really had an introduction or love for the game.
 

She thinks the game is one period too long for her taste. With that said, she has casually watched this season with me, sometimes multi-tasking on her phone/work laptop.
She knows I care a lot about this franchise (it shocked her that I told her my love for the Sabres exceeds my love for the Bills). She knows this franchise is important to me and she has seen me get slightly emotional reliving the calls of RJ all season. 
Anyway, we were watching together last night (no phone distractions) and after Power scored, I said, “When he gets inducted into the HOF (I know, I was being cheeky), you can say that you saw his first NHL goal.” 

She smiled and her Sabres heart grew three sizes bigger last night.  
 

What was your moment?

Let’s Go Buffalo. 

[LabattBlue]

Gil Perreault. 

[Doohicksie]

16 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

Gil Perreault. 

/thread.... at least for those of us of a certain age.

[Porous Five Hole]

1 minute ago, Doohickie said:

/thread.... at least for those of us of a certain age.

Guess I should lock it up 😂

[Doohicksie]

Well not everyone is as old as me (and apparently @LabattBlue)

[PerreaultForever]

Ya, specifically French Connection, team knocking off Montreal in the big upset. That's the full moment with no turning back. Spirit waning last few years, but didn't quite break (but this rebuild better not be an illusion, that could do it). 

[The Big Lebowski]

The Sabres acquiring LaFontaine towards the start of the 1991-92 season was what first made me notice the team (the Bills garnered all my attention up until that point). But what really hooked me was in November 1992, when we first got cable. Suddenly I was able to watch Sabres games on Empire, and that 1992-93 roster is still my favorite sports team of all time.

Boy was I spoiled, the first season I was able to watch the team they had that incredible Mogilny, LaFontaine, and Andreychuk line.

I'm still bitter we traded Andreychuk for Fuhr (we already had Hasek on the roster!). It would've been the first time in NHL history all three linemates had 50 goals.

[Marvin]

Many kids and adults stopped trying to beat me up because I noticed things on TV better than they could.  It was the school day after Boston shelled Joe Daley with something like 72 shots.  Hockey was my first social equaliser as the first N-word in my school district.

Edited April 23, 2022 by Marvin, Sabres Fan

[Kristian]

Pat LaFontaine.

[French Collection]

The French Connection, especially Perreault. The speed and the wide stance that allowed him to glide around defenders like they were pilons. He was electric.

[RangerDave]

I don't know whether it was the French Connection, or the 74/75 playoff run to the Stanley Cup finals that really made me take notice.   Probably both.  Perreault, with his end-to-end rushes, was a thing of beauty.  The games against the Flyers were epic, especially the "fog game".

[sabremike]

The Sabres played in NYS and Nolan was the coach. Even more important is they were the only old Adams Division team I didn't hate with every fiber of my being (despised the Habs and consider the rooins and their fans to be the most evil and disgusting entities on Earth).

[jsb]

I was more a Braves fan until the 74-75' season. Ric Martin and Jerry Korab were my favorites. Left town in 78' and reacquired my passion during the 98-99' season and playoffs. Lost a bunch of money in that Dallas series but hung in there. And here I am.

[Weave]

I was born i to it.  My earliest memories include Sabres games on the TV.

[Curt]

It was seeing Dominik Hasek do some ridiculous thing as a kid while watching them play against the Flyers at my Flyers fan friend’s house. Then I became a fan that really followed the team closely during the 2005-2007 years.

[Eleven]

29 minutes ago, Weave said:

I was born i to it.  My earliest memories include Sabres games on the TV.

This, for me, too.  Also, my father was in sales and had access to the company tickets.  When the Sabres played an unpopular opponent like Colorado or Cleveland or something, and the tickets weren't in demand, he would take us to games.  

[Pimlach]

9 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

Gil Perreault. 

Yes.  
 

I was a Buffalo Bison hockey fan. Then one day I heard (and read in the Buffalo Evening News) the buzz about Buffalo getting a NHL team. The Bisons ended their time with a championship. Then came the Sabres.  Interesting characters in the News - Knox’s, Punch, Roger Crozier, Gilbert Perreault … 

I saw the 18 year old Gil in the Aud.  He was faster, smoother, and trickier than everyone else.   He was young, his hair flowed and he had cool sideburns.   He skated fast without hardly trying, he had a wide skating stance from which he made moves that other players never did, and the puck stayed on his stick like a magnet.   When he had the puck he would take it behind our net and come up ice.  The crowd would start a low buzz, electricity’ seemed to magically generate as he started up the ice and the crowd got whipped up to a frenzy.    

I got to go to games, our family had season tickets.  I loved the uniforms, the crest, the Sabre song, Ted Darling’s voice (RJ came the next season for radio), Organist Norm and Tenor Joe, two anthems, a Sabre Girl, Buffalo’s Best Peanuts, and the entire Aud experience.  Let’s not forget the characters on the team, always evolving to get better, and they did.   I was hooked.  

Edited April 23, 2022 by Pimlach

[K-9]

The spin of the wheel. 

[In The Buff]

For me it started early when i was a kid, staying up really late pretending to be sleeping all while hiding a small radio under my pillow late at night so i could listen to RJ call the games.

Hearing that crowd at the Aud roaring over the airwaves as RJ called the play:  as dreams of Sabrespace danced thru my head. I'd say his calls had a big role to play.

Have to also include Rick Vaive on the list. Watching him play, sticking his neck out on the ice & seeing the pain he'd be in with the nerve issues & his neck. Seeing his determination growing up hooked me as well. Later on it'd be Hasek of course & the identity of that team in general.

nice topic!

[PromoTheRobot]

I became a fan of the old AHL "Pepsi cap" Bisons in 1968. Got to go to a few games in 1969, their final year when they went out as Calder Cup champs. Guy Trottier set the AHL goal scoring record with 55. Giles Villemure was the goalie with 8 shutouts. Terry Crisp, who is now a Preds color analyst, was on that team. Fred Shero was the coach.

https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0002311970.html

Edited April 23, 2022 by PromoTheRobot

[Cheektorado]

When it was announced that Buffalo was getting an expansion team.

[Zamboni]

My uncle taking me down to the aud, having a friend of his who was an employee open a back or side door and letting us in for free, and making our way to the standing room only section and watching the game with popcorn, pop and my uncle. It was probably in the late 70’s. Good shtuff.

[HumanSlinky39]

Pat LaFontaine.

[sabresparaavida]

Listening to RJ on the radio growing up with my Dad. No real specific moments “hooked me”, it was more of the steady reoccurrence of hearing RJ’s amazing commentating.

[OverPowerYou]

For me it’s this - My first ever game Chris Drury got cheapshotted 10 feet in front of me. A massive Buffalo-Ottawa Brawl ensued and goalies faught. It’s been a long disappointment since but I know they’ll come back 

Edit - on some hard drive hidden away somewhere I actually have a live video of it all unfolding, even the hit. 

Edited April 23, 2022 by OverPowerYou