Sabres On This Day

[Porous Five Hole]

Impressive!

[Stoner]

One of the more impressive ties ever. Montreal was a machine. They finished that season 60-8-12!

I might dig up some more info on the following... Ted Darling couldn't make the trip and called the game from home. There's more to the story. As I recall his young son helped him produce a rather sophisticated show using arena sound from Munreal.

[sabills]

25 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

One of the more impressive ties ever. Montreal was a machine. They finished that season 60-8-12!

I might dig up some more info on the following... Ted Darling couldn't make the trip and called the game from home. There's more to the story. As I recall his young son helped him produce a rather sophisticated show using arena sound from Munreal.

Thats crazy, how would it even work? Was the game televised?

[Eleven]

2 minutes ago, sabills said:

Thats crazy, how would it even work? Was the game televised?

IIRC he had a TV feed (it was televised) and was calling the game by phone.

Edited January 30, 2023 by Eleven

[sabills]

3 minutes ago, Eleven said:

IIRC he had a TV feed (it was televised) and was calling the game by phone.

Amazing haha. Ted Darling was ahead of his time!

[Eleven]

10 minutes ago, sabills said:

Amazing haha. Ted Darling was ahead of his time!

I'm trying to think of how this would have been done, and the best I can come up with is:

--Ted gets CBC broadcast at his home, either cable or over-the-air.

--Ted calls the game by phone.

--Local channel delays its own broadcast to sync w/ Ted's call.

@SwampD does this make any sense w/ 1977 technology?

Edited January 30, 2023 by Eleven

[Pimlach]

I remember this one.  I think we saw the valiant effort on TV.   I certainly remember it.  

[RochesterExpat]

Few fun bits:

Noticeably absent players included French Connection member Rick Martin, Jim "bat killer" Lorentz, and the Oilers future captain and a Stanley Cup winner: defensemen Lee Foggolin. This was the last of three games that Alex Tidey played in Buffalo that season and one of only 9 NHL games he played in his career. Danny Gare was absent as well, but that was due to injury.

Apparently only one goalie made it from Buffalo as well: starter Gerry Desjardins (whose career famously ends three games into next season with an eye injury). Al Smith was the slated backup.

Funny enough, this wasn't the only game Buffalo would play with only one goalie that season. Al Smith quit the team two weeks later after he walked off the bench following the national anthem--leaving Don Edwards as the only dressed goalie in his first NHL game.

The 70s were a wild ride.

[sabills]

10 minutes ago, RochesterExpat said:

Few fun bits:

Noticeably absent players included French Connection member Rick Martin, Jim "bat killer" Lorentz, and the Oilers future captain and a Stanley Cup winner: defensemen Lee Foggolin. This was the last of three games that Alex Tidey played in Buffalo that season and one of only 9 NHL games he played in his career. Danny Gare was absent as well, but that was due to injury.

Apparently only one goalie made it from Buffalo as well: starter Gerry Desjardins (whose career famously ends three games into next season with an eye injury). Al Smith was the slated backup.

Funny enough, this wasn't the only game Buffalo would play with only one goalie that season. Al Smith quit the team two weeks later after he walked off the bench following the national anthem--leaving Don Edwards as the only dressed goalie in his first NHL game.

The 70s were a wild ride.

Quote

Smith also played for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres, Hartford Whalers and Colorado Rockies. One of the most infamous moments of his career came on February 13, 1977, when he quit the Buffalo Sabres. Smith was to replace injured goalie Gerry Desjardins for a game against the Minnesota North Stars, and Buffalo had also called up Don Edwards. Less than an hour before gametime, Buffalo general manager Punch Imlach ordered Sabres coach Floyd Smith to play Edwards instead.[1] After the national anthem, Smith stepped off the bench, saluted Buffalo owners Seymour and Northrup Knox and headed for the dressing room.[2]

Good stuff, never heard that one before.

[Marvin]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

One of the more impressive ties ever. Montreal was a machine. They finished that season 60-8-12!

I might dig up some more info on the following... Ted Darling couldn't make the trip and called the game from home. There's more to the story. As I recall his young son helped him produce a rather sophisticated show using arena sound from Munreal.

You do recall correctly.  I have forgotten all the details after all these years, but that is the gist of it.

[spndnchz]

On this date in Buffalo Sabres history, January 29th 1977, the legendary Blizzard of '77 crippled the Buffalo NY area. The Sabres were scheduled to play in Montreal and were lucky to have 14 players make it to the airport (some by snowmobile) to fly to Montreal.  Sabres broadcaster Ted Darling was stranded at his home in Lockport and called the game by telephone while watching it on his television set! The shorthanded Sabres came through with a 3-3 tie against the dynastic Montreal Canadiens. 

The snow started to fall early in the morning of Friday, January 28th and the winds began to blow at 29 miles and hour with gusts up to 49 mph as the Buffalo Sabres practiced before a scheduled flight to Montreal later that afternoon.

As the cold front reached Buffalo at 11:35 AM, the temperature fell 26 degrees, reaching zero within four hours and the winds now averaged 46 mph with gusts up to 69 mph, creating wind chills of -60º to -70º.

Thousands were stranded in offices, schools and factories as roads became impassable when as much as eight inches of snow fell on top of the 33 inches that had already choked Buffalo that winter. An estimated 13,000 people were stranded in downtown Buffalo alone, along with an estimated 8,000 cars clogging the roads of the city, many of which ended up completely buried. Some Sabres employees were forced to sleep overnight in the Sabres home rink "The Aud", among the 300 people who took shelter there.

Six homes were completely destroyed by fire on one block as fire trucks were unable to get through the drifts to reach the fire. A state of emergency was declared in Erie County as well as Niagara, Orleans and Genesee counties as drifts reached 15 feet high by nightfall as the high winds combined with the unusual weather conditions earlier that winter left Lake Erie covered with ice and a layer of snow that was easily picked up by the winds and deposited on shore in Buffalo. 

Driving home from practice, Sabres winger Jim Lorentz had to abandon his car and walk the last mile as the snow was now "bumper-high". He did not find his car until three days later.

Gary McAdam had five separate accidents in his new Thunderbird in his attempt to return home. At the scene of the fifth accident, while examining his battered car, another vehicle came sliding toward his, causing McAdam to jump onto the trunk of his car as the sliding vehicle came to a halt against his bumper.

It took Lee Fogolin and Brian Spencer an incredible four hours to make the five-minute drive to their condominium. They were not seen again for three days.

Sabres coach Floyd Smith postponed the team's planned departure from Friday to Saturday, but the blizzard conditions remained as the wind continued to howl, clocked at speeds up to 51 mph, blowing even more snow into Buffalo from Lake Erie.

Saturday, for the first time in 143 years the Buffalo Courier Express could not publish it's morning newspaper.

Coach Smith was able to make it to the airport by following snow plows, but it stretched his usual 20 minute drive to two hours. Defenseman Jerry Korab couldn't even open the door of his house, so he called winger Rene Robert and told him, "If you want me to protect you tonight, come dig me out." Robert arrived with his four-wheel-drive truck, dug Korab out and headed off for the airport with three additional teammates along for the ride.

By 3 PM, only 10 players had arrived. As Smith as about to phone Montreal to cancel the game, Jocelyn Guevremont, who had gotten to his four-wheel-drive vehicle by jumping out of a window and shoveling his way to his garage, arrived with four other players, giving Buffalo enough bodies to make the trip.

"On the plane, the stewardesses were hollering at the pilots that we couldn't take off," recalled Don Luce. "I think they tried to turn it around, but all the plane did was blow sideways. Somehow they got it in the air."

Once the game got underway, not surprisingly, the Canadiens broke out on top with a goal from Serge Savard at 17:23 to take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. It would take Montreal just 35 seconds to extend their lead to 2-0 thanks to a goal by Steve Shutt.

Buffalo would dig in and convert a power play opportunity for their first goal, which came at 6:47 from  Andre Savard from team captain Gilbert Perreault and Robert.

Montreal took a 3-1 lead over the undermanned Sabres with Yvon Lambert's goal at 14:47. Still, Buffalo fought back and Luce kept the Sabres in touch with his 14th goal of the season at 15:55 from McAdam and Craig Ramsay. The period would finish that way, with Montreal leading 3-2 despite being outshot by Buffalo 20-14.

For the remainder of the contest, the Sabres and goaltender Gerry Desjardins would keep Montreal's high powered offense at bay. Defenseman Jim Schoenfeld scored at 8:25 to even the score at 3-3.

Schoenfeld's goal would hold up, as the Sabres rallied to limit the Canadiens to just five shots for the third period, to earn the plucky and shorthanded Sabres an unexpected, if not unbelievable, 3-3 tie on this date in 1977 against the Stanley Cup champions, outshooting them by a final margin of 27-19.

The blizzard forced the Sabres to cancel the following night's game in Buffalo against the Los Angeles Kings, a day when the winds continued to howl with gusts up to 52 mph.

Monday, the Sabres boarded a bus for what turned out to be a 10-hour trip across New York State for a game against the Islanders to start a three game road trip as the storm raged in Buffalo until Tuesday. While only 12 inches of new snow fell, the wind created drifts that finally topped out at 30 feet. Some areas even banned snowmobiles, as one rider was injured in a collision with a chimney on top of a house and the high drifts caused low clearance issues with power lines! Some towns even resorted to using metal detectors to locate buried cars before plowing the roads.

The Sabres next scheduled home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs was also postponed while the city was still recovering from the paralyzing drifts, meaning the Sabres went two weeks without a home game. Additionally, the Buffalo Braves of the NBA postponed four of their scheduled home games.

In all, there were 29 storm related deaths in Western New York, 11 of those in the City of Buffalo. Nine of those unfortunate people were found buried in their cars.

Visit vintagehockeyjerseys.net for more vintage hockey

[SwampD]

54 minutes ago, Eleven said:

I'm trying to think of how this would have been done, and the best I can come up with is:

--Ted gets CBC broadcast at his home, either cable or over-the-air.

--Ted calls the game by phone.

--Local channel delays its own broadcast to sync w/ Ted's call.

@SwampD does this make any sense w/ 1977 technology?

I don’t even think the delay would have been all that much.

Totally feasible.

[Stoner]

I was off a little. Ted called the Forum and had them patch WGR radio into the live sound from the arena. WGR folks then mixed arena sound into Ted's call over the phone. Ted was watching CBC presumably as his son Joey used headphones to listen to the announcer and tell his dad about time remaining, penalties and the like. The attached pic is from Budd Bailey's History of the Buffalo Sabres. An open question is whether the game was shown on Channel 2 with Ted's call synched.