Rick Jeanneret: 1942–2023

[Stoner]

38 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

in the booth, headset on, calling PBP.   

Stop thinking outside the box. It's annoying.

[Stoner]

Rick at ground level doesn't feel right. He has to be perched somewhere. Maybe looking down at the foot traffic from the face of the arena. Or incorporated into the press box somehow.

[Eleven]

3 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

Tricky sculpture to make. I’d want him shown in one of those moments where his face is contorted from making some memorable call (meanwhile his hands are folded daintily on the table top).

The one where he's leaning back after the Kane-to-Eichel Hail Mary.

[Stoner]

 

[Stoner]

[Doohicksie]

On 8/18/2023 at 9:25 AM, nfreeman said:

This is one of my all-time RJ favorites:

 

RJ was the GOAT but Jim Lorentz was his perfect complement.  They were a great team.

[Marvin]

The YouTube use jzambon has a nice merge of RJ announcing Briere's OT GWG in game 6 versus Carolina with the video.  "There's still room on the believer's bandwagon!"

[thewookie1]

1 hour ago, Doohickie said:

RJ was the GOAT but Jim Lorentz was his perfect complement.  They were a great team.

They had the same sense of humor and bounced off each other incredibly well.

Harry Neale was a great Color guy but never fit great with Rick due their styles clashing to an extent.

Rob Ray is well, Rob Ray; he's a good bench guy but mediocre at best Color guy. He had chemistry with RJ though akin to a grampa ripping his kids while they fail to fight back knowing they can't win.

Edited August 21, 2023 by thewookie1

[Doohicksie]

4 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

They had the same sense of humor and bounced off each other incredibly well.

They way I saw it when RJ called a goal, it was like throwing confetti and Lorentz's analysis was like sweeping up the confetti afterwards.

[Eleven]

34 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

They way I saw it when RJ called a goal, it was like throwing confetti and Lorentz's analysis was like sweeping up the confetti afterwards.

Lorentz's analysis was like organizing the confetti by color, density in area on the ice, distance thrown...the guy could break down a play into component parts like no one else I've ever seen in hockey.  Football, sure.  Hockey?  No.

[GASabresIUFAN]

https://www.nhl.com/news/rick-jeanneret-longtime-buffalo-sabres-announcer-dies-at-81/c-345619774

Quote

 

Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman Phil Housley, who played the first eight of his 21 NHL seasons with Buffalo and was Sabres coach from 2017-19, said in a social media post that Jeanneret was "one of the best."

"I am deeply saddened by one of the greatest @BuffaloSabres broadcasters & my good friend, Rick Jeanneret," Housley wrote. "I can still hear him calling, "Woowweee Housleeey" on the air, which has morphed into Howie, & is now our newest grandson. He was one of the best. #RIPRJ."

 

Really nice article.  RIP RJ.

[That Aud Smell]

19 hours ago, Eleven said:

Lorentz's analysis was like organizing the confetti by color, density in area on the ice, distance thrown...the guy could break down a play into component parts like no one else I've ever seen in hockey.

Rick gets all the accolades and deservedly so.

Lorentz was spectacular in his own right. There was real artistry to his ability to see what was important, distill it into bite-sized pieces, and then fit it into the limited windows of time he had as the colour commentator. I miss him dearly.

I still think about Lorentz's breakdown of Pominville's series clincher against Ottawa in 2006. Noting that Pominville was attacking the forward (Alfredsson (sp?)). And then when it came to beating Ray Emery -- words to the effect of " ... look at him. He doesn't move. He doesn't get across. This has been an issue all series long."

[Stoner]

Not for nothing, when pressed into pbp duty, he was also excellent. Rick got sick during a game against Munreal in 1983 and had to go home. Jim took over, then did at least one more game as Rick recuped. Rick missed a game or two with laryngitis in 1992-1993. He tried to call the game in Hamilton before saying, "I can't do this anymore." I can't say for sure if Jim took over that time. But I'm almost certain he called games on two occasions at least. Rick missed so few games... He was an absolute force of nature.

Edited August 22, 2023 by PASabreFan

[dudacek]

Thank you for this thread.

 

[Stoner]

I hear stories about Rick meeting people here and there and sometimes in the pavilion before the game. Still, I bet most people never shook his hand. So I might retract my opinion that Rick needs to be perched above us. How 'bout a life sized Jeanneret (25 years and about 60 pounds ago) just inside the doors? He can have his mic in his left hand and the look that Bob Swados once called delirious agony (he was writing about the emotions of watching a Sabres playoff game, not Rick). The right hand can be extended so that fans for generations can slap or touch or "shake" it. Two hands... almost Lincolnesque. The base can simply be inscribed, "I love you."

Edited August 22, 2023 by PASabreFan

[Marvin]

Anyone else getting tributes to RJ from their news feeds on their devices?  I get a new one about every 6 hours.

[That Aud Smell]

2 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

The right hand can be extended so that fans for generations can slap or touch or "shake" it. Two hands... almost Lincolnesque. The base can simply be inscribed, "I love you."

Great idea. I do wonder about how the thing could be engineered and built such that the proffered hand didn't end up breaking all the time.

[Stoner]

24 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

Great idea. I do wonder about how the thing could be engineered and built such that the proffered hand didn't end up breaking all the time.

Lol. True. But thought of Rick's arm being passed and lifted through and above the melee following Dylan Cozens' Cup winning goal in OT gives me more than a little randy wood.

[Stoner]

1 hour ago, Marvin said:

Anyone else getting tributes to RJ from their news feeds on their devices?  I get a new one about every 6 hours.

I seek them out. I just went searching again to see if there was anything worth posting here. Out of nowhere and on a site I'd never heard of came this gem. The best capturing I've seen so far: https://defector.com/rick-jeannerets-voice-gave-buffalo-hope

[Marvin]

16 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

I seek them out. I just went searching again to see if there was anything worth posting here. Out of nowhere and on a site I'd never heard of came this gem. The best capturing I've seen so far: https://defector.com/rick-jeannerets-voice-gave-buffalo-hope

That was the one that I saw in my news feed before posting my question!

[That Aud Smell]

31 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Lol. True. But thought of Rick's arm being passed and lifted through and above the melee following Dylan Cozens' Cup winning goal in OT gives me more than a little randy wood.

now you've got me cringing in recalling a brutal john guertler call.

[Eleven]

4 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

now you've got me cringing in recalling a brutal john guertler call.

All John Gurtler calls were brutal.  All of them.

[caseydean]

I read in the Harrington article on RJ where RJ said that he never had a horse named after him and he liked to bet on horse races. 

We have a thoroughbred weanling colt who is out of our mare Little Ice Patch.  So we submitted "R J's Ice" for his name and it was approved yesterday.  Hopefully he turns out to be a good one-- all his siblings so far have been-- and we will see him race in two or three years.  Seemed fitting. 

RIP RJ.  

[GASabresIUFAN]

5 hours ago, caseydean said:

I read in the Harrington article on RJ where RJ said that he never had a horse named after him and he liked to bet on horse races. 

We have a thoroughbred weanling colt who is out of our mare Little Ice Patch.  So we submitted "R J's Ice" for his name and it was approved yesterday.  Hopefully he turns out to be a good one-- all his siblings so far have been-- and we will see him race in two or three years.  Seemed fitting. 

RIP RJ.  

Coming down the home stretch it’s RJ’s Ice for the win.  My roommate in college is from Louisville.  I’ll have to go visit him to see RJ’s Ice in the Derby.

Edited August 23, 2023 by GASabresIUFAN

[GASabresIUFAN]

It’s the Ted Darling booth, what will they do for RJ? I assume the team will wear a patch on the jersey’s all next season.  At UGA they do a hype video before each game with a recorded soundtrack from beloved UGA announcer Larry Munson.  It would be great if the Sabres would do a similar thing with a recording from RJ if they have one. 

Edited August 23, 2023 by GASabresIUFAN