Marvin, Sabres Fan

I was as far anyone knew. I started at Academy. If I am wrong, I apologise. The teachers helping the kids beat me up certainly talked like I was the first.

It was a dodgy arrangement like this that resulted in the legendary draft pick of Taro Tsujimoto. Now we get to experience what Punch Imlach, Paul Weiland, et al. went through that year.

You just made me cry. I would have traded 2 of our firsts 2 years ago for a guy like him. We would have been in a far better position to make the playoffs these last 2 years.

Welcome back, all you long-absent people! I know everyone is as glad as I am to see you posting.

Do you know where your children are? 🙂 Fun fact: Jim Carrey credits his portrayal of Bruce Nolan from "Bruce Almightly" on Don Polec. Don Polec said that this is closest he gets to immortality.

Nothing's too good for the man who shot Liberty Valance.

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

Thanks for the compliment, @dudacek. 🙂

<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.

I'm not going to take this. #1 - you sure came off that way in the OP. If that was not your intention, I apologise, but that absolutely was my impression and, I presume, most everyone else's. Oh, and it is mighty presumptuous of you to assume you are a bigger fan than anyone else. I have my story of Seynour, Norty, Doug Moss, and Doug's GF praising me for coming home for a weekend just to go to the last game at the Aud and then driving back overnight to teach a 9am class. We all have stories like this. I don't want to hear it. #2 - I presume LTS meant "Metro" population: QC - 800,000; Buffalo - 1,132,000 #3 - You obviously were not on Sabres pages in 2005-7. We would not be slagging the team if it weren't horrible. Oh, sure, we would gripe if they have a bad game, etc., but it's only so negative now because the team has been so bad for so long and the hope we had early in the last 2 seasons was extinguished by the TDL.

As I stated elsewhere, the 1974-5 team had a weakness in goal. Roger Crozier's various ailments limited him to 23 games, a 17-2-1 record, and a 0.905 save percentage. Gary Bromley was noticeably worse with a 0.873 save percentage. Those Sabres won by running teams out of the rink. This is also why the Sabres got Gerry Desjardins -- only for him to turn in one of the worst performances in the Stanley Cup Final ever. At the time, no Sabres fan feared the Canadiens the way we feared the Flyers and Bruins. With the beginning of the hook-and-hold, we correctly believed that the Sabres' speed and skill would be neutralised by the bigger, rougher, less skilled teams -- we had seen them clutch-and-grab their way to the Finals the year before. Even so, the Sabres were in a 3-way tie for 1st overall with the Flyers and Habs; the Flyers got #1 on tie-breaks. In that day, there were clearly 5 teams that were way better than everyone else: Buffalo, Boston, Montreal, Philadelphia. LA in 1974-5, and Lung Oisland for 1976-80. The Chicago Black Hawks were no slouches either in the first round. Had Crozier been able to play a little more, it is reasonable to assume that the Sabres would have been 1st overall. That meant drawing an up-and-coming Islanders team that the Sabres had handled easily during the season. Meanwhile, the Flyers were more terrified of the Canadiens than they were of the Sabres. Assuming both series go to form, the Sabres would have faced the Canadiens in the Finals with home ice advantage. Sabres in 6. You need this kind of information to analyse the Sabres teams from 1973-85 (no, that;s not a typo). Excellence was expected; we kept losing to very good teams, but we always had hope that "we're gonna win that Cup."

One hope I have is that the Sabres have had their best seasons when the league was in a state of flux: 1973-84, 1989-4, 1997-2001, 2005-7. If Adams can read the tea leaves properly, the Sabres could rise from the ashes in a hurry. If not, it's plunge-arama time again.

I gotta chip in more. My time with season tickets included the darkest days in franchise history: 2001-3. That is the only time where the fanbase was more down than we are now. Not only are we jaded from the idiocy of tanking, but Botterill compounded the offence by failing to improve the team when it showed promise the last two seasons. We fans are in no mood to give the organisation the benefit of the doubt anymore. Frankly, it doesn't deserve one. Now, I am willing to give Kevyn Adams a chance, but he has to deliver immediately a viable, playoff-calibre roster with NHL-level subs in the minors when injuries strike. We need a real 2C or at least 4 natural, NHL-quality centers on the roster. We need improved goaltending. For 9 consecutive years, we have had none of this. My friends around the country marvel at our loyalty. But that has been stretched to its limits. It is a sad reflection on the franchise when I wish both Regier and Ruff were still here, because I know they would have had us in a better place years ago.

I wish that I could share your optimism. 😞

In chronological order: Yvan Cornoyer Borje Salming Cam Neely Mark Tinordi Jarome Iginla Lots of other options: Jean Ratelle, Rod Langway, Larry Robinson, Lanny MacDonald, Marcel Dionne, Mark Howe, Adam Oates, Trevor Linden, Eric Nesterenko, Steve Yzerman, and so on.