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What’s Your Favorite Aud Memory?


Brawndo

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This is incredible 

With Tomorrow’s Game being an Ode to Memorial Auditorium, what are your favorite memories of the place? 
 

Mine are a 10-1 drubbing of the Penguins from seats that My Mom won from a trivia contest on WBEN. 
 

And being in Standing Room Only for the MayDay Game and completely missing the goal when the entire section stood up in front of me. 

Edited by Brawndo
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Too many to choose from.

Boston playoff game after some meathead dumped a beer on Muckler in Boston.  What a crazy scene for the next game in Buffalo.

1st concert.  Styx Paradise Theater tour.  First time in a setting like that without adult supervision.

Last game at the aud.

Vivid memory I wish I didn’t have, being in the 5th row of the golds next to the zamboni doors the night Malarchucks life changed forever.

First game back for Gare after he was traded.  Scrum on the ice.  Gare involved.  Playfair gets involved.  Gare turtles and the place hoes nuts. “Larry!  Larry!  Larry!”.

Just off the top of my head...

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Favorite Aud memories include Little 3 doubleheaders  - didn't realize how special it was to see Calvin Murphy and Bob Lanier play in the first college basketball games I attended;

The Who on Dec. 4, 1979;

Sabres good memories include Schoeny's 3 fights and beating the Bruins; "Thank you Sabres" as the Habs eliminated us; 12-6 over the Russians   

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24 minutes ago, mphs mike said:

Favorite Aud memories include Little 3 doubleheaders  - didn't realize how special it was to see Calvin Murphy and Bob Lanier play in the first college basketball games I attended;

The Who on Dec. 4, 1979;

Sabres good memories include Schoeny's 3 fights and beating the Bruins; "Thank you Sabres" as the Habs eliminated us; 12-6 over the Russians   

The Who definitely ranked up there.

The Braves-Celtics playoff game that Darell Garettson(six) ruined for me. Not ashamed to admit that I cried on the way down.

The Aud Club.

Sabres-Flyers in 75 maybe, six guys thrown out 23 seconds in. Doug Favel throwing his stick from bench as Luce broke in on empty net.

Oh, and getting robbed when I was 12 by six kids during golden gloves boxing. One was very nice and yelled at his friend for making me spill my pop while he fished through my pockets looking for more money.

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Too many to mention!  What a great old building and awesome place to watch a hockey game.

A few memories:

Sitting in the oranges next to my dad at my first ever Sabres game probably 6 years old or something like that.  My dad used to love to tell the story about how I did not let go of his arm the entire game, out of a sense of security.  Those seats were f-ing STEEP up there and I was basically scared of falling out of my seat the entire game!

Sitting in the front row next to the glass for a random Oilers game @ 1980 and watching some young kid named Gretzky.

My first rock concert in early '80s.  Billy Squier opening for Foreigner!  My mom actually took me, my sister, and her best friend to the concert!  There was an intermission and the lights came on; the entire Aud was filled with a gigantic cloud of smoke hovering up near the ceiling.  It was a combination of pot and cigarettes.  No one thought anything of it.

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Weave said:

Too many to choose from.

Boston playoff game after some meathead dumped a beer on Muckler in Boston.  What a crazy scene for the next game in Buffalo.

1st concert.  Styx Paradise Theater tour.  First time in a setting like that without adult supervision.

Last game at the aud.

Vivid memory I wish I didn’t have, being in the 5th row of the golds next to the zamboni doors the night Malarchucks life changed forever.

First game back for Gare after he was traded.  Scrum on the ice.  Gare involved.  Playfair gets involved.  Gare turtles and the place hoes nuts. “Larry!  Larry!  Larry!”.

Just off the top of my head...

These are some great memories/references.  

My God!  NHL hockey used to be so much more exciting, and utterly filled with dramatic conflict and tension!  It's so damned boring now most nights. 

How about the times (I'm pretty sure I recall it happening more than once) when the Aud lost power in the middle of a game and the lights suddenly went out!  Or fog developing on the ice in a playoff game when it started to get warmer out.  The game would be stopped, and all players on both benches would skate in circles on the ice to help dissipate the fog.

 

 

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For those who never were in the building.  Look at those rows of off-white cylinders hanging from the ceiling in this photo.  

I assume those were there to help control the acoustics in the building.

I will always remember the building going insane at some big moment in a game and the crowd noise was so great, all of those cylinders would be flying back and forth, swinging around on the ropes (or whatever) that attached them to the ceiling.

They were being blown around by nothing more than sound energy.  That building used to get so f-ing loud!  

 

d5e08e0632552fa53d4caa0463c47f4a.jpg

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Running the ramps up and down from the blues.

My Dad buying tickets off scalpers after the game started.

Having a root beer in the Aud Club while my Dad and his buddies drank Labatts. 

Walking under the skyway through gail force winds because we'd park a mile away.

The earl of bud.

The cones hanging from the ceiling.   

Dale Hunter knocking out Mike Ramsey's teeth.

Trying to catch pucks with a baseball mitt behind the net during warmups.

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As the harshest of harsh critics of the Sabres' PR efforts, fan relations and overall game presentation, I have to say I am floored by this homage to the Aud. Absolutely brilliant and wonderfully creative. This is a great Christmas gift for so many fans. Thank you, Sabres!

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They gave tours of the very upper decks, where Rick sat and above in the catwalks above the floor where the lights and rigging and all that was. All I remember is how nappy and small everything there seemed, including the foyer. I also remember that super long escalator that went up to the oranges and how it seemed like going to the seats there looked like a near 90 degree drop. I also remember seeing people leaning up against the divider or half wall or whatever you call it that was standing room only and wondering what that was all about.  

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Oh, I remember my brother and I going to see Metallica there. Loudest show I have ever been to. We didn't stay for an encore.  And then riding the rail home and some dude walking up and down the car saying "Metallica number one! Bobby Brown number two!"

Steep.

 

497_Aud_508.jpg

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9 minutes ago, ... said:

Oh, I remember my brother and I going to see Metallica there. Loudest show I have ever been to. We didn't stay for an encore.  And then riding the rail home and some dude walking up and down the car saying "Metallica number one! Bobby Brown number two!"

Steep.

 

497_Aud_508.jpg

Would that pass code today? Could they build another Aud-like arena?

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Aside from the Sabres memories ...

As a kid and teenager ...

Seeing Buffalo Stallions a few times.

sitting in the oranges or standing room. 
walking the ramps.

Going to an Ice show, and during the show, a sound baffle fell from the ceiling and landed on the ice. The skaters didn’t miss beat, grabbed it and skated around the ice for a couple moments with it like it was part of the act! Then pushed it into a corner out of the way and continued on.

Every game, The guy at one of main entrances yelling “Peanuts, cracker jacks!”

 

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I have so many from being there regularly through the 50s and 60s.  Perhaps the best was watching Gordie Pennell score a goal with his nose.  He was breaking toward the net with the puck and got tripped.  He fell flat on his face and never got the shot off, but his nose hit the puck and it went into the net.

After Gaye Stewart scored his Bison record breaking 42cd goal and cracked his stick on the shot, I went down to the bench area between periods and was given that piece of history.  I was surprised Stewart didn't want to keep it.

Was sitting in the front row when Kenny Wharram and an opposition player batted at a puck directly in front of me and my dad.  The puck went flying over our heads, hit the facing of the section of seats behind us, and bounced back and struck me in the ear.  It's the only game puck I've ever retrieved at a game.

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The smell, naturally.

4 hours ago, Weave said:

Vivid memory I wish I didn’t have, being in the 5th row of the golds next to the zamboni doors the night Malarchucks life changed forever.

Same. I was bussing and bar backing at the Aud Club in those days. We'd haul cases of beer up to the suites and pick up the empty cases. Then we'd sit and catch our breath sitting on the empty cases before humping back downstairs. My buddy and I saw the event right before our eyes. Terrifying, even when seen from that distance. There was some unanticipated mopping up to do in the Aud Club that evening, as there were fans who left the game after the incident and came to the Aud Club to gather themselves (at least two of whom were in my section, and were overcome and became sick).

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

As the harshest of harsh critics of the Sabres' PR efforts, fan relations and overall game presentation, I have to say I am floored by this homage to the Aud. Absolutely brilliant and wonderfully creative. This is a great Christmas gift for so many fans. Thank you, Sabres!

It is aces.

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5 hours ago, tom webster said:

The Who definitely ranked up there.

The Braves-Celtics playoff game that Darell Garettson(six) ruined for me. Not ashamed to admit that I cried on the way down.

The Aud Club.

Sabres-Flyers in 75 maybe, six guys thrown out 23 seconds in. Doug Favel throwing his stick from bench as Luce broke in on empty net.

Oh, and getting robbed when I was 12 by six kids during golden gloves boxing. One was very nice and yelled at his friend for making me spill my pop while he fished through my pockets looking for more money.

Braves games - Tops tickets in the oranges

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For me it wasn't an 'event', but what I remember most about it were things I saw, heard, and could smell...

-the cylinder shaped things hanging from the ceiling, and how they would always be swaying side by side a bit in motion

-the sound you could hear when you were in the ramps going to the upper levels..and as a little kid running down those ramps and jumping at the bottom of them and hearing the 'thud' it made echo

-the smell, right when you got through the turnstiles at the front entrance?  Was it popcorn? Other concessions?  A mixture of everything that everyone spilled that dried to the floor? Not sure, but it was distinct.

-Near the entrance, there was always a bulletin-board type sign that showed who was leading in the '3 star' points.  3 points for a first star, 2 for a second, 1 for a third...and they kept a running record.  Not sure if they even do that at the new Arena, but I remember it posted right near the entrance of the Aud and looked at it every game I went to there.

 

If I have to think of ONE memory...it was a game between the Amerks and someone else...before the game started there was a pretty vicious fight (both teams) on the ice..and with no refs or coaches there to break it up for a while...it went on for a while. The name "Andy Ristau" seems to be one I remember from that night/fight.

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