Five Reasons Why Rafal Ladysz Loves the Buffalo Sabres

Lester B. Pearson Awards, six Vezinas, two William M. Jennings Trophies

Newb alert – what are those?

RJ for sure – no question he’s fun as heck to listen to. Especially when we are winning with a few drinks in you.

I’ve paid attention to the sabres for about 15 years – but only really started caring after the lockout. That season when were were an offensive powerhouse was great (I still maintain if we were healthy we would have won the cup that year).

Obviously being a hometown team helps – I can watch almost every game. But they are a blue collar team – hardworking team – a team I can root for.

Plus – they seem to at least be in contention year after year – unlike some other Buffalo team I know.

After reading this article, I have the urge to hang out with you, Rafal, and watch a Sabres game. Good stuff.

Rafal, nice post. I’m at work and had some time to kill, so I figured I may as well share my own story of how I came to Live and Die by the Sword.

I grew up in Albany, watching the AHL team (River Rats) who were, at the time, the farm club for New Jersey. I watched Albany win the Calder Cup, and then ALL of the good players (Elias, Madden, Pandolfo, Brylin, Sullivan, Sykora, etc) went up to the Devils to win some Stanley cups. Throw Brodeur (my childhood idol) into that mix and it becomes obvious why the New Jersey Devils were my favorite NHL team. I never went to any games, but I watched them on TV pretty religiously for a good 4 or 5 years. In retrospect, seeing them win 2 or 3 Stanley Cups really spoiled me. I had no idea how good I had it to be a fan of those players and that team.

I didn’t follow the Sabres until the 2006 playoffs. New Jersey was eliminated by Carolina, and it was painful. I continued to follow the Hurricanes, hoping their next round opponents would give me some vengeance. It would either be Ottawa or Buffalo, and I watched Pominville put Ottawa away. Lucky for me, MSG had recently started showing Sabres broadcasts in the Albany area, so I got to watch Rick and Jim call the game “Now do you believe – these guys are good! Scary good!”. Needless to say I became absolutely hooked on the Sabres. The eventual loss to Carolina was painful, but my shift in allegiance had begun. No longer did I watch the TERRIBLE Albany River Rats. They soon became the farm club for the Hurricanes, and then I was 100% disinterested. In 2006 I left Albany to attend college in Rochester. No longer able to follow my NJ Devils, I got my hockey fix by watching every single Sabres game from my dorm room. I never looked back. I started attending games, and my first NHL game was the legendary playoff Game 5 against the Rangers. To prove I am no bandwagon fan (I’m always accused of this when I tell the story, but why would I ditch a team of champions for Buffalo? It makes no sense) I have stuck with the Sabres through their struggles and watched every game. I have now attended over 10 games, and I wish I could afford to attend more. Watching the Sabres is so much more exciting than I ever thought hockey could be, and this is coming from a lifetime hockey fan. After four years of commitment, I am now graduating and moving across the country for grad school – only this time the Sabres will stick with me. My allegiance is solidified. The Sabres are my team.

This I believe is the best, if youve never seen it its about 10 minutes long but it is worth every second. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7866968417155738172&q=buffalo+sabres#

I’d also probably add one that is a bit generic, but I’m sure is a big reason for many people’s fandom: because you grew up in Buffalo and/or grew up watching the Sabres with family and friends.

I lived in Cleveland/Pittsburgh from 2004-2009 before coming back to Buffalo, and one thing I missed the most was going over to a cousin’s house for the game or going out to Pearl Street to watch the Sabres with friends. Part of the reason I joined DBTB while in Pittsburgh was to find that sense of community again. I love hockey, but I don’t think I could ever love a team the way I love the Sabres (no matter where I live) solely because of how deep that family/hometown connection runs.

Hopefully we get a few more responses still.

And you will…

Hasek – I still hold a grudge at the way he forced his hand out of Buffalo. But make no mistake, he was a special athlete, a one of a kind.

Supporters – We WNYers are one of a kind as well. We are a hockey town. We’re practically Canadian when it comes to this. The weather is perfect for hockey here. Growing up, there were five stations on TV – 2, 4, 7, 29..and 5, which was only really used with rabbit ears for HNIC. By the time I was five, I knew the HNIC theme song as well as I did our own national anthem. I don’t particularly care for the bandwagon’ers, but I understand their importance. Let me explain with a short story…

Back in the "Cup" runs a few years back, when the bandwagon was filled to the gills, I saw the bright side of sport. I was swinging through North Buffalo (which is kind of Italian), and stopped at a small grocery store for some essentials before the game (beef and beer). Now, for what it’s worth – I’m a honky. A big white dork. I’m standing in line behind an old black guy, an old Asian woman, and an older Italian woman. The four of us, for all intents and purposes, have nothing in common. Somewhere, the word "Sabres" get mentioned. The four of us yap and yap some more about said hockey team. For one moment, any differences any of us may have had with each other completely vanquished – we were all "one." And that was because of a silly game played on ice…

Jeanneret – This is such a no-brainer. This guy has been the voice of this franchise for every year but the first one. No one else in broadcasting can lay such a claim, at least to my knowledge. And with the way the world works, I doubt there will ever be such a long and successful association between an announcer and a team again. He is the Buffalo Sabres.

I’m gonna play the "old guy" card here. I grew up in an era where home games weren’t on TV, and not all road games were either. Jeanneret was what you listened to if you weren’t lucky enough to catch Ted Darling on the tube. If you ask me, his work was so much better when he was just a radio guy. Not to knock any of his TV work at all, but he was REALLY good when just a voice.

This here is just a story I heard from him, who heard from him, who heard from her, and then him again. Needless to say, there is no way at all to ever prove it, and I hope in no way can it be deemed as slanderous. For all it’s worth, consider it just an urban legend.

Allegedly, when Jeanneret came on board with the Sabres, announcers (especially radio) had a free for all. Times were different, and imbibing on the job was not considered out of the ordinary. After the Sabres first season, there was an expansion effort for the Aud – the Orange Section was added. This played a little havoc on relocating the media. Again, allegedly, Jeanneret had a spot where he used to place his cup of beer. In one particular game, he may have been a little buzzed, and called a Perreault rush up the ice as follows:

"Perreault takes the puck along the boards, crosses the blue line, dekes across center, there goes my beer…"

He allegedly knocked over his beer while in the middle of a broadcast, and was then the reason no more beer was allowed in the press box. Again – probably an urban legend – but a story nonetheless.

And for the record – I miss Jim Lorenz. Harry Neale is great, but he’s HNIC. Jeanneret/Lorenz were the best ever in my book.

Logo – I’ve been clamoring for this forever. Aside from the original six, the logos of the next wave in expansion were/are classic (Buffalo, Philly, St. Louis, Kings, Flames, North Stars). That rush to that red/black goat logo should’ve earned someone a beating.

Youth – Regier needs to be kicked in the arse for the way he has handled some contract negotiations. But he also should be applauded for bringing in decent talent, and overseeing a system where they’re allowed to develop at the right pace. The Ruff/Regier tandem has been around forever, and for a good reason if you ask me.

Here’s my story – - I grew up in the “Ski Country” of western NY and never had much hockey influence. My parents never cared to have a TV antenna, cable was out of the question. The only times i was able to watch the games was at friends houses. I watched maybe 2 games of the series vs the Stars. In 2003 i joined the marines, got stationed in 2007 in DC, and got married. My wife and i and my marine friends were all very close and we would meet the bar on base almost every night just to hang out. It had a large TV but it wasn’t considered the “cool” thing to hang out at the base bar. So we had the place to ourselves. So, playoff hockey on national TV brought the sabres into my life. We watched every game of the Islanders, rangers and Sen’s series and fell in love. So you could call me a bandwagon-er but you can suck it. We moved back to Buffalo in 2008 and went to my first game last season. A 3-2 loss vs Anahiem. I remember walking out of the arena that night with a smile on my face cause i was hooked. I went to 3 or so games last season and have hit around 8 this year. I try to watch every game, at least tape them.

I know that im still very new to this world, but am totally dedicated to it. I never made it to aud, have had to do alot of wiki to caught up to speed at times, and watched alot of youtube. and i just can’t get enough. Everyday, 2 or 3 times, i check DBTB, nhl.com, espn, sabres.com to get some new information.

I love Rick calls. Like i said i jumped on youtube finally listened to all his great calls. and saw all the great plays from over the years. Watching May’s goal and Max’s goal vs the lightning, and some of the saves from over the years, god it looked great. I just can’t wait for the next ones. I got on the season ticket list at the end of last season so im just waiting….

My one beef…is actually with the fans. I think we need a better cheer. I’ve been to 3 leafs games, and the volume they always get from their “go leafs go” chant is amazing, and theres only a couple hundred fans…. We need something. “Lets go Sabres” is to long. It never lasts and isn’t very loud. Something guick and something fast. Just a thought

I didn’t really have a connection to one team in particular but liked hockey and starting following the Sabres.

1. Rick Jeanneret – Loved watching Sabres games on Empire over satellite before NHL Center Ice came along and blacked out the games.

2. NHL ’94 – The Mogilny-Lafontaine-Howerchuk line was awesome. LaFontaine was always my favorite player growing up because he was an American player and he was fun to watch.

3. “Let’s Go, Buff-a-lo” – I have to admit it always comes to mind no matter what sporting event I’m at when that particular cadence is played over the PA.

4. The Aud – I never went to a game there, but I always liked watching games that were playing the old bars like The Aud. All of those places are gone now.

5. The Hardest Working Team in Hockey – Those teams, especially the ones with May, Ray and Barnaby, cemented my love for the Sabres that still exists today.