The Best of Rick Jeanneret is our summer quest to determine which of Jeanneret’s most memorable calls ranks as the greatest of all time by ranking and voting on 16 of the best.
Now Do You Believe?
The 2005-06 Buffalo Sabres were nothing short of a fairytale. A team that, before the lockout, struggled to a ninth place finish and was dead last in the Northeast surged out of the gate to a 110 point, fourth place finish. After besting the Philadelphia Flyers in Round One of the playoffs, the Sabres were up against the No. 1 seeded Ottawa Senators.
Thanks to their speed and scoring depth, the Sabres found themselves in control of the series with a 3-1 lead heading into Game Five in Ottawa. After playing to a 2-2 tie, the Sabres found themselves shorthanded just two minutes into the first overtime. However, in a euphoria-inducing moment, Jason Pominville received a breakout pass and led a furious counterattack that culminated with the rookie Pominville skating right around the mighty Daniel Alfredsson and scoring what would go down as a franchise-defining goal. The resulting Jeanneret call including two classic lines that are ingrained into every Sabres fan’s collective consciousness: “Now do you believe? Now do you believe? These guys are good – scary good!” It was the perfect call to capture a moment of destiny, but in a twist that seems to happen more often than not in Buffalo, will also forever be haunted by the memory of what could have been.
Robert’s OT Game Winner In The Fog
The Fog Game is well known to most Buffalo sports fans for many different reasons. It was Game 3 of the 1975 Stanley Cup Finals against the Philadelphia Flyers. Unusually high temperatures in Buffalo combined with a lack of air conditioning in the Aud provided a layer of fog that made it difficult, if not impossible, to tell what was happening on the ice. And Jim Lorentz killed a low-flying bat during a timeout with his stick.
But the most memorable moment, and call, comes from the overtime period, where Rene Robert took a pass from Gilbert Perreault and rifled the puck through Flyers goalie Bernie Parent’s legs to win the game and keep the Sabres in the series. Parent’s stumbling attempt at a save proves just how difficult it was to see the puck, but thanks to the fog, Sabres fans saw victory in the Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history.
Now Do You Believe?
Robert’s OT Game Winner In The Fog
Which was the better Jeanneret call?
| Now Do You Believe? | 59 |
| Robert’s OT Game Winner In The Fog | 11 |