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Buffalo Sabres

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Template:NHL Team Infobox

The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They play in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Facts

Founded: 1970
Arena: HSBC Arena, Formerly Marine Midland Arena (capacity 18,690)
Former Home Arena: Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, A.K.A. "The Aud" (1970-1996)
Uniform colors: Black, red, silver, white
Logo design: The head of a charging Buffalo is used as the crest on home and away uniforms. Home and away uniforms also feature a Sabre spiked through the bottom half of the letter "B" on the shoulders.
Alternate Uniform: Red with black stripes on the forearm. The crest consists of two silver Sabre's crossed over a black circle. The shoulders feature a small version of the Buffalo head logo. The word "BUFFALO" is within a black stripe across the bottom rim of the jersey.
Division Championships: 4 (1975, 1980, 1981, 1997)
Playoff Appearances: 26 (1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006)
Stanley Cup Championships: 0
Stanley Cup Appearances: 2 (1975, 1999)
Rivals: Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers, Ottawa Senators
Mascot: Sabretooth
Local Televison: MSG Network (Upstate New York only)
Local Radio: WGR 550 AM
Play-by-play Men: Rick Jeanneret, Jim Lorentz

Franchise History

Blue and Gold Era

File:Buffalosabreslogo80s.gif
Buffalo's first logo, used from 1970 until 1996.

The Buffalo Sabres joined the NHL in the 1970-71 season, owned by Seymour and Northrop Knox, scions of a family long prominent in Western New York. They picked the nickname because a sabre had long been considered a weapon carried by a leader. The Knoxes had tried twice before to get an NHL team; first in the 1967 round of expansion, then unsuccessfully attempting to buy the Oakland Seals with the intent of moving them to Buffalo. Buffalo had been a hotbed for minor-league hockey, and the Buffalo Bisons had been one of the pillars of the American Hockey League, winning the Calder Cup in their final year before yielding to the Sabres.

They got off to a good start before they even hit the ice by picking future Hall of Fame centre Gilbert Perreault first overall in the NHL's Entry Draft. Perreault scored 38 goals in his rookie season, at the time a record for most goals scored by a rookie, and was awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year, but the Sabres did not make the playoffs that first season.

In the team's second season (1971-72), rookie Rick Martin via the draft and Rene Robert via a trade late in the season joined Perreault and would become one of the league's top forward lines in the 1970s. They were nicknamed "The French Connection" after the movie of the same name and in homage to those players' French-Canadian roots. The Sabres made the playoffs for the first time in 1972-73, just the team's third in the league, but lost in the quarter-finals in six games to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Montréal Canadiens. Game 6 at the Aud ended with the fans serenading their team in a chant of "Thank you Sabres! Thank you Sabres!" a moment many consider to be the greatest in team history. The chant would be heard again several more times in team history. File:Audinside.gif After a subpar year in 1974 (missing the playoffs), the Sabres finished in a tie for the best record in the NHL in the 1974-75 regular season, and played the Stanley Cup finals in 1975 against the Philadelphia Flyers, a series which included the legendary Fog Game, the third of the series and the first-ever Sabres finals win. (The Fog Game was unique for two reasons: First, due to an unusual May heat in Buffalo that year, portions of the game were played in heavy fog and were invisible to many spectators. Second, during a face-off and through the fog, Sabres center Jim Lorentz spotted a bat flying across the rink, raised his stick, and killed it, thus marking the only time an animal was killed directly by a player during an NHL game.) The Sabres eventually lost the series, four games to two, to the Philadelphia Flyers and their star goaltender, Bernie Parent.

The French Connection, joined by 50-goal scorer Danny Gare, continued to score prolifically for the Sabres in the 1975-76 NHL season, but the team lost in the quarter-finals to the New York Islanders. The Sabres continued to coast through the late 1970s behind those four players, but did not reach the Stanley Cup finals during those years, despite a regular-season conference championship in 1980.

Robert was traded to the Colorado Rockies in 1980, and Martin to the Los Angeles Kings in 1981. Perreault retired in 1987 after spending 17 years with the Sabres, including several years as the team's captain. Stars for the Sabres in the 1980s included Perreault, the tough and yet skillful Mike Foligno, defensemen Phil Housley and Lindy Ruff (who would later return to Buffalo as head coach), 1983-84 Vezina and Calder Trophy winner Tom Barrasso and left-winger Dave Andreychuk. The Sabres of the 1980's missed the playoffs only twice, in 1986 and 1987, however only twice in the decade did they get past the first round of the playoffs. The 1986-87 season saw a new low as Buffalo finished an NHL worst 28-44-8. This finish gave them the first overall pick in the 1987 draft which they used to select Pierre Turgeon of the QMJHL's Granby Bisons. Turgeon would have a solid rookie season finishing 6th in the team in scoring with 42 points, and would later be the key to the package sent by the Sabres to the New York Islanders to acquire Pat Lafontaine. Buffalo closed out the decade of the 80's on June 16, 1990 when they traded one of that decade's stars, Phil Housley, along with Darrin Shannon and 1990 1st round pick (Keith Tkachuk) to the Winnipeg Jets for Dale Hawerchuk and a 1990 1st round pick (Brad May). Hawerchuk and May would help form the core of the Sabres through the early 1990's.

In 1989, following the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the top young Soviet player to defect to the NHL was Alexander Mogilny, who signed with the Sabres. Alongside center Pat LaFontaine, Mogilny hit his stride with a league-leading (tied with Teemu Selänne) 76 goals in the 1992-93 NHL season, and the Sabres finally again advanced past the first round of the playoffs before losing to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Canadiens. (The end of the first round, against the Boston Bruins, gained long-time radio announcer Rick Jeanneret league-wide fame, with his famous "MAY DAY!" call on Brad May's game-winning goal in overtime of game 4.)

Also during the 1992-93 NHL season, the Sabres executed what probably was the most important trade in team history, and acquired goaltender Dominik Hasek from the Chicago Blackhawks for Stephane Beauregard and a 1993 4th round draft pick (Eric Daze). Hasek had spent the previous two seasons as a backup goalie in Chicago, however "The Dominator" became the Sabres' starting goaltender the next season, and blossomed into one of the best goaltenders in the history of the game. Hasek swiftly broke many long-standing NHL records for goaltenders and was the game's preeminent defensive player for several years in the NHL and in international competition.

The 1995-96 NHL season was the first season for Coach Ted Nolan and the last for the Sabres at Memorial Auditorium, or the Aud. Ted Nolan brought an exciting brand of hockey to Buffalo. During his coaching tenure Ted's team was referred to as the "Hardest Working Team in Hockey." Even though the Sabres failed to have success in the win column and played before an average of only a little over 13,000 fans, fourth-fewest in the history of the team at the Aud, the fans had a special love affair with this team. Brad May, Rob Ray, and Matt Barnaby, became the 1990's version of the characters from the Slapshot movie, "The Hanson Brothers". This season also featured the debut of "walk-on" veteran player Randy Burridge. Randy attended training camp on a try out basis and earned a spot on the roster. He scored 25 goals that season, and was second in team scoring to NHL Hall Of Famer Pat LaFontaine. Randy earned the Tim Horton Award for being the "unsung hero" and was voted team MVP.

Nolan and the Sabres rebounded in the 1996-97 NHL season their first at Marine Midland Arena, by winning the Northeast Division (their first division title in 16 years), with Nolan winning the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's top coach, Dominik Hasek winning both the Hart and Vezina trophies, Michael Peca taking home the Selke trophy, and GM John Muckler honored as Executive of the Year. This was all overshadowed by what took place at during the playoffs. Tensions between Nolan and Dominik Hašek had been high for most of the season, however after being scored upon in Game 3 of the first round against the Ottawa Senators, Hasek left the game, forcing backup Steve Shields to step in. Hasek claimed he felt his knee pop, and the team doctor pronounced him day-to-day. Buffalo columnist Jim Kelley wrote a column that night for the next day's newspaper that detailed the day's events, which irked Hasek. After the Senators won game 5, Hasek came out of the Sabres' training room and physically attacked the newspaper writer, tearing his shirt. Despite issuing an apology, things went downhill afterwards. Shields starred as the Sabres rallied to win the series against Ottawa. But before the next series against the Philadelphia Flyers, the NHL announced that Hasek had been suspended for three games - with the Sabres informing the league that Hasek was healthy (Hasek most likely would not have been suspended had he not been cleared to play). Set to return in Game 4 with the team down by three games in the series, Hasek told the Sabres coaching staff he felt a twinge in his knee and left the ice after the pregame skate. Shields turned in another season-saving performance as Buffalo staved off elimination with a win. Again before Game 5, Hasek declared himself unfit to play and Buffalo finally lost 6-3, losing the series in five games.

Despite the infighting, the season was a fitting tribute to Seymour Knox, who died in March 1996. During the season, his brother Northrop sold the team to Adelphia Communications.

Black and Red Era

New owner John Rigas' first act was to fire general manager John Muckler, who had a noted feud with Nolan. All-Star goaltender Hasek openly told reporters at the NHL Awards ceremony that he did not respect Nolan, placing new GM Darcy Regier in a tough position. He offered Nolan just a one-year contract for a reported $500,000. Nolan refused on the grounds that his previous contract was for two years, before he was Coach of the Year. Regier then pulled the contract off the table and didn't offer another one, ending Nolan's tenure as Sabres coach. Aside from several early job offers from the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Islanders (both rejected by Nolan), Nolan has not been offered an NHL coaching position since, despite having some success as a head coach in the QMJHL. After Nolan, former Sabres captain Lindy Ruff was hired as head coach on July 21, 1997 - agreeing to a three-year deal.

Seemingly in the blink of an eye, the Sabres organization, after having their most successful season in nearly two decades, had now rid itself of both the reigning NHL Executive (Muckler) and Coach (Nolan) of the Year in what must be considered one of the most bizarre off-seasons ever for a professional sports franchise.

The Sabres, behind Hasek and several role-playing journeymen including enforcer Matthew Barnaby, left-winger Miroslav Šatan (who led the team in scoring), right-winger Donald Audette, and center Michael Peca, reached the conference finals in 1998, but lost to the Washington Capitals in six games.

In 1999, Satan scored 40 goals, and the Sabres added centres Stu Barnes from the Pittsburgh Penguins and Joe Juneau from the Washington Capitals. Michal Grosek had the best season of his career, and the Sabres again played the Stanley Cup finals, this time against the Dallas Stars.

In the sixth game of the seven-game series, Brett Hull's triple-overtime goal -- one that remains controversial as Hull's skate was visibly in the goal crease-- ended the series, and the Stars were awarded the Cup. In 1999, it was illegal to score a goal whilst an offensive player's skate was in the goal crease. At the time, even Dallas Morning News hockey writer Keith Gave questioned the legality of the goal. The NHL officials, however, maintained that Hull's shots in the goal mouth constituted a single possession of the puck since the puck deflected off Hasek, and their ruling stood. ESPN's "Page 2" staff has ranked the call as the 5th worst officiating call in sports history. [1] Buffalo sports fans, who have suffered through some of biggest misfortunes in sports history ("Wide Right", "Music City Miracle"), refer to the game as "No Goal".

The next year, a disappointing season with tired and discouraged players, culminated with a first-round playoff series loss to the Flyers. Like the previous season, there would be another officiating controversy as in Game 2 Flyers forward John LeClair scored a controversial goal through a hole in the mesh at the side of the net which was inexplicably allowed to stand. Philadelphia would win the game 2-1 and go on to win the series four games to one.

Captain Peca sat out the 2000-01 NHL season in a contract dispute, and eventually was traded to the Islanders. Even so, the Sabres still defeated the Flyers in six games in the first round of the playoffs (with a resounding 8-0 victory in the series-winning game), but lost in the second round to the Penguins on a seventh-game overtime goal scored by Darius Kasparaitis.

After lengthy, and failed, negotiations with their star goaltender, the Sabres traded Hasek to the Detroit Red Wings in the summer of 2001. Without Hasek and Peca, the Sabres missed the 2002 playoffs.

In the summer of 2002, Rigas and his sons were arrested for investor fraud for embezelling more than one billion dollars from Adelphia (Rigas eventually was convicted on United States federal securities charges, and presently is appealing a sentence of a fifteen-year prison term). The league took control of the team, though Rigas remained the owner on paper. The affair came as something of an embarrassment to the NHL. Only five years earlier, it had tightened its standards for vetting prospective owners after seeing John Spano buy the New York Islanders only to discover he'd grossly inflated his net worth and committed massive bank and wire fraud. For awhile, there were no interested buyers, and it looked like the Sabres would either move or fold. Finally, the Sabres were sold in 2003 to Rochester, New York billionaire and former New York governor candidate Tom Golisano.

Still, the team emerged from its struggles, and the Sabres narrowly missed the playoffs the following season, which saw the debuts and/or development of prominent young players such as Daniel Briere and Derek Roy. The NHL cancelled the 2004-05 NHL season due to a labor dispute; however, the league and the NHL Player's Association was able to devise a new collective bargaining agreement in the summer of 2005, thus enabling NHL hockey to return for the 2005-2006 season.

On March 7, 2005, the Sabres lost their main television broadcaster, as the Empire Sports Network (which had been on the air from 1991 to 2005) ceased operations due to the Adelphia scandal (Empire, like the Sabres, had been owned by Adelphia). Hence, for the 2005-06 campaign, the Madison Square Garden Network (MSG), a New York-based channel which mostly broadcasts New York Rangers games, agreed to broadcast Sabres games to television viewers in western New York.

In the 2005-2006 season, the Sabres raced to a hot start and stayed near the top of the standings all season long. On April 3, they clinched their first Eastern Conference playoff spot since the 2000-2001 season. On April 15, they set a new team record for wins in a season with their 50th. The team finished the regular season with 52 wins, a new franchise record. This tied the Ottawa Senators and the Carolina Hurricanes for the most wins in the Eastern Conference; the Sabres ranked 4th overall as they dropped their division to the Senators. The Sabres also finshed with 25 road wins, another franchise record.

The Sabres defeated the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the 2006 Playoffs in six games. Buffalo scored 7 or more goals twice in the series, including a 8-2 victory in Game 2 and a 7-1 series-clinching win in Game 6. The 7-1 victory matched Philadelphia's worst home-ice loss in playoff history. The Sabres are currently playing the Ottawa Senators in the second round, and lead the series 2-0.

Third Jersey

The Third Jersey of the Buffalo Sabres was created in the year 2000. It is a red (the Sabres' red) jersey with black and grey stripes on the sleeves. It also has the word "Buffalo" written in a black strip outlined by grey. The logo is a circle and has two sabres crossing each other with their hilts at each of the bottom sides of the circle (a sort of third logo). The sabres cross through the border of the circle.

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Logo Season GP W L T OTL Pts GF GA PIM Finish Playoffs
1970-71 78 24 39 15 -- 63 217 291 1188 5th in Eastern Conf. Out of playoffs
1971-72 78 16 43 19 -- 51 203 289 831 6th in Eastern Conf. Out of playoffs
1972-73 78 37 27 14 -- 88 257 219 940 4th in Eastern Conf. Lost in quarter-finals
1973-74 78 32 34 12 -- 76 242 250 787 5th in Eastern Conf. Out of playoffs
1974-75 80 49 16 15 -- 113 354 240 1229 1st in Adams Div. Lost in Stanley Cup finals
1975-76 80 46 21 13 -- 105 339 240 943 2nd in Adams Div. Lost in quarter-finals
1976-77 80 48 24 8 -- 104 301 220 848 2nd in Adams Div. Lost in quarter-finals
1977-78 80 44 19 17 -- 105 288 215 800 2nd in Adams Div. Lost in quarter-finals
1978-79 80 36 28 16 -- 88 280 263 1026 2nd in Adams Div. Lost in preliminary round
1979-80 80 47 17 16 -- 110 318 201 967 1st in Adams Div. Lost in semi-finals
1980-81 80 39 20 21 -- 99 327 250 1194 1st in Adams Div. Lost in 2nd round
1981-82 80 39 26 15 -- 93 307 273 1425 3rd in Adams Div. Lost in Adams Division semi-finals
1982-83 80 38 29 13 -- 89 318 285 1031 3rd in Adams Div. Lost in Adams Division finals
1983-84 80 48 25 7 -- 103 315 257 1190 2nd in Adams Div. Lost in Adams Division semi-finals
1984-85 80 38 28 14 -- 90 290 237 1221 3rd in Adams Div. Lost in Adams Division semi-finals
1985-86 80 37 37 6 -- 80 296 291 1608 5th (last) in Adams Div. Out of playoffs
1986-87 80 28 44 8 -- 64 280 308 1810 5th (last) in Adams Div. Out of playoffs
1987-88 80 37 32 11 -- 85 283 305 2277 3rd in Adams Div. Lost in Adams Division semi-finals
1988-89 80 38 35 7 -- 83 291 299 2034 3rd in Adams Div. Lost in Adams Division semi-finals
1989-90 80 45 27 8 -- 98 286 248 1449 2nd in Adams Div. Lost in Adams Division semi-finals
1990-91 80 31 30 19 -- 81 292 278 1733 3rd in Adams Div. Lost in Adams Division semi-finals
1991-92 80 31 37 12 -- 74 289 299 2713 3rd in Adams Div. Lost in Adams Division semi-finals
1992-93 84 38 36 10 -- 86 335 297 1873 4th in Adams Div. Lost in Adams Division finals
1993-94 84 43 32 9 -- 95 282 218 1760 4th in Northeast Div. Lost in Eastern Conf. quarter-finals
1994-951 48 22 19 7 -- 51 130 119 1022 4th in Northeast Div. Lost in Eastern Conf. quarter-finals
1995-96 82 33 42 7 -- 73 247 262 2195 5th in Northeast Div. Out of playoffs
1996-97 82 40 30 12 -- 92 237 208 1840 1st in Northeast Div. Lost in Eastern Conf. semi-finals
1997-98 82 36 29 17 -- 89 211 187 1768 3rd in Northeast Div. Lost in Eastern Conf. finals
1998-99 82 37 28 17 -- 91 207 175 1561 4th in Northeast Div. Lost in Stanley Cup finals
1999-00 82 35 32 11 4 85 213 204 1173 3rd in Northeast Div. Lost in Eastern Conf. quarter-finals
2000-01 82 46 30 5 1 98 218 184 1249 2nd in Northeast Div. Lost in Eastern Conf. semi-finals
2001-02 82 35 35 11 1 82 213 200 1217 5th (last) in Northeast Div. Out of playoffs
2002-03 82 27 37 10 8 72 190 219 1276 5th (last) in Northeast Div. Out of playoffs
2003-04 82 37 34 7 4 85 220 221 1289 5th (last) in Northeast Div. Out of playoffs
2004-052 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
2005-063 82 52 24 -- 6 110 281 239 1144 2nd in Northeast Div. Leading Conf. semi-finals vs. Ottawa (2-0)
1 Season was shortened due to the 1994-95 NHL lockout.
2 Season was cancelled due to the 2004-05 NHL lockout.
3 Season has no more ties. All games end in overtime or by shootout.

Current squad

As of May 6, 2006

Goaltenders
Number Player Catches Acquired Place of Birth
30 United States Ryan Miller L 1999 East Lansing, Michigan
43 Canada Martin Biron L 1995 Lac-Saint-Charles, Quebec
Defensemen
Number Player Shoots Acquired Place of Birth
5 Finland Toni Lydman L 2005 Lahti, Finland
8 United States Rory Fitzpatrick R 2001 Rochester, New York
10 Sweden Henrik Tallinder R 2001 Stockholm, Sweden
27 Finland Teppo Numminen R 2005 Tampere, Finland
45 Russia Dmitri Kalinin L 1998 Cheljabinsk, U.S.S.R.
51 Canada Brian Campbell L 1997 Strathroy, Ontario
74 Canada Jay McKee - A L 1995 Kingston, Ontario
Forwards
Number Player Shoots Position Acquired Place of Birth
9 Canada Derek Roy L C 2001 Ottawa, Ontario
12 Czech Republic Ales Kotalik R RW/LW 1998 Jindrichuv Hradec, Czechoslovakia
17 Canada J.P. Dumont L LW/RW 2000 Montreal, Quebec
19 United States Tim Connolly R C 2001 Syracuse, New York
22 Canada Adam Mair (Injured Reserve) R C/RW 2002 Hamilton, Ontario
23 United States Chris Drury - C R C/W 2003 Trumbull, Connecticut
24 Canada Taylor Pyatt L LW 2001 Thunder Bay, Ontario
25 United States Mike Grier R RW 2004 Detroit, Michigan
26 Austria Thomas Vanek R LW/RW 2003 Graz, Austria
28 United States Paul Gaustad L C 2000 Fargo, North Dakota
29 Canada Jason Pominville R RW 2001 Repentigny, Quebec
48 Canada Daniel Briere - C R C 2003 Gatineau, Quebec
55 Germany Jochen Hecht L LW/RW 2003 Mannheim, West Germany
61 Russia Maxim Afinogenov L RW 1997 Moscow, U.S.S.R.
76 Canada Andrew Peters L LW 1998 St. Catharines, Ontario

Team Captains


Hall of Famers

Retired numbers

Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in the history of the Sabres. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season. Note: GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points

Player POS GP G A Pts
Gilbert Perreault C 1191 512 814 1326
Dave Andreychuk LW 837 368 436 804
Rick Martin LW 681 382 313 695
Craig Ramsay LW 1070 252 420 672
Phil Housley D 608 178 380 558
Rene Robert RW 524 222 330 552
Don Luce C 766 216 311 527
Mike Foligno RW 664 247 264 511
Danny Gare RW 503 267 233 500
Alexander Mogilny RW 381 211 233 444

See also
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