Sabres Third Jersey
They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL).
History
Founding
The Sabres, along with the Vancouver Canucks, joined the NHL in the 1970–71 season. Their first owners were Seymour Knox III and Northrup Knox, scions of a family long prominent in Western New York.
The Buffalo Bisons had been one of the pillars of the American Hockey League (AHL), winning the Calder Cup in their final season.
Wanting a different name other than "bison" that was so common among Buffalo sports teams, the Knoxes immediately commissioned a name-the-team contest. The winning choice, "Sabres", was chosen because Seymour Knox felt a sabre was a weapon carried by a leader.
He also noted that a sabre is swift and strong on offense as well as defense. The Knoxes had tried twice before to get an NHL team, first when the NHL expanded in 1967, and then unsuccessfully attempting to buy the Oakland Seals with the intent of moving them to Buffalo.
At the time of their creation, the Sabres exercised their option to create their own AHL farm team, the Cincinnati Swords.
Buffalo's first logo, used from 1970–96. Perreault was available to the Sabres, as this was the first year that the Montreal Canadiens did not have a priority right to draft Québécois junior players.
They were nicknamed "The French Connection" after the movie of the same name and in homage to their French-Canadian roots. 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.
Fog and the bat
After a subpar year in 1974 that saw them miss the playoffs, the Sabres finished in a tie for the best record in the NHL in the 1974–75 regular season.
Buffalo would advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in team history to play against the rough Philadelphia Flyers (who had been recently nicknamed the "Broad Street Bullies"), a series which included the legendary Fog Game (game three of the series). Due to unusual heat in Buffalo in May 1975, portions of the game were played in heavy fog.
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. Many superstitious Buffalo fans considered this to be an "Evil Omen", pertaining to the result of the series.
It was the only time that any player killed an animal during an NHL game. However, Philadelphia would wind up taking the Cup Final to six games, winning the series 4 games to 2.
The French Connection, joined by 50–goal scorer Danny Gare, continued to score prolifically for the Sabres in 1975–76, but the team lost in the quarterfinals to the New York Islanders.
The Sabres continued to coast through the late 1970s behind the French Connection of Perreault, Martin, Robert and Gare, but they were unable to return to the Final despite a regular season Conference championship in 1980 and being the first team to beat the Soviet Olympic team when they toured the United States.
Leaving the Aud
The 1995–96 season was the first season under coach Ted Nolan and the last for the Sabres at Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, or the Aud. 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 the team.
Brad May, Rob Ray and Matthew Barnaby became the 1990s version of the characters from the movie Slap Shot, "The Hanson Brothers." This season also featured the debut of "walk-on" veteran player Randy Burridge. After attending training camp on a try-out basis, Burridge earned a spot on the roster.
He scored 25 goals that season and was second in team scoring to Pat LaFontaine. Burridge also earned the Tim Horton Award for being the unsung hero and was voted team Most Valuable Player.
1996–97—2005–06: Black and red era
New arena and new attitude
Buffalo's second logo, used from 1997 until 2006.
Nolan and the Sabres rebounded in 96–97, their first at Marine Midland Arena, by winning the Northeast Division (their first division title in sixteen years), with Nolan winning the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's top coach, Dominik Hasek winning both the Hart and Vezina Trophies (the first goaltender to do so since Montreal's Jacques Plante in 1962), Michael Peca taking home the Frank J.
Selke Trophy as the best defensive forward in the NHL, and general manager John Muckler honored as Executive of the Year.
However, the regular season success was all overshadowed by what had taken place during the playoffs. Tensions between Nolan and Hasek had been high for most of the season, however, after being scored upon in game three of the first-round against the Ottawa Senators, Hasek left the game, forcing backup Steve Shields to step in.
Buffalo News columnist Jim Kelley wrote a column that night for the next day's newspaper that detailed the day's events, which irked Hasek. 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).
Shields turned in another season-saving performance as Buffalo staved off the almost inevitable sweeping elimination with a win. During the season, his brother Northrop sold the team to Adelphia Communications.
Timothy Rigas, son of Adelphia founder John Rigas, took over as team president.
His first act was to fire general manager John Muckler, who had a noted feud with Nolan. All-Star goaltender Hasek, who supported Muckler, openly told reporters at the NHL Awards Ceremony that he did not respect Nolan, placing new GM Darcy Regier in a tough position.
Regier then pulled the contract off the table and didn't offer another one, ending Nolan's tenure as Sabres coach. Michal Grosek had the best season of his career, and the team finally returned to the Stanley Cup Finals, this time against the Dallas Stars.
In the sixth game, Dallas Stars winger Brett Hull's triple-overtime goal — as Hull's skate was clearly visibly in Hasek's crease — ended the series, and the Stars were awarded the Cup.
At the time, even Dallas Morning News hockey writer Keith Gave(a lifelong Red Wings fan who had just been employed by Dallas) questioned the legality of the goal. NHL officials, however, maintained that Hull's two shots in the goal mouth constituted a single possession of the puck since the puck deflected off Hasek, and their ruling stood, citing that they "were going to change the rule the following year anyway." It is widely speculated that, by the time the Sabres mentioned the foul, the red carpet had already been unrolled at center ice, and the officials refused to acknowledge the non-call.
At the instant he kicked the puck, he became in control of it. It was only in the follow-through of that kick that his left foot moved into the crease." Buffalo sports fans, who have suffered through some of the biggest misfortunes in sports history (such as "Wide Right" and "Music City Miracle"), refer to the game as "No Goal", a phrase still used in western New York to this day.
Over the years, the only successful franchise is the National Lacrosse League's Buffalo Bandits who have won four Champions Cups. The rule was changed for the following season, allowing players to be inside the goaltender's crease as long as they do not interfere with the goalie.
The next year was a disappointing season.
Doug Gilmour was acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks at the trade deadline and sparked the Sabres to a playoff berth. While replays appeared to show the puck going in through the side of the net, the goal was allowed to stand.
It also featured the word "Buffalo" written on a black stripe outlined by gray near the waist. The logo was a black circle with two sabres crossing each other.
With the return to blue and gold came the return of the original Sabres Jersey which was worn from 1970–96. A new third jersey to be worn in the 2008-2009 season was unveiled on September 20, 2008
Missing the playoffs
After lengthy, and failed, negotiations with their star goaltender, the Sabres traded Hasek to the Detroit Red Wings in the summer of 2001.
Attendance sagged, and it looked like the Sabres would either move or fold. It also became known that Hamister had won an expansion af2 team in Dayton, Ohio and got numerous concessions from local government, but moved them to Cincinnati before they had ever played their first game in Dayton.
However, this partnership dissolved without ever making a formal offer to the NHL.
2002–03 and new ownership
With the season beginning under league control, general manager Darcy Regier would make minimal moves that could bolster the last placed Sabres. The third deal that was completed at that time sent center Chris Gratton to the Phoenix Coyotes with a draft pick for a younger center, Daniel Briere and a draft pick.
However, the move was a surprise to Barnes, who had become a fan favorite with the help of Sabres' broadcaster Rick Jeanneret's calls of "Stuuuuuuuuuu Barnes...top shelf where momma hides the cookies!", and variations of that call after Barnes would score for the Sabres. Barnes stated that he had wanted to stay in Buffalo and broke down in tears in front of the assembled media after receiving word of his trade.
After the two year period of uncertainty that left the Sabres franchise in limbo, the team was sold to Rochester, New York billionaire and former New York gubernatorial candidate Tom Golisano, whose bid included no government funding.
(Like the Sabres, Empire had been owned by Adelphia.) Adelphia sold their rights to Sabres telecasts and for the 2005–06 campaign, the Madison Square Garden Network (MSG), a New York City-based channel which mostly broadcasts New York Rangers games, took over the rights to broadcast Sabres games to television viewers in western New York. In the deciding game, the Sabres were without their number one shot blocker (Jay McKee).After Jochen Hecht scored from behind the net with 4 seconds left in the 2nd period, They led the Hurricanes 2–1 going into the final period.
The Sabres finished the playoffs with the most last-minute goals in the 2006 playoffs.
The Sabres' better-than-expected season was recognized on June 22, 2006 at the NHL Awards Ceremony, when Lindy Ruff edged Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette 155 votes to 154 to win the Jack Adams Award as Coach of the Year. The new logo, a stylized bison, has been compared to Donald Trump's hair, Pikachu, a hamster or more commonly a banana slug, with some in the area even giving it the name "Sluggalo" or "Buffaslug".
Sabres Managing Partner Larry Quinn, when asked about the reaction of the fans said, "I can make a promise to our fans, if we're in the deciding game of the Stanley Cup, that old blue and gold jersey is going to be worn if we're at home, so we'll have the opportunity to win the Cup with it. Lindy Ruff was the head coach for the Eastern Conference, who lost the game 12–9.
On February 22, 2007, in a 6–5 shootout win over the Ottawa Senators, the team was involved in a brawl after Senators winger Chris Neil hit Sabres captain Chris Drury, who was injured on the play.
Despite Senator's coach Bryan Murray's insistence that his team was innocent, the melee was actually started with Heatley cross-checking Buffalo's Patrick Kaleta before the puck was dropped. The fight included Adam Mair immediately engaging Jason Spezza, Andrew Peters going after Dany Heatley, and both goalies, Martin Biron and Ray Emery fighting each other.
Over 100 penalty minutes were distributed and Ruff was fined $10,000 by the league. The Sabres scored 5 goals on the special teams, 3 power play goals by Chris Drury, Drew Stafford, and Dainius Zubrus, and 2 short handed goals by Drury and Derek Roy.
On April 3, 2007, in a 4–1 defeat of the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Sabres clinched the Northeast Division crown and the best record in the Eastern Conference.
On April 7, 2007, in a 2–0 defeat of the Washington Capitals, the Buffalo Sabres won the Presidents' Trophy for the first time in franchise history, giving the team the home ice advantage for their entire run in the 2006–2007 NHL playoffs.
Hockey Night in Canada's Harry Neale took over the position in October 2007.
The Sabres' January 1 home game against the Pittsburgh Penguins was played outdoors at Ralph Wilson Stadium, home of the National Football League's Buffalo Bills. Officially, the game was called the AMP Energy NHL Winter Classic, but in Buffalo and the surrounding areas it was referred to as the "Ice Bowl". The Sabres will stock the Pirates with prospects for the next two seasons, with a parent club option for a third..
The Sabres entered the 2008 free agency period quietly, but on July 1 they signed goaltender Patrick Lalime to a two-year contact.
Frei had this to say about coach Ruff..."Laments about "respect" get tiresome, and thankfully they're not as prevalent in the NHL as in the other sports.