Yay! Hockey season is here! I don’t remember the last time I was this excited about a Sabres season. Actually, I do remember….it was 2006-07…more on that in a minute.
But as a longtime Sabres fan (as longtime as it gets….I’m old enough to have been around for the first Sabres season) there really haven’t been that many seasons when optimism was real, and we honestly thought it wasn’t a question of if the Sabres would win the Stanley Cup, but when.
Thank you, Terry Pegula, for giving us that feeling. Do I expect a Cup parade down Delaware Avenue next summer? Not really…..I still think we’re a few forwards away….but once you get to the playoffs anything is possible. Goalies get hot, players get hurt….and the next thing you know, Carolina wins the cup. (I know, I’m still bitter about that series….someday I’ll get over it)
And let’s face it, the opening game of hockey season doesn’t mean nearly as much as the opening game of football season. Look how many teams have looked awful at the end of October and looked pretty darn good at the end of the season.
But the beginning of the season is the time for hope, the time for new beginnings….and occasionally, a Sabres season starts off really well.
1971-72: Raising the roof
Okay, this wasn’t a good season for the Sabres. Actually, it was pretty bad. The team’s second year in the league was a big step backwards from their first year…only 16 wins, only 51 points. They haven’t been that bad since….not even close to being that bad.
But it was still exciting when the season started. That’s because the Aud got bigger over the summer. When the Sabres and Braves began their existence in 1970, the Aud only seated about 11,000 people. Not nearly big enough for the NHL & the NBA. While most cities would simply build a new arena, Buffalo did things a little differently. And a lot cheaper. They raised the roof. The 2,200 ton roof was raised 24 feet, allowing the creation of our beloved orange seats. The new capacity was nearly 16,000 for hockey, about a thousand more for basketball. Thousands of people became Sabres season ticket holders. Including me, even though I was just in high school…..eight of my friends and I split three season tickets, so we each got to see a third of the games. None of us could drive, so our parents had to take us to University Plaza to catch the Main Street bus….but how cool is it for high school kids to have their own season tickets? We were in the very last row of the original building…the last row of the grays, which became the upper blues. We couldn’t see the scoreboard because of the overhang of the balcony, and we had to bend down a little to see the other end of the ice….but they were our tickets, and we loved them. Who cared if the team was bad?
1974-75: The first finals
If you’re a longtime Sabres fan, this was that truly memorable season. Not our first playoff team, but our first really good team.
Yes, we knew they had talent….they were more than just the French Connection….but they had missed the playoffs the year before….so even the biggest die-hard fan didn’t expect this.
But the season sure started off in a memorable way. Okay, it took 18 seconds. That’s how long it took Danny Gare to score the first goal of his career, in his first game.
The Sabres didn’t have a great October…only five wins….but by the end of November they were 17-4-4, by the end of December they were 24-8-5…..and they ended up with 113 points. Which is still their highest total ever. Unfortunately, not quite enough to be the best in the league….they were tied with Montreal and Philadelphia. (the first-ever three-way tie in NHL history) And unfortunately, since the Flyers had more wins, they ended up with home ice advantage when we faced them in the finals, and the Sabres just couldn’t win in the Spectrum. (damn you, Kate Smith!) But it was a great run….it was a season for the ages….and no one expected it.
2006-07: Big winners, big letdown
This was the year. We knew it. We just knew it. This was our year for the Cup. We still weren’t over the heartbreak of the loss to the Hurricanes in the 2005-06 Eastern Conference finals….to this day, we still know it’s true that if one less defenseman….just one….had stayed healthy (damn you, Jay McKee and your leg infection!) we would have beaten the Canes and of course would have easily beaten Edmonton in the finals.
But this was going to be our year. And when the season started, it sure looked that way. The Sabres won the season opener. And the next game. And the next. And the next seven. The Sabres won their first 10 games, tying the 93-94 Maple Leafs for the best start in league history. They also won their first 10 road games, also a league record.
And as we all know, they went on to match the 1974-75 team by totaling 113 points….and this time it was enough to win their first (and only) Presidents Trophy.
But no happy ending….they ran out of gas, faded in the playoffs, Drury and Briere left in free agency and our window of opportunity slammed shut.
Now it’s another new season. The first full season of the Pegula era. One that’s beginning with real hope. Real optimism. Real belief that we’re gonna win that Cup.
I can’t wait.
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