BY: DUANE A. STEINEL JR.
By now I’m sure most of us active on “Sabres Twitter” have heard the news about the potential of the NHL allowing each team a “Reverse Retro” jersey.
If this is indeed true and each team will be getting a fourth jersey, the fan faithful in Sabresland is going to be on the verge of losing their mind. Getting Royal Blue and Gold back and potentially the “Goat Head” all in one season?
We all remember that God Awful “90s Night” shitshow the organization put on last season where they trotted out alumni from that era in knock off jerseys where many of the jerseys not only had crooked logos, but the color scheme, collars, and color stripping was way off and quite frankly embarrassing. Soon after we learned that a deadline was missed by the team with Adidas to be allowed to use what would have been a fourth jersey.
Maybe that email got lost the same way Drury’s contract did. But we all know our Expansions brothers in Vancouver didn’t miss that same deadline. Boy, did they look fly in those black retro skate jerseys. It brought back memories of the “Russian Rocket” Pavel Bure splitting defenseman just before undressing goalies with highlight reel goals.
So with this being my first article as a member of the Trainwreck Sports family, I honestly couldn’t think of a better subject to write about than the potential of the legendary, and fan favorite “Goat Head” jersey making its return to ice at 1 Seymour H Knox III Plaza.
We all remember how I lost my mind on local radio station WGR 550 back in January over that missed deadline and a number of other issues I had with the team and ownership. But anyone who lived through that era of hockey knows why I was so upset.
Going to games in the late 90’s, I remember how awesome that atmosphere was. The amazing introduction videos and the great goal horn/song (WOOOOHOOOO).
As I sit here writing this, the images in my head of sitting in the 200 level with my dad and watching players like Brian Holzinger, Jason Dawe, Derek Plante, and Miroslav Satan light the lamp with smoke pouring out of the nose of the goat head logo on the jumbotron welcome a sense of nostalgia.
The thought of Sabres Legend “The Dominator” Dominik Hasek’s unfathomable saves really made you question if he really did have a slinky for a spinal cord, or if he was a Jedi, still gives me chills.
It was the goat head jersey they wore starting in 1996-1997 that helped make that era so cool. The Sabres left the era of royal blue and gold behind when they left the Memorial Auditorium or “The Aud” after the purchase of the team by the Rigas Family.
Owner John Rigas at the time was one of the founders of Adelphia Communications Corporation. It was at one time was one of the largest cable companies in the United States, before Rigas was sentenced to 15 years in prison for looting the cable company he founded. Following the news, the Sabres moved on to “Marine Midland Arena”.
The color scheme of the Goat Head jersey was the same as that of the Adelphia Cable logo and Marine Midland bank. Red, black, gray, and white. The collar was a thick gray on both the home and away jersey. The home whites had the black shoulder blades with red, black and gray stripping down each side.
The days of wearing white at home seem so long ago but those jerseys really were something to behold.
While many of you remember players like Danny Briere and Chris Drury scoring game clinching overtime goals, I remember Derek Plante coming in wide on Ron Tugnutt and firing a puck off his glove and then slowly watching it dribble across the goalline in overtime of Game 7 of the 1997 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. This sent the Sabres past the Ottawa Senators.
We all remember the legendary goalie fight between Steve Shields and Garth Snow from the Philadelphia Flyers. I can still remember Rick Jeanneret losing his goddamn mind on TV as Shields and Snow were firing bombs back and forth at each other in front of the bench.
The Sabres would ultimately lose that series in five games, but a precedent was set that night. That year they were dubbed the “Hardest Working Team in Hockey,” and for good reason.
You had a group of average players that were willing to skate through walls for each other and for the logo on their chest. More importantly, they played hard for the blue collar fans who spent their hard earned dollars to be there that night.
Buffalo was also back stopped by the greatest goaltender to ever play the game. In 1999 the 8th place Sabres overcame great odds when they made it to the Stanley Cup Finals. They eliminated their rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, who were stacked and heavily favored in that series.
However, the magic of that 1999 season would come to an end as the Sabres would lose to a Dallas Stars team that had a star studded lineup full of future Hall of Fame players. One of those Hall of Fame players, Brett Hull, had his skate in the crease on the Stanley Cup game winning goal in the third overtime.
Even though Buffalo had lost, this city did not allow themselves to hang their heads in disappointment. Sure, we felt like we had been robbed of Lord Stanley’s Cup, but we were all still behind our guys.
Thousands of fans gathered in downtown Buffalo to welcome back their team, and thank them for what they had accomplished. And when beloved coach Lindy Ruff stepped to the podium he helped coin a phrase that we still use even today 21 years later…. “NO GOAL”. That saying would be printed on shirts and other memorabilia sold by local vendors city wide for years.
To this day, if anyone were to bring up the Brett Hull goal in an attempt to mock the Sabres in either a local bar, or an online forum, it doesn’t take much time for a Sabres fan to come to their team’s defense.
There’s obviously so much more history and nostalgia when it comes to this jersey. This Goat Head logo.
But from my childhood, and the old pictures I have here at home, those are some of the times I remember most. The Sabres Carnival’s, the Dominik Hasek, “slinky for a spinal cord” Mastercard commercial, Street hockey Fests, the original Carubba Collision – when Sabres Captain Michael Peca absolutely unloaded on Senators Captain Alexi Yashin (was a mainstay highlight played before every Carubba Collision for years).
There were songs like “Cotton Eye Joe” and “Come Down” by Bush, the original jumbotron “noise meter,” sabres mascot Sabretooth being lowered down to the ice from the rafters and running away from my dad in between periods to play mini sticks with other kids. We always found a vacant net located now where more beer vendors stands.
My first Goat Head jersey I got for my first communion. A white home Pat LaFontaine jersey. Then it was a Hasek black away jersey and then came those amazing red third jerseys. I wore that jersey every weekend when playing street hockey with friends. I’d wear a Sabres starter jacket as a chest protector with the jersey over it, Mylec goalie pads, a Franklin blocker and a baseball mitt. We would play for hours and hours during those years.
I tell these stories because these are all the memories I have whenever I think about that logo and that jersey.
I try not to remember 2006 too much when injuries and a freak staph infection to defenseman Jay McKee kept us from the Stanley Cup Finals where we would have surely rolled the Edmonton Oilers.
While I’m hopeful that the reverse retro news means we are getting those jerseys back, I still remain cautiously optimistic as I have with this team for years now. You can’t be disappointed if you don’t have expectations.
But I will ask one favor from all of you. Just shut your eyes and don’t think about Briere scoring a last second goal, Miller making a highlight reel save, or Brian Campbell unloading on RJ Umberger for a second.
Now, imagine Jack Eichel receiving a pass from Rasmus Dahlin and Jack holding onto the puck and drawing a defenseman in. Imagine him using his strength on the puck and reach to hold on just long enough to spot an open Taylor Hall driving to the net. He sauces as pass as he comes out from behind the net tape-to-tape to Hall. Hall shoots……HE SCOOOOOOORRRRRREEEEEESSSSS! TAYLOR HALL SCOOOORRRREEEES IN OOOVVVVEEEERRRTTIIIIIIME!!!! AND THE SABRES HAVE JUST CLINCHED THEIR FIRST STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS APPEARANCE SINCE 2011!!!
Can you see it? That retro black and red? The Goat Head with the silver trim and gray collar? I see it and it’s glorious.
Let’s hope the Pegulas take this opportunity at a redo. A mulligan. And we can all remember those good ole days like I just did.
The Sports Desk can be reached at editorialtrainwrecksports@gmail.com
4 Responses
You had me at “lost like Chris Drury’s contract”
Your passion for this team comes through and speaks to those of us with the same fond memories, and the same hope for greater things in the near future. Nice work
I remember your passion well son and lets not forget when you were first in line at the box office in 2007 to get single game tickets when they went on sale to the public