BY: DOMMY CNY
Nostalgia. Angry-goat-headed levels of nostalgia cut through me like butter-knives (see what I did there) when the Buffalo Sabres Reverse Retro sweaters dropped.
The logos, the overall design… fire, absolute royal blue fire. Personally, as I said in our most recent episode of Reile Talk, I would have preferred them to use the late 90s early 2000s color scheme; you know, the red, black & silver smoke shows. Hasek’s surgically precise flailing, Miller & Briere in the snow outside the arena… FIRE. ME. UP.
As a 90s baby, this sweater hits right in the feels, no matter the colors. Now, the only reason I say I would’ve changed the colors besides nostalgia is strictly based on the simple fact they are returning to royal this coming season anyway, so the red would’ve been a nice change of pace for the 716, but that’s just me.
But let’s get back on topic. This is not a Reverse Retro blog. This is me, a born & bred New York Rangers fan, expressing my frustration and compassion related to the Buffalo Sabres franchise.
Growing up as a Rangers fan, my favorite player was Mike Richter. A close second to him was the aforementioned Dominik Hasek, even though he spells our name wrong. Besides that, itty bitty inconsistency, what a beauty. I mean, my goodness, was he fun to watch.
Those two absolute legends led to my obsession with goaltenders and helped to lead me into this weird New York/Buffalo hockey love triangle I have been in for the last two decades. Believe it or not, being from Central New York, I am in the minority as a fan of the Blueshirts. Don’t get me wrong, there is A TON of Rangers fans here, but being only a short three-hour ride from Buffalo, the Sabres fandom runs deep around these parts; the rabid Bills Mafia influence, no doubt, helps as well.
Watching from afar, I feel like that plays an important role here. The passion and utter insanity of the Buffalo Bills fanbase has to find a way to bleed its way into the Sabres. I say this because if there is anything to take away from the last few years, Buffalo has been the top neutral market during the Stanley Cup Playoffs for viewership, even when their team has absolutely sucked. I say that in the nicest way possible, I’m sure you understand.
I won’t use the 2020 Quarantine Cup as an example because the overall viewership was down. Still, in 2019, for game seven of the St. Louis Blues vs. the Boston Bruins Stanley Cup Finals, Buffalo posted a 13.9 rating with an overall 2.74 for the entire playoffs. For not having a dog in the fight, these ratings are HUGE, and the next closest neutral markets aren’t even close, excluding markets with perennial powerhouse teams.
2018 for the Washington Capitals Vs. the Vegas Golden Knights, same story. 2017, same story, highest neutral market. 2016, a close second to a top neutral market. 2015, you guessed, top neutral market. If you haven’t gotten the point yet, you must own the team *cough cough*. MY POINT IS the love for the sport is there, and there is no doubt to me that Buffalo loves some puck.
This leads me to my overall point in writing this. What are they doing? I mean, seriously, what are they doing? With this rabid & hungry of a fanbase, why does this team not win every single year? I’m not going to get into specifics of how or why this has happened because that dead horse has been beaten at nauseam and I’m not gonna continue that.
However, I will say that there are certainly times you can probably hear my screams of agony down I-90 to a point where they echo through the Key Bank Library since lord knows unless Jack isn’t triple-teamed and neither is DJ Kool; best goal song in the NHL by the way not trying to get brownie points here or anything.
Allow me to make myself very clear that shouldn’t be taken as a knock at the arena. Even as a Rangers fan, if I plan a trip for an NHL game, I go to Buffalo. I have seen the Sabres play live more times than my Rangers.
A huge reason for this is the fan experience at the arena. Don’t get me wrong, and MSG is awesome. I mean, it’s the Garden, after all, but personally, I like Buffalo better. The concourses are more accessible, and the concession options are much better. Let’s get very real about what MSG is its a glorified concert hall; I mean, they play on the 6th floor. You gotta walk 15 miles to get to your overpriced nosebleed seat on top of having to take out a second mortgage to stay and/or park in Manhattan.
No, thank you. I don’t believe I will, hence my preference for Buffalo. I mean, think about it… you can park, sleep, watch a game, eat AND get Timmy Ho’s all in one building. You can’t beat it. Add that to the Sabres being on MSG+ consistently, as well as most of my friends being Sabres fans; it’s hard not to love this team.
The Sabres are like my guilty pleasure. Obviously, I’m Blueshirts through and through, but I am always pulling for Buffalo on the side. Not making the playoffs since 2010-2011, to me, is nothing short of unacceptable. I know that when the Rangers are bad, they will eventually come back around within a few years, they always have, but with the Sabres, I mean, what are we doing here? We watch this team, and it almost feels like they are not good, but it feels like they will never be good. It feels like wanton disregard for the clearly deep, passionate fanbase and the talent that this team already has.
I MEAN YOU HAVE JACK FRIGGIN’ EICHEL. Adding Taylor Hall is sick, but who knows how that works out on a one year deal. Hall puts up sick numbers earning a big-ticket on a contender just for him to leave Jack hanging? That’s almost worst than never getting him at all, not that I blame the new front office for trying to make a big splash. Speaking of, I truly hope that helps moving forward because the fans and the city deserve a winner.
So that’s it. That’s my take. An outsider looking into the sadness that has been the Buffalo Sabres letting you know you are not alone. The frustration that has been following this team even when my own has been head & shoulders better MOSTLY. Breaking it down… this isn’t even worth writing about because no matter what, you think of the Rangers when you think about New York hockey. I know I’m not alone when I say it would be nice to have our own Upstate boys in that conversation. Here’s to the Return to Royal.
With love,
Dommy CNY
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