A City Mourns And Their Sabres Add A Respite

By now everyone has heard of the tragic plane crash of a Continental Airplane into a residential neighborhood in Clarence Center, New York. This little town is a suburb of Buffalo and one in which many of the members of the Sabres NHL hockey team live. Tragedy hit home about 1:30 in the morning on Friday, February 13, 2009 when a jet lost control, went off radar and plummeted into a house like a spear killing all on board the jet and one person living in the house it struck. Miraculously, two other family members, including a child survived the fire. The child crawled out of the house while it was on fire after the roof had caved in around her. Also, the two houses next door to the house were unaffected by the devastation and no other injuries were reported. Last evening at 7:30 p.m. the fire was still so hot it was smoldering and crews could not get in to investigate any further than trying to retrieve the black box data recorder. The city started to mourn and shock had set in like a dark smothering blanket.
There was an NHL game to be played in Buffalo last night between the Buffalo Sabres and the San Jose Sharks. Team members, coaches and all associated with the team decided in unison to play their very best to give the city a brief respite from their shared grief because the community of Buffalo is quite close. The city's nickname is "The City of Good Neighbors" and that was proven on the ice at HSBC Arena last evening.
The Sabres game out with effort and hard work like they were possessed and on a mission. I have watched the Sabres play since their inception in 1970 and I have NEVER seen such an effort. They quickly scored 3 goals in the first 10 minutes of the game. Bear in mind that the team they were playing was THE BEST in the NHL. But, this night was to be Buffalo's night! After falling behind to the Sharks 5-4 with less than 3 minutes left in the game the Sabres saw and felt that sense of urgency to keep the promise they made to the city of Buffalo and its loyal fans. With 3.8 seconds remaining with defeat looming, our captain, Craig Rivet scored to tie the game. The arena went wild and people were hugging people and some of the players had tears in their eyes...but the mission was not yet finished. Overtime came and went with no further scoring and now it was time for a hero to salvage a terrible day in the city's history. Next, the shootout ensued. On the last shot of the shoot out the Sabres took a short, undersized, stocky Derek Roy backhanded the puck into the roof of the net and scored. Again, pandemonium ensued in the stands as the Sabres led but the hero was still a mystery. On the Shark's last opportunity to tie the game, a quiet, reserved and humble man named Ryan Miller - our goaltender - stopped the final shot by the Sharks player and the Sabres had won a miraculous 11Th hour, come from behind game the keep their promise to the city and fulfil their goal of giving a few hours of respite on an otherwise bleak day!!
Anyone watching that game, whether in Buffalo or on national television HAD to give a tip of the hat and kudos to a team that came to its city's rescue. It is fitting to quote Herb Brookes who led the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" team to beat the Russians and win the gold medal in the Olympics against seemingly impossible odds. He said," Boys, we could play this team 100 times and lose every time but NOT TONIGHT. TONIGHT IS OUR NIGHT TO SHINE so go out there and take it!!" Amen Herb, Amen!