As Sabres fans, we sit and watch games as they happen. On most nights, 7 or 7:30 pm on average, 10 or 10:30 pm if it is a West Coast game.
What if your favorite NHL team’s games didn’t start until 12:30 am? Would that deter you from cheering them on, or would it maybe deter you from following hockey all together?
Meet Nick, from England. When Nick was asked this question, his answer was an emphatic no.
I spent some time overseas recently, with family and friends, when I reconnected with Nick. A quick back story here, I met Nick years ago and remained in touch throughout the years.
Nick is a dedicated Buffalo Sabres fan, and has been since the first day he was introduced to the National Hockey League.
It started during the 2007 NHL season, around the beginning of the holidays. Nick met a young woman from the Buffalo area, who had moved to southern England for school. As they became close friends, she offered to bring him to the United States for a visit. This was Nick’s first trip to the U.S. This is where he was introduced to many things, including hockey. Nick watched his first couple games on television, and was hooked. “It was the speed, and transition game, and knowing that if you were down 3-0, you always had a chance to come back.”
After his visit, Nick had a hunger for more hockey.
“I remember thinking, it’s too bad we cannot see the games over here (in the U.K.). I really enjoyed watching the games.”
The young woman from Buffalo that Nick had come to the states with, who eventually became his wife, spoke with her parents back in Buffalo. She had a simple request: please tape the playoffs for Nick, and send them over on DVD to watch.
This was the year after the Sabres had made the conference finals with Carolina, and had made it back there again to play the Ottawa Senators. The Sabres would defeat of the New York Islanders, and the New York Rangers, before losing to Ottawa in five games in the Conference Finals.
That summer was hard for Nick to understand, with the departure of the Sabres two best players to free agency. Both Daniel Briere and Chris Drury had signed elsewhere for more money, instead of resigning with the Buffalo Sabres. “You don’t see things like that in European football. If a team is good, many times players will remain there to win long term. There is no draft, like there is in hockey, to better your team if they are bad. You keep what you have if and when you can.”
Unfortunately for Nick, he was becoming a fan of the Sabres at the start of the current decline towards a complete rebuild.
In order to make sure Nick could follow his new favorite sports team, he purchased a package equivalent to the Center Ice package we have. Nick would stay up late to watch games if he could, or tape delay them and not look at boxscores until after he could watch the next day. “I would routinely put headphones inside my pillow some nights, just so I could hear the game as long as possible.” Sometimes when the Sabres played in the West, the game would be ending, as Nick was getting up for work. During a good portion of the season, there was a five hour difference in time.
It took over a year for Nick to come back to the states for a visit, but when he did, he made sure to obtain some tickets to go to his first NHL game in Buffalo.
On December 22, 2008, Nick attended the game against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“I can remember the feeling, and I always will. Walking through the front doors of then HSBC Arena, and then taking the walk out through the opening near the stairs to see the ice for the first time. Goosebumps.”
It was a back and forth game, as Nick recalls it like it just happened recently. “There was a local kid named Tim Kennedy who was playing in his first game. Andrew Peters got into a pretty good fight early, and Crosby scored a controversial goal to win it in overtime.”
Following our talk, I went back to double check, and Nick had it spot on. Despite the loss, Nick enjoyed himself so much that he also obtained tickets a few days later to the game against the New York Islanders.
Moving onto more recent events, Nick had some strong opinions on things happening now.
Regarding the shredding of the roster, he was concerned at first, but understands the end result will be good. Watching his favorite players Derek Roy, and Thomas Vanek leave was difficult to watch. “The assests coming back though, will hopefully pan out and make them good again. There is a lot of potential in the system from top to bottom.”
Regarding the ownership changes, Nick told me he felt this was a good thing for the city Buffalo, and the Sabres.
“Having the financial backing of someone like Pegula, and being a local person to the area, must make local Buffalo fans feel great. I know what kind of issue arose when English teams have been sold to outside investors, and it brings up a lot of complaints from fans.”
When asked about the similarities of soccer and hockey, Nick pointed out the game changing players in NHL.
“In Soccer, you have players like Argentinian Lionel Messi, and Cristiano Ronaldo from Portugal. Those players have the ability to change a game. I see that in the NHL with Crosby, and Stamkos, to name a couple. The way things are going in Buffalo, I hope (Connor) McDavid or (Jack) Eichel are those players as well. They could significantly change things.”
When asking him about what he would like to see in soccer that you see in hockey, he said fighting. “I don’t mean the goonish type, staged fighting. If a player was guilty of a dirty slide tackle and hurt someone, maybe a good hockey fight would take care of the issue. Instead in soccer, you find players then taking liberties on the field with other slide tackles, maybe with spikes up. A good hockey fight could solve a lot of that.”
As you may be able to tell, Nick presents as a big Sabres fan. When you take into account that Nick only started following the team six years ago, and he has the challenges of time difference, no television broadcasts, and no local sports coverage, it is safe to say that he has become a big Sabres fan. Nick makes his way to a Sabres game on every visit to the states, and has even made it to a couple Rochester American games.
Before Nick closed the talk, he said, “I just love the sport, and love the Sabres.”