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They're Still Bitter in Buffalo

One of my friends over at TSF who lives in Canada went to the Buffalo Bills Draft Day festivities at Ralph Wilson Stadium yesterday.

While walking through the parking lot, he noticed an intriguing license plate.

Star-divide

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via i333.photobucket.com

On a side note, there's no group of fans that I wish failure upon more than Buffalo fans. I felt sorry for them in the early 90's because they dominated the AFC for several years, got to four consecutive Super Bowls, but just couldn't get over the hump.

And then 1999 happened. T'was a magical year to be sure for the Sabres that year. They made the playoffs as the 7th seed in the East, but upset Ottawa in the first round in a sweep, then defeated the Bruins in the Conference Semi's in six games, followed by a win in the Conference Finals in five over their bitter rivals to the north, the Toronto Maple Leafs, to launch them into the Stanley Cup Finals.

Where, of course, they met the Stars. Now going in, I can understand the animosity they had towards the city of Dallas. Afterall, the Cowboys handed the BIlls their last two Super Bowl losses in the 90's.

And just like in those two Super Bowls, a Dallas team prevented Buffalo from tasting a championship by beating them in the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals on what they consider to be a controversial goal.

I've gone to great lengths in the past to prove why the goal was good. In a nutshell, the NHL allowed players who had previously established possession of the puck to go into the goal crease even if the puck didn't follow them in. And Brett Hull became the possessor of the puck when he deflected Jere Lehtinen's shot from the half boards in on Dominik Hasek.

And since the Sabres' netminder never gained control of the shot, Hull maintained possession, was legally in the crease, and then scored the goal that gave the Stars the Cup. For good measure, he also kicked the puck into a position where he could score prior to his skate entering the crease.

But let's just say for the sake of argument that these Western New Yorkers were right. That Hull's goal was illegitimate and shouldn't have counted.

Obviously, they would have kept playing until somebody scored to end it. And considering Buffalo had only scored one goal in the last 207:24 of the series (a Stu Barnes goal in the second period of Game 6 that knotted the score at 1-1), I don't think Sabre fans would have a mountain of evidence suggesting their team was capable of scoring to win Game 6, then flying down to Dallas and taking Game 7.

Call me a homer, but I think if it had taken six OT's to keep Buffalo from scoring, Ed Belfour would have been able to pull it off.

Nonetheless, the infatuation that Western New Yorkers have with that call still today simply boggles my mind.

 

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HOMER!!

You and I have already talked about what I call “the curse”, no need to bring it up again. :-)

"I can't hear Jeremy because I have my 2 Stanley Cup rings plugging my ears!" -Patrick Roy

by Derek B on Apr 26, 2009 6:44 PM CDT reply actions  

Hey Gravy,

I thought that Brandon wrote this article. LOL! That’s why I mentioned the whole “curse” thing. LOL!

"I can't hear Jeremy because I have my 2 Stanley Cup rings plugging my ears!" -Patrick Roy

by Derek B on Apr 26, 2009 9:15 PM CDT up reply actions  

Well Brandon did write it

Just a different Brandon :o)

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by Brandon Bibb on Apr 27, 2009 11:43 AM CDT up reply actions  

Honestly, I think most of Western New York has gotten over that series. At least I hope they would. I harbor no ill feelings toward the Stars, the Hurricanes on the other hand thats a different story.

Die By The Blade - An SB nation destination for Sabres fans everywhere

by Zachary Zielonka on Apr 27, 2009 7:04 AM CDT reply actions  

It's hit or miss...

But I actually think it may be hockey fans in general that still use that jab against the Stars. It doesn’t help that the media brings it up anytime theres a controversy about a player in the crease. It’s never going to die.

I have met some Sabres fans though that are superbly hooked on that one play.

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by Brandon Worley on Apr 27, 2009 8:21 AM CDT up reply actions  

Worse for Dallas fans

As a lifelong Stars fan – and I think I speak for most Dallas fans here, and hockey fans in general – I waited 3 decades to see them win the cup, saw them lose it twice. No decent hockey fan, or even decent sports fan, would want to finally see their team win a championship that way. It’s the equivalent of having an asterisk next to the team’s name. It blows.

Sure, the Sabres got robbed, and they were anything but out of that series. But had any other team been in that spot, the goal would have counted. Sabres fans can go on doing what most of us do all the time and wonder “what if” but Stars fans have to live with the fact that some people don’t fully accept their cup win, and every time it’s mentioned, the controversy follows.

It was the fault of the league for not anticipating something like that. In fact I could argue that it was also indirectly Hasek’s fault; he’s one the goalies during that era that bitched and moaned the most about demanding so much crease protection. I think that argument is a total stretch – Belfour did plenty of bitching as well – but the facts remain.

by Wolfgangus on Apr 28, 2009 12:28 AM CDT up reply actions  

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