Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - What a night in Downtown Buffalo on Thursday.
Not only did the Buffalo Sabres win a big game over the Montreal Canadiens, 5-3, they honored the 2005-06 team in grand style.
Thursday's contest saw Tage Thompson lead the Sabres big time, scoring three goals and adding two assists for five points. However, the fans were in a great mood all night long, helped by Ryan Miller introducing former Sabres captains Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek as future Sabres Hall-of-Famers.
Vanek was very emotional as the announcement was made.
“Yes, I was just coming back here to see 20 buddies that I hadn’t seen in a long time and they told us we were going out with Ryan and he likes to talk so he was going to say a few words and we were just going to be the hype guys next to him, so all of a sudden the video showed up, so it was pretty cool.”
Pominville said he was very surprised,
“Yes, I didn’t expect that coming, I guess our wives kept it pretty secret for a little bit, but I’m really thrilled and honored, didn’t see it coming and couldn’t be happier than to do it with Thomas and join all the Sabres that have worn this jersey and worn it proudly and to be part of that group is pretty surreal.”
Pominville is eighth on the Sabres all-time points list with 521 points, 304 assists and games played with 733, while Vanek is 11th in points at 497 and 17th in games at 598. Vanek is fifth in Sabres history with 254 goals while Pominville is 10th at 217. Vanek is 14th all-time with 243 assists.
Vanek’s 106 power play goals ranks him fourth in Sabres history.
The 20th anniversary team got to see first hand how excited the fans are seeing their team win 15-of-17 games. The fans never boo anymore and they’re squarely backing their team. Pominville couldn’t be happier to see it,
“It’s been great to see the turnaround and how hot the team’s gotten and the buzz around the Sabres now and around the Bills is kind of like it was when we first arrived here, so I’m happy for it, I’m happy for Lindy that he turned it around and how nice would it be for him to be the last coach to bring them to the playoffs and now to bring them back would be pretty amazing.”
The Sabres took Vanek fifth overall in the 2003 NHL Draft. He only spent one season in the minors scoring 42 goals and 68 points in 74 games with the Rochester Americans. In his first season in the NHL Vanek netted 25 goals and 48 points in 81 games his second season in Buffalo he set career highs in all categories with 43 goals and 41 assists for 84 points. He said it was never easy,
“I felt like a rookie for four years to be honest, so it took quite awhile, so I think it was well documented it was hard, there was struggling, you feel pressure as a high pick coming in, but overall I knew I could play the game and the guys in the room never put pressure on me, if anything they helped me out, so it wasn’t always the best ride, the easiest ride, but it made me a stronger person for sure and probably a better player in the long run.”
Vanek’s teammates said Ruff was awful to Vanek and Derek Roy. Many told me he was always on them, but Vanek said he never held anything against his coach,
“He’s an old school coach and he’s hard for a reason because he saw more potential in me and I never minded, and I don’t think any of us had an issue with that.”
In the 2005-2006 season the Sabres put Pominville on waivers because he couldn’t make the team. He cleared waivers which means everybody in the NHL passed on him. The winger made sure to make every team regret that decision. He played 18 games in Rochester and scored 19 goals and 26 points. He was then called up for good to the Sabres and kept it going netting 18 goals in 57 games. Pominville said he never had hard feeling about that,
“I didn’t see it that way, I just wanted to play hockey and at the time, maybe I wasn’t ready which is maybe why I didn’t make the team right off the bat and I went down with the right attitude and tried to comeback as quick as I can and it was the same for Royzie (Derek Roy), we were both in fire in Rochester and got called up at the right moment and put in good situations that we felt comfortable in and found a way to stick sound the league for awhile.”
Roy had seven goals and 13 assists for 20 points in eight games with the Amerks and then had 18 goals and 28 assists for 46 points in 70 games with the Sabres.
The Sabres had to go to Carolina for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final and play the Hurricanes without the injured Tim Connolly, Teppo Numminen, Henrik Tallinder, Dmitri Kalinin and Jay McKee.
Pominville of course thinks about what could’ve been,
“It’s hard not to, we were thinking we were coming into the league thinking we’ll get a chance every year, back-to-back conference finals and you realize that it’s not that easy to get there, but who knows what would’ve happened if those guys could’ve been healthy.”
Vanek added,
“Yes once retired you reflect on where your best spots were and that’s why we play the game, for the Stanley Cup and we fell short, so I still think we’re the best team, but it doesn’t matter because you do need luck, you do need bounces, but yes you reflect and think of that stuff.”
The Sabres have not released the date of the induction ceremony.
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