Written on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 6:00pm by Kevin | 20 Comments

Gilles Hamel Open Thread: Sabres at Devils

Yeah, that’s right, it’s Gilles effing Hamel.

I thought long and hard about Rick Dudley, but his playing days were a bit before my time and even his tenure as head coach couldn’t get him a pass – not even for old times’ sake.

Scott Arniel came to mind as well, but he was even more of a two-bit player than Hamel was, and I wasn’t sure that Arniel didn’t wear a couple other numbers during his days with the Sabres (turns out he did wear different numbers while in the league, but was always No. 9 with Buffalo).  And finally I thought about J.F. Sauve, and as you can clearly see I have a soft spot for the Frenchies when they are on my team.

But in the end it was Hamel, mostly because he played for one of my favorite Sabres teams; the 1983-84 team.  That team finished with 103 points, one behind the Bruins and good for third in the NHL that year (of course Quebec knocked them out 3-0 in the first round of the playoffs).  It was Tom Barrasso’s rookie year, and he split time with Bob Sauve while winning the Calder and sharing the Vezina with Sauve.  Perreault was at his peak, Andreychuck, Housley, and John Tucker were teenagers, Mike Foligno was in his third year in Buffalo, and I thought the Sabres would be good forever.

Oh, and Gilles Hamel was seventh on the team in scoring with 44 points, one behind a 23-year-old Lindy Ruff who scored 14 goals, was a plus-15, and had over 100 minutes in penalties (thought I would throw that in there for all those revisionist historians who somehow feel that referring to Ruff as a bad player, which he wasn’t, somehow translates to his coaching style).

So there you go, Gilles Hamel.  Thanks to the power of the 83-84 Sabres you get your own little moment of glory right here.

20 Comments

  1. John (JDInVegas) says:
    October 28, 2009 at 7:09 pm

    So much for high def on direct tv – 638. NOT!!!

    Reply
  2. twoeightnine says:
    October 28, 2009 at 7:10 pm

    Fuck ass. I’ve got the NJ broadcast.

    Reply
  3. Ben says:
    October 28, 2009 at 7:10 pm

    Yea where’s my HD? Sucktitude…

    Reply
  4. Jeanne says:
    October 28, 2009 at 7:12 pm

    MacAurther’s goal even in regular def. was a beautiful thing to see

    Reply
  5. Ben says:
    October 28, 2009 at 7:34 pm

    Hooray for disappearing comments too… Kev, you need a new host.

    Reply
  6. Dave says:
    October 28, 2009 at 8:06 pm

    you think the non-HD service sucks? Try the internet-based radio + NHL GameCenter

    Reply
  7. JudahMac says:
    October 28, 2009 at 8:13 pm

    I have Dish Network and I have the NJ feed. Does anyone have Rick and Harry?

    Reply
  8. twoeightnine says:
    October 28, 2009 at 8:20 pm

    Got the NJ feed. It sucks. Doc sucks. NJ sucks. Bruce sucks. Bon Jovi suck. The Devils fans, all 2 of them suck.

    Reply
  9. Jeanne says:
    October 28, 2009 at 8:21 pm

    I actually have RJ and Harry on direct tv channel 638 – NJ announcers during intermission. Didn’t start the game with them, they just cut in on there own early in the first period.

    Reply
  10. JudahMac says:
    October 28, 2009 at 8:39 pm

    Agreed. Bon Jovi DOES suck,

    Reply
  11. Ben says:
    October 28, 2009 at 9:07 pm

    Bon Jovi definitely sucks.

    Reply
  12. Ben says:
    October 28, 2009 at 9:08 pm

    Yea I’ve got RJ on DirecTV also, but no HD. Customer service told me “it’s not scheduled to be in HD, maybe the NHL misprinted that?”

    Reply
  13. twoeightnine says:
    October 28, 2009 at 9:22 pm

    I’m pretty sure WNYMedia was using Geocities… give them some time.

    Reply
    • Marc Odien says:
      October 28, 2009 at 9:51 pm

      sorry guys. We left geocities years ago… No one turned off the caching system this afternoon… not that it matters now, but it should be working fine now. Carry on

      Reply
  14. Dave says:
    October 28, 2009 at 9:22 pm

    YES!

    Reply
  15. Cryptkicker says:
    October 28, 2009 at 9:23 pm

    I’m on FIOS and the New Jersey feed has been on all night. The fan base seems a little light and this is a major market team? They must be making all of their money from radio and tv alone. If they can’t get people into the stands because the emphasis is on the tv audience anyway. We could fix the inequality between major market teams and small market teams by splitting all of the tv revenue between both teams every time they play a game that is televised. You wouldn’t be watching the home team do an open skate and that’s what you would have if you didn’t have an opponent.

    Reply
  16. Becky says:
    October 28, 2009 at 10:43 pm

    Had HD on Time Warner channel 700.with a NJ feed. Rick Jenerette disappeared for awhile and Harry Neale and Don Emick (sp) were the voices. Maybe their mikes were mixed up. Great game though!

    Reply
  17. Johnny Hardrock says:
    October 29, 2009 at 12:58 am

    I moved down after the first period from the 200 level (in NJ this is what is the 300 level in Buffalo) to sit behind 3 people wearing Myers jerseys. It was his great aunt and grandparents. Very, very nice people. They were so worried and nervous for Tyler when the game was close in the 3rd. They were also afraid he was going to be sent down after tonight. I told them that there would be a coup in Buffalo if that happened. Great people. I wish him the best, not that I hadn’t before…

    Reply
  18. kevin2 says:
    October 29, 2009 at 12:05 pm

    Anyone know why Vanek is not playing on the power play?

    Reply
  19. jeff dolina says:
    October 29, 2009 at 1:16 pm

    I am waiting for the Gates Orlando thread.

    Reply

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