Jody Gage open thread: Islanders at Buffalo tonight

16 games.  Three goals.  Three assists.  Six points.

Those are Jody Gage’s career numbers with the Buffalo Sabres despite having been in the Sabres system for 11 years.

So what makes him so special?

Way back in the day Buffalo had a special relationship with Rochester and their AHL farm club, the Americans.  The Knox’s (the Sabres owners) purchased the Americans before the 1979-80 season, and given their proximity to Buffalo the teams became tightly intertwined.  I know that as a boy following hockey I paid almost as much attention to Rochester as I did to Buffalo.

Jody Gage came to the Amerks after the 1984-85 season, and became a fixture in Rochester for over 20 years as a player, an assistant GM and a General Manager.  To quote directly from his Wiki entry:

In ten seasons, Gage became the Amerks’ all-time leader in games played (653), points (728), goals (351), and assists (377). Gage won the Les Cunningham Award in 1987–88 after a 60-goal season (second player in league history to accomplish this feat). He was the third player in AHL history to score 1000 points, the fifth player to play 1000 AHL games, and the fifth member of the AHL’s 500-goal club. Gage led Rochester to a Calder Cup in 1986–87 and back to the Calder Cup Finals in 1989–90, 1990–91, and 1992–93.

Obviously, Gage never got much of a shot in the NHL, thanks largely to his being a little too slow to keep up with NHL level players.  But it never stopped Buffalo fans from asking for his callup to Buffalo when times got tough.

Besides, the other No. 12’s were pretty bleak.  After Andre Savard nobody got me real excited, so “Mr. Amerk” got the call.

As for tonight’s game, Patrick Lalime is out after suffering a groin injury in Monday’s practice.  That means Jhonas Enroth has been recalled from Portland.  As always, it may be best if Miller stays healthy considering Enroth has struggled this year with a 3-7 record and a .872 save percentage this season.

7:00 start from HSBC tonight.  BfloBlog is in attendance for those who may be interested in such things.