Progressive Wednesday

The other hottest team in town

April 1st, 2007 by Eric

The Buffalo Sabres are one win away from clinching the National Hockey League’s Eastern Conference title. They have the league’s best record. They’ll put the maximum 18,690 fans in the seats for all 41 home games this year. They have the best television rating for all NHL markets, almost 30% more than the next closest. Espn.com had them ranked first of all 122 professional sports teams. All of this coming out of the smallest market in the league. Today’s Sabres are garnering a lot of attention.

But the Sabres of yesteryear stole some of that attention a few nights ago at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, NY. A collection of former Buffalo NHLers gathered to play the Buffalo Police Squad in a charity game to benefit policewoman Patricia Parete who was shot in the line of duty along with her partner on Dec 5, 2006. The gunshot left her partially paralyzed, and she has been recovering in a rehabilitation center in New Jersey since.

The turnout?

The arena’s lower bowl was packed with 7,321 fans who watched the alumni team top the police squad, 9-3.

The event raised over $90,000 for officer Parete, with only a small portion coming from the tickets to the game:

Caps honoring Parete sold out before the game even started. More than 1,000 of them were donated by New Era Cap Co. to be sold for $15 each to benefit Parete. Those sold out in the days before the game. Two hundred more sold out during the pregame festivities.

How beautifully progressive it is to see a community, its businesses and its sports teams come together to help out a wounded hero. With so much negative attention coming out of professional athletics, this is truly a breath of fresh air. And by “fresh” I mean that hockey smell that comes from sweat, moldy ice, steel, blood, and leather that only a hockey dad and his little “rink rat” could love.

Thanks to this Sabre fan for the pic