1989-90 Buffalo Sabres Phil Housley Jersey

The 2011 NHL Entry Draft will be held in St. Paul, Minnesota today. As the final part of our countdown to the draft, we are going to take a look today at the greatest Minnesotan ever selected in the history of the NHL draft.

Phil Housley is one of the rare NHL players who never played a single game in the minors. He was drafted 6th overall in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft out of South St. Paul High School by the Buffalo Sabres.

He was a model of dependability for Buffalo, playing no less than 72 games, scoring a minimum of 15 goals, with a high of 31 in 1983-84, and totaling between 62 and 81 points for each of his eight seasons with the Sabres.

He was sent to the Winnipeg Jets in a deal that saw Dale Hawerchuk go to Buffalo and spent three seasons in Winnipeg cranking out the exact same kind of numbers he had for the Sabres, which included leading the Jets in scoring in both 1990-91 and 1991-92. While he did not lead the Jets in scoring in 1992-93, thanks to the arrival of rookie sensation Teemu Selanne, the high scoring Finn helped Housley to reach a career best 97 points thanks to 18 goals and 79 assists, which ranked seventh in the league and first among defensemen, ahead of even the likes of Paul Coffey.

Housley was then traded to the St. Louis Blues for the 1993-94 season, but was limited to just 26 games in St. Louis before once more being dealt in the offseason, this time to the Calgary Flames. He would play all of the abbreviated 1994-95 season and then 59 games of the 1995-96 season before being shipped to the New Jersey Devils for the final 22 games of the season.

He then signed as a free agent with the Washington Capitals for the 1996-97 season, during which he would play in his 1000th game. His second season with the Capitals would see Housley make his only appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals.

He made a return to Calgary for the next three seasons followed by two as a Chicago Blackhawk who traded him to the Toronto Maple Leafs, his eighth and final team, where he would play in just a single regular season game and three playoff games to end his 21 year career.

Internationally, Housley played for the United States in the 1984 and 1987 Canada Cup tournaments, the World Championships for the United States in 1982, 1986, 1989, 2000, 2001 and 2003 and was a member of the championship winning Team USA at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.

When Housley retired in 2003, he held the record for most games played by not only a native Minnesotan, but an American, as well as the record for most career points by an American, a feat made even more impressive considering he spent the majority of his career playing defense, although he did skate at forward at times as well. His final statistical totals were 1,495 games played, 338 goals and 894 assists for 1,232 points.

He was inducted into the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame in 2007 and the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004.

Today's featured jersey is a 1989-90 Buffalo Sabres Phil Housley jersey from the season Housley scored his most points in a Sabres jersey with 81.

This classic Sabres jersey style would remain in use through the 1995-96 season until replaced by an all new look for Buffalo when the team's colors changed to red, black and white. It was brought back as an alternate jersey in 2006-07 and was the basis for a new, modernized alternate in 2008-09 before being promoted to the team's primary jersey in 2010-11, much to the delight of the fans.

Bonus Jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 2003 Team USA Phil Housley jersey as worn during Housley's final appearance for the United States National Team and his final competitive hockey before his retirement.

This style USA jersey was introduced for the 2001 World Championships and was used through the 2004 World Cup of Hockey.

This jersey sports Bauhaus sponsor patches on the shoulders, which is a unique element of jerseys worn during the World Championships.

Here is the rock solid Housley absorbing a blow from Sergei Fedorov and quickly skating away while Fedorov is shaken by the collision.

Here Housley plays for the United States in the 1984 Canada Cup versus Dominik Hasek and Czechoslovakia and gets an assist with a blast from the point.

Once more Housley gets an assist with a blast from the point versus Hasek, only this time while playing for the Capitals and wearing the unfamiliar #96.

1989-90 Buffalo Sabres Alexander Mogilny Jersey

On May 2, 1989, Alexander Mogliny, then just 20 years old, made a choice that would affect the rest of his life.

While in Stockholm, Sweden, having just completed winning a gold medal at the 1989 World Championships, Mogilny made the life changing decision to become the first Soviet player to defect, leaving behind his family but escaping the totalitarian rule of the communist system, and iron-fisted Soviet old school coach Viktor Tikhonov in particular, whom Mogilny felt would make his life not only at the rink, but outside of hockey, miserable for years to come due to his independent nature.

The story begins at the 1988 NHL Entry Draft when the Sabres, with one of their two picks in the fifth round, selected one of the most exciting young players in the world, Alexander Mogilny with the 89th overall pick. While many Soviet players had been chosen in the NHL draft before, it was generally in much later rounds when taking a flyer on a player unlikely to ever appear in an NHL game was worth the roll of the dice with an essentially meaningless pick.

Gerry Mehan, the Sabres general manager explains, "I would never have used the draft pick if I didn’t think he would be coming,” Meehan said. “The attitude then was, ‘There’s no way this guy is going to come out. He’s too big a young star.’ It was my view that it was inevitable that, sooner or later, the Russians were going to have to let their players come and play on a world stage other than the Olympics and the World Championship.”

At the beginning of 1989, former Sabre Don Luce, the club's Director of Amateur Evaluation, travelled to Anchorage, Alaska to to 1989 World Junior Tournament. There, Mogilny and linemate Pavel Bure, along with Sergei Fedorov, were finishing third and fourth in tournament scoring while leading the Soviets to a 6-1 record and the gold medal. Luce met briefly with Mogilny in Anchorage and gave him a business card, cementing Mogilny's decision to defect at the first opportunity.

That opportunity arrived four months later when the Soviets were given two days in Stockholm after winning the 1989 World Championship. Luce, at home in North America, received a phone call from a man who claimed to be Mogilny's agent, Sergei Fomitchev. Unsure if he was really in contact with Mogilny, he asked Fomitchev to have Mogilny repeat what he had said to him in Anchorage. Told then that he had not played very well, Mogilny had stated "I show you next game", prior to scoring a hat trick against Canada to clinch the gold medal.

After Mogilny repeated the phrase, Luce and Meehan were on a plane to Sweden three hours later, arriving midday on May 3rd. While waiting for Fomitchev to return from shopping, the got an urgent call saying Mogilny's defection had to happen right away because it would be his best opportunity to get away.

They met at a mall and drove off. The rest of May 3rd and the early part of this day in 1989, May 4th, were spent moving from hotel to hotel to avoid being found while Meehan worked with the U. S. Embassy to arrange the necessary paperwork.

At one point Mogilny, from the far eastern part of Russia where few players have originated from, attempted to call home and midway through the conversation the call was disconnected, giving rise to Mogilny's fears that the call had been traced and the authorities knew where they were.

They then abandoned their rental car and took a taxi to the airport later in the day, and once inside the security gates, their fears of the Soviet officials was over. Meehan remembers, “He asked me in his broken English, ‘Am I free now?’ " And I said, ‘Yeah, you’re free.’ And he went over and had a beer. He couldn’t believe it. He said ‘free’, he didn’t say ‘safe’. He said ‘free’. I found that to be kind of poignant.”

Fedorov defected less than a year later at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle and shortly afterwards the Iron Curtain fell and Bure joined the NHL without having to defect.

During his rookie season in the NHL, wearing he number 89 presented to him by the Sabres owner Seymour H. Knox III in recognition of his place in the draft and year of his defection, Mogilny would play 65 games, scoring 15 goals and 43 points as he became acclimated to living in North America and learning a new language and culture. "It was a huge adjustment to come to the NHL. The language barrier was the toughest part. Lack of communication affected me both on and off the ice. It also took some time to get used tot he airline travel. I had to deal with a fear of flying," Mogilny recalled.

He would double his goal total the following season to reach 30 for the first time.

The arrival of Pat Lafontaine in Buffalo would give Mogilny a world class teammate to work with and his point totals took another jump upwards, finishing 1991-92 with 39 goals and 84 points and became the first Russian on an NHL All-Star Team. Given a year to work together and now fully integrated into life in the United States and the NHL, Mogilny had one of the greatest seasons in league history in 1992-93. He would score 127 points from 51 assists and a remarkable 76 goals in 77 games. His 76 goals remain tied for fifth all-time in a single season with Teemu Selanne and Phil Esposito.

With Lafontaine limited to just 38 games over the next two seasons, Mogilny was named team captain in his absence, the first European to ever captain an NHL club, but his production suffered as a result of the missing Lafontaine. He was then traded to the Vancouver Canucks and reunited with Bure for the 1995-96 season, in which he would score 55 goals and 107 points, the second highest of his career in both categories. After five seasons of diminishing point totals in Vancouver, from 107 to 73, then 45 twice, he was dealt to the New Jersey Devils late in the 1999-00 season, having previously enjoyed the most minimal playoff success to that point in his career, having only escaped the first round once in ten seasons.

Prior to leaving the Soviet Union, Mogilny had already, just ten days after his 19th birthday, won a gold medal at the 1988 Olympics and then added he World Championship gold just days before his defection. Now with the Devils, Mogilny would see his first extended playoff run, which would evetnually lead to a Stanley Cup championship. When he won the Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils, he became just the ninth player in history to join the Triple Gold Club.

The move to New Jersey was a positive one for Mogilny, as he would regain his scoring touch and exceed 40 goals for only the third time in his career, with 43 goals during an 83 point season and another run to the Stanley Cup Finals.

He would sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the 2001-02 season, where he would play for three seasons, including winning the Lady Byng Trophy in 2003 and scoring his 1,000th point in 2003-04, before returning to the Devils for the final season of his career in 2005-06 before retiring with 473 goals and 1032 points in 990 games.

Following his defection, Mogilny would never play for the Soviet Union again and suit up for Russia just once in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, cutting short what was destined to be a fine, if not outstanding, international career.

When asked following his career about the reasons for his defection, Mogilny responded, “Why did I do it? I did it for freedom. If the bird can fly and the fish can swim, you have to be able to move around the world and be free and not watched constantly. If a human being doesn’t have freedom, that’s not life. It’s like living in a cage. To me, you might as well be dead.”

Today's jersey is a 1989-90 Buffalo Sabres Alexander Mogilny jersey from the greatest season of his career, his 76 goal campaign in 1992-93. This jersey features the Sabres 20th Anniversary patch worn in Mogilny's rookie season following his defection earlier that year.

This jersey also sports Mogilny's distinctive #89, which is based on the year of his defection from the Soviet Union.

In today's video section, an interview with Mogliny from the 1989 World Junior Championships in January, a few months prior to his defection in April after the World Championships. He sticks to the party line quite well, giving little hint as to what was to follow, or at least that's what the interpreter tell us...

Here is a look at the some of the career highlights of Alexander Mogilny.

Here, Mogilny scores his 70th goal of the 1992-93 season, only the seventh player to reach 70 in NHL history.

Speaking of the remarkable 1992-93 season, here is a brief feature story on the partnership between Mogilny and Lafontaine.

1993-94 Buffalo Sabres Dominik Hasek Jersey

The 1993-94 NHL season concluded with a record number of shutouts, as the various goaltenders combined for 99 regular season shutouts, led by Patrick Roy, Dominik Hasek and Ed Belfour with 7 apiece.

Dominik Hasek

Hasek and the Sabres finished sixth in the Eastern Conference with a 43-32-9 record for 95 points and drew the New Jersey Devils, who finished with the second best record in the conference at 106 points, but were seeded third behind the division winning New York Rangers (112 points) and Pittsburgh Penguins (101).

The Sabres were led by Dale Hawerchuk's 33 goals and 86 points, followed by Russian Alexander Mogilny's 32 goals and 79 points. No other Sabre reached 60 points that season. Hasek played in 58 games during his second season in Buffalo, up from 28 the year before, as he split time with Stanley Cup champion Grant Fuhr in the Sabres net. Hasek's 30 wins were good for 6th place in the NHL that season.

The Devils were led in scoring by defenseman Scott Stevens 78 points from 18 goals and 60 assists. The forwards were led by Stephane Richer's 72 points from 36 goals and 36 assists. John MacLean led the club in goals with 37 on his way to 70 points.

That season's Calder Trophy winner Martin Brodeur led the Devils goaltenders with 47 games played and 27 wins, dividing his time with Chris Terreri, who won 20 of his 44 games played.

Brodeur with the Calder Trophy

The Sabres won the opening game of their playoff series on April 17, 1994 when Hasek blanked the Devils 2-0 in New Jersey. Hasek made 30 saves in the contest to make Todd Simon's power play goal late in the first period stand up until Mogilny sealed the game with an empty net goal with nine seconds remaining.

Two nights later the Devils evened the series by winning 2-1 when Stevens scored at 13:39 of the third period to restore the New Jersey lead after Mogilny had tied the game for Buffalo at the 38 second mark of the third period. Brodeur finished with 23 saves to Hasek's 30 to get the first playoff win of his career.

The series then shifted to Buffalo on April 21st where the Devils repeated their 2-1 victory of Game 2. Richer opened the scoring at 19:01 of the first period and Tommy Albelin scored the vital second Devils goal at 15;43 of the second. Brodeur allowed a power play goal to Mogilny on the power play at 4:08 of the third period to make it a tense final 16 minutes, which included killing off a penalty at 11:54, but the Devils held on behind Brodeur's 29 saves compared to Hasek's 24.

Game 4 on the 23rd saw the two teams combine for as many goals as they had scored in the previous three games combined. The Devils opened the scoring at 9:11 of the first period on the power play, but Buffalo took the lead with two goals within 34 seconds later in the period. The teams traded goals within the first four minutes of the second period to make the score 3-2 for Buffalo, but MacLean tied the game after two periods with a power play goal at 18:36.

Just 30 seconds into the third period Wayne Presley gave the Sabres a lead they would not lose and Rob Ray took some pressure off with his goal for Buffalo at 11:35. The game finished at 5-3 in favor of the Sabres with Hasek making 20 stops to 25 for Brodeur.

Tied at 2 games apiece, the series moved back to New Jersey on April 25th. After Buffalo took a 3-1 lead at the 4:52 mark of the second period, the Devils scored four straight goals over the final 32 minutes to win going away 5-3. Brodeur was credited with 17 saves, while Hasek recorded 30 in the loss.

Martin Brodeur

With the Sabres season now on the brink, they returned home to The Aud on this date in 1994 with no margin for error. The first period passed by scoreless despite three powerplays for Buffalo and two for New Jersey. At the conclusion of the first period, the Sabres held an 11-9 edge in shots on goal.

The second period saw five penalties, two against Buffalo and three for the Devils, including Ken Daneyko's second and third of the game. Despite the number of penalties, neither goalie gave an inch, with Brodeur stopping 10 shots and Hasek 14.

The third period was a close fought battle, with 9 shots for Buffalo to New Jersey's 8. A late penalty on Bobby Carpenter of New Jersey provided the only power play of the period. When Buffalo failed to convert, regulation ended scoreless with a 31-30 edge in shots for the Devils.

The Devils held the edge in play in the first overtime, winning the battle in shots on goal 10-6 with each team getting one power play. Still, the game continued on to a second overtime period as Hasek and Broduer continued to match saves.

A late Buffalo penalty in the first overtime carried over into the second overtime, but still New Jersey could not solve Hasek despite outshooting them 11-8. The remainder of the second overtime passed with no additional penalties as the scoreless game marched on to a third overtime.

Despite no power plays, the Devils took it to the Sabres in the third overtime by putting 14 shots on Hasek to only 5 for the Sabres. Brodeur had to endure one power play for Buffalo, which came at the 12:10 mark. The Sabres man advantage passed without a goal, as did the remainder of the period in this now epic battle.

The first minutes of the fourth overtime saw Hasek turn away 4 Devils shots before center Dave Hannan scored when he pounced on a loose puck and launched a backhander past Brodeur at 5:41 to give Buffalo a 1-0 win after 125:43 of scoreless play to force a Game 7 in New Jersey. It was only the seventh goal Hannan had scored all season, as he had totaled just 6 goals in 83 regular season games.

The final four saves Hasek made in the fourth overtime gave him an even 70 for the game, which set an all-time NHL record for Most Saves by a Goaltender in a Shutout, which still stands today. At the time, it was the 6th longest game in NHL history and still ranks in the top ten.

New Jersey would return home to host Game 7, which they would win 2-1 as Hasek saved 44 of the 46 Devils shots, while the Sabres only managed 18 shots for the entire game, less than the Devils had in the third period alone. Buffalo scored first at 6:00 of the first period on a power play, but it would be their final goal of the series. New Jersey evened the score at 9:53, also on the power play. Claude Lemieux's fourth goal of the series at 13:49 proved to be the difference in this epic battle between two of the finest goaltenders of their generation.

Today's featured jersey is a 1993-94 Buffalo Sabres Dominik Hasek jersey as worn during his record setting 70 save shutout of the New Jersey Devils during Game 6 of their first round playoff matchup on this date in 1994.

Today's video selection is a review of the Sabres and Devils playoff series of 1994, with commentary by Don Cherry and annoying music by some evil musician with a synthesizer and way, way too much caffeine.

This second clip features excitable Sabres announcer Rick Jeanneret's call of Hannan's goal to win Game 6, which included his famous reference to vanished union leader Jimmy Hoffa.

For those of you with three hours to spare, here is a link to the full game on You Tube.

2010-11 Buffalo Sabres Nathan Gerbe Jersey

With time winding down in last night's game between the New York Islanders and Buffalo Sabres and New York leading comfortably by a 4-0 score, Nathan Gerbe got the puck along the boards near the top of the faceoff circle and began a rush up the ice. At center ice he breezed by P. A. Parenteau at center ice before successfully putting a deke on defenseman Jack Hillen and lifted a beautiful backhander past goaltender Kevin Poulin with 3:22 remaining.

Gerbe stayed on the ice for the ensuing faceoff and broke for the Islanders zone after the drop of the puck. He managed to poke the puck past defenseman Dylan Reese, who fanned on a chance to clear it. Gerbe turned him backwards in the process of going by Reese, and as he turned once again to face the Islander goal, Sabres center Mike Greer poked the puck forward to Gerbe, who patiently held for a split second to give the puck time to move farther forward into a good shooting position before he snapped a shot past Poulin once again with 3:17 remaining for his second goal in just five seconds to set a Sabres record for the two quickest goals by one player.

The two goals in five seconds tied Peter Mahovlich's feat in 1971, but was still one second behind the NHL record shared by center Nels Stewart, who scored two in four seconds in 1931 for the Montreal Maroons and Deron Quint of the Winnipeg Jets in 1995.

Quint's two goals in four seconds were all the more remarkable since the defenseman's total for the season was just five goals in 51 games.

While thoughts then turned to Bill Mosienko's record three goal hat trick in 21 seconds in 1952, Gerbe was unable to score again and the Islanders added an empty net goal to complete their 5-2 win. For his stunning back to back goals, Gerbe was named the game's #2 star of the night.

Today's featured jersey is a 2010-11 Buffalo Sabres Nathan Gerbe jersey. The Sabres debuted this jersey in the 2008-09 season as an alternate jersey. It was a modern update on the Sabres classic original sweaters worn from 1970 to 1996, with darker shades of the original blue and gold.

For 2010-11 this jersey was promoted to the regular home jersey, replacing the unloved "Buffaslug" sweater design.

Gerbe, just 5' 5", is a product of the US National Development Program and played college hockey for Boston College of Hockey East, winning a national championship in 2008. Prior to this season he has played mainly with the Portland Pirates of the AHL, but has appeared in ten games in both 2008-09 and 2009-10, when he scored his first NHL goal. To date, Gerbe has played 30 games for the Sabres this season, scoring 5 goals and 7 assists.

1975-76 Buffalo Sabres Gerry Desjardins Jersey

Following the success of the 1972 Summit Series between Team Canada and the Soviet Union, more opportunities were sought for competition between teams of North American professionals and Soviet squads. The second such series took place in 1974, when a team of players representing the World Hockey Association, who were not allowed to participate in the 1972 version, faced off against the Soviet National Team.

The concept was then expanded beyond the two-team exhibition series format with the introduction of the 1976 Canada Cup, a tournament format which featured national teams from six nations, who played a round robin format with the top two teams meeting in a best-of-three final.

Later in 1976, a new idea came to the fore, the "Super Series", in which the best two club teams from the Soviet League would travel to North America to play exhibition games against NHL member clubs, no doubt motivated by the opportunity to profit financially from the interest in seeing the exotic and still mysterious teams from behind the Iron Curtain.

Goal magazine program cover for the 1976 Super Series

The first of those games took place later in 1976 when both the famed Central Red Army (HC CSKA Moscow) and Soviet Wings (Krylya Sovetov Moscow) teams arrived in late December to play four games each against NHL competition. Such was the continued importance of beating the teams from North America from a propaganda standpoint, that both Soviet clubs also had the addition of a few of the better players from other Soviet clubs. Central Red Army was bolstered by a pair of skaters from Dynamo Moscow, while the Wings added four members of Spartak Moscow to increase their strength.

Central Red Army got things underway with a game on December 28, 1975 when they throttled the New York Rangers 7-3 at Madison Square Garden. The Soviet Wings tour began the very next day with similar results when they defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 7-4.

Next up for the dominant club of Soviet club hockey, Central Red Army, was their famed battle with the Montreal Canadiens, a team on the verge of a dynasty of four straight Stanley Cups, on New Year's Eve in 1975, a 3-3 tie between two of the finest clubs ever in mid-season form, which is often called the greatest game of hockey ever played.

Next on the schedule, on this date in 1976, was the meeting between the Soviet Wings and the host Buffalo Sabres. The game was played at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium in front of 16,433 fans.

Buffalo was one of the NHL's top teams at the time, having just competed in the Stanley Cup Finals at the conclusion of the previous season. They were led by "The French Connection" line of Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin and Rene Robert. They, and the rest of the Sabres, were under pressure to win, as the NHL was still winless after the first three games.

Sabres GM Punch Imlach had a plan to deal with the Wings to take advantage of something the Sabres had that they did not, size on defense. Jocelyn Guevremont, Bill Hajt, Jerry Korab and Jim Schoenfeld were all at least 6' 2" and more than 200 pounds were all instructed to hit the Wings hard and as often as possible and outwork the Wings.

The fans in Buffalo created an atmosphere that was simply electric as they sought to support not only their team, but the democratic way of life in the face of the communist system the Wings represented to them. "We came out onto the ice, and it had to be several minutes until it quieted down. We were so excited we could almost feel the ice shake," recalled Korab.

Krylya Sovetov Moscow

The four defensemen hit any and every puck carrier they could and Guevremont opened the scoring at 6:10 of the first period, which caused the Buffalo faithful to let out a thunderous roar. Exactly one minute later Perreault scored on Wings goaltender Alexander Sidelnikov to continue the celebration. Midway through the period Martin extended the Sabres lead to 3-0 but the Wings stemmed the tide when they scored a power play goal on the Sabres Gerry Desjardins at 13:45, but a little more than a half a minute later Martin struck again at 14:23. Sergei Kapustin closed out the period with a goal at 19:16 to keep the Wings within striking distance at 4-2 in favor of the Sabres. The period ended with the Sabres leading in shots on goal 17-9.

The second period was even more of a track meet as the Sabres extended their lead with a power play goal by Jim Lorentz at 4:32 followed by Robert a minute later at 5:32 to put Buffalo in a commanding 6-2 lead. The Wings' Vladimir Repnev kept the goals coming 27 seconds later to make the score 6-3. The teams again traded goals with Korab scoring on the power play at 8:26 and Victor Shalimov responding at 8:40. The seventh Sabres goal chased Sidelnikov from the Wings goal in favor of Alexsandr Kylikov. The Sabres then kept their foot on the gas when Danny Gare scored at 11:44 followed by Peter McNab, who made it 10-4 at 13:17 to continue the party in the stands as Kylikov's stay in the net ended after less than five minutes. The second period ended with the Sabres up 9-4 and now leading in shots 34-16.

The third period was more of the same as Kapustin got his second of the game for the Soviets at 3:28. Fred Stanfield added his name to the goal scoring roll call at 9:41 as the Sabres reached double digits followed by Yuri Lebedev for the Wings at 11:32.

The Sabres then hammered home their point when Danny Gare scored at 14:04 and Brain Spencer finished off the worst loss ever by a Soviet team in international competition with his goal at 18:04 on another power play, the Sabres third of the game as they became the first NHL club to ever defeat a Soviet team. The final shots on goal for the evening were 46-25 in favor of Buffalo.

The scoreboard shows the final score of the Sabres historic victory

Martin was voted the games first star following his two goal, five point night. "You could tell they didn't like the fact they got out skated. When we were out on the ice, they all had this dumbfounded look on their faces. They didn't expect that. When we saw that would could skate with them, we just went for it and it worked," Martin said afterwards.

So popular was the Sabres win with NHL fans that they received a standing ovation before their next game - in Montreal!

Imlauch called the game "was the all-time high point for the Sabres"as well as the highlight of his lengthy career.

Such was the significance of the Sabres victory that a souvenir of a game is created following the contest

"I had never been so fired up for a game," said Martin. "I had played in a lot of big games, but that truly was the game I'll never forget."

The Wings rebounded from their crushing defeat by Buffalo to down the Chicago Black Hawks three days later 4-2 and conclude their North American foray with a 3-1 record after their 2-1 defeat of the New York Islanders.

Today's featured jersey is a 1975-76 Buffalo Sabres Gerry Desjardins jersey, the winning goaltender is the Sabres victory over the Soviet Wings.

The Sabres original jerseys had a lace up collar and no names on the back, which were later added by league mandated rules in 1977. You will notice however, that the Sabres did have names on the backs of their jerseys in the photo above, taken at the conclusion of the game against the Soviet Wings.

Popular belief among team owners at the time was that names on the back would result in less sales of game programs, but common practice at the time was to add names for games that were nationally televised and this may have been the case for the game against the Wings, either for American audiences or perhaps even possible viewers back in Russia. The font used for the names does have serifs on the letters, while the standard font for names on the backs of Sabres jerseys beginning in 1977 was a simpler block font without serifs.

The Sabres jerseys retained their lace up collars until 1978-79 when they were replaced by v-neck sweaters.

Desjardins began his NHL career with the Los Angeles Kings in 1968-69 and was later involved in a trade which sent him to the Chicago Black Hawks in 1969-70. Chicago actually traded him to the California Seals on September 9th, 1971, only to be sent back to Chicago in another trade five weeks later before ever playing a game for California!

The New York Islanders claimed him in the 1972 expansion draft from Chicago. He suffered through two losing seasons as the Islanders found their feet in the NHL. Desjardins sought greener pastures in the WHA, but signed for the 1974-75 season with the unstable Michigan Stags franchise, which became the Baltimore Blades mid-season, a move which triggered an escape clause in his contract, allowing him to sign with the Buffalo Sabres in time to appear in nine regular season games as well as the teams playoff run all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals.

With Buffalo, he found not only stability, but success as well, easily setting career highs with 29 and then 31 wins as the Sabres number one goaltender before being forced to retire after being struck in the eye by a puck after playing just three games of the 1977-78 season.

Our video section today begins with the introductions of the conquering heroes, the Buffalo Sabres.

Pull up a chair and get comfortable, here are extended highlights of the goals from the Sabres win over the Soviet Wings, the first win for an NHL club over a Soviet team.

1970-71 Buffalo Sabres Roger Crozier Jersey

The Buffalo Sabres were granted an NHL franchise in December of 1969 to begin play in the 1970-71 season. Punch Imlach was hired to build the team and immediately set out to assemble a scouting staff for the upcoming draft six months later.

On June 10, 1970, the Sabres and fellow expansion club the Vancouver Canucks participated in the expansion draft, which Imlach said "wasn't a very enticing prospect", as the existing 12 clubs could protect fifteen players plus two goalies, meaning the best the Sabres could hope for was the 16th best player from any club. To make matters worse, once a team lost a player, they could protect another, which meant the Sabres and Canucks would then be choosing the 18th best player at best. In addition, first-year players were exempt as well. Montreal, for an extreme example, was able to protect fifteen players and two goalies, plus an additional 12 players and Boston was in a position to protect eight additional beyond the prescribed 15, leaving nothing but scraps for the Sabres and Canucks in the first phase of attempting to put a respectable team on the ice.

Thus, their hopes of getting some noteworthy talent focused on the Amateur Draft held the next day. There was still the matter of deciding if Buffalo or Vancouver would have the first pick, which was usually decided by a coin toss, but Imlach explains in his book "Heaven and Hell in the NHL",

"For some reason, perhaps because it made better television, the NHL substituted a big jeezly wheel, the kind you see on the midway. It was numbered one to twelve. I won a toss to see who picked what numbers for the main spin. I chose the top ones. There was a hell of a crowd in the ballroom at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, everyone in hockey there. When the first spin of the wheel stopped at eight, I had won first choice in the expansion draft. Everybody at our table cheered. But now came the big one."

Clarence Campbell spun the wheel. When it stopped, he looked at the winning number and announced "Number one! Vancouver wins first choice in the amateur draft!"

But I was on my feet and so was everybody at our table, pointing and yelling, "Eleven! Eleven!"

Clarence took another look. The digits in the double figures were one above the other.

It's always amused me that Clarence didn't say, "I've made a mistake." He said, "There has been a mistake. The winning number is eleven..." the rest was drowned out in the wild uproar, not only at our table, but through the room, with only Vancouver and it's supporters remaining quiet. Even glum."

Prior to the expansion and amateur drafts, the Sabres had acquired a few players, but no one anyone was interested in trading for. But now in position to pick first in the expansion draft, Sid Abel of the Detroit Red Wings approached Inlach with a proposal. Abel was coveting Tom Webster, a 21 year old right winger who the Bruins had left unprotected. Imlach continues,

"But this night when [Abel] saw me, it was only a few hours after I'd won first choice in the expansion draft. He hooked his arm though mine and said so the guys with me could hear, "Come with me, Punch. I want to give you something."

"I'll bet you do!" I said.

We walked to a quite corner.

"Look, you know Tom Webster?"

"Yeah." The protected lists were out and Webster was not protected. Detroit wanted him, badly. Obviously.

"If you'll pick Webster first, we'll trade you Roger Crozier for him," Abel said.

Music! Whatever else we got in the draft, we just had to come up with an NHL goalkeeper. But Crozier was beyond my wildest dreams. He had won the rookie award in his first full year, the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs a year later and had a low 2.65 goals against average in the season just ended. But he wasn't happy in Detroit an dthey though he was sick too much. That's when you can get a guy.

"You got a deal!" I told Abel.

With the goaltending position now addressed and his plan to select Gilbert Perreault in the amateur draft lined up, Imlach took defensemen with four of his next five picks before going after the best skaters and scorers he could get in an effort to provide the public in Buffalo an exciting as possible product.

The opportunity to provide the public in Buffalo that product finally arrived on this date in 1970, when the Sabres played their first ever home game in the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

"We hadn't been able to get the balcony built for that season. We didn't even have our own dressing room," Imlach recalled.

The Sabres had already won their debut game on the road in Pittsburgh 2-1 and lost in New York to the Rangers 3-0 before returning home to face the Montreal Canadiens.

"They played that funny game where they don't let you have the puck. I remember before the game, at the reception the Knoxes threw for opening night, somebody said that everybody there would do anything they could to help the Knoxes, except play goal. The game that night show how true that was. Roger Crozier was just magnificent in our goal, but they outshot us 44-14 and beat us 3-0."

While it may have been the Sabres first game in "The Aud", it was far from the first event ever held there, as Memorial Auditorium opened thirty years and a day earlier on October 14, 1940 and it's first tenant was the AHL's Buffalo Bisons hockey team until the arrival of the Sabres in 1970. Also calling The Aud home beginning in 1970 were the Buffalo Braves of the NBA as well as indoor lacrosse, soccer and roller hockey teams and the usual concerts, rodeos and circuses.

To accomodate the arrival of the Sabres and Braves, the roof of the arena was raised 24 feet to make room for a new upper level of seating which raised the capacity for hockey from 12,280 to 15,858. Later renovations pushed that total to 16,433 seats and air conditioning was added in 1990 to try to modernize the building until a new arena could be funded and constructed.

The air conditioning would also prevent another occurrence of an incident in 1975 when a playoff game in the spring was plagued by a thick fog forming on the ice as a result of a sold out building and the warm weather outside heating up the building too much.

"The Fog Game" during the 1975 playoffs

The Aud remained in use until 1996 and was not demolished until 2009. For a fascinating look inside the abandoned Buffalo Memorial Auditorium prior to it's demolition, click here.

Today's featured jersey is a 1970-71 Buffalo Sabres Roger Crozier jersey. The original Sabres jerseys featured a lace-up collar and no names on the back until mandated by the league in 1977. This style lasted as long as the Sabres played in The Aud, and were replaced by a new buffalo head logo as well as a radical change in color scheme from blue and gold to black and red with the move to their new arena.

Crozier had actually played for the Buffalo Bisons in the AHL prior to his making the jump to the NHL with the Red Wings in 1963. Following his trade to the expansion Sabres, he would return to Buffalo and The Aud for six seasons before closing out his career with a brief stint of three games with the Washington Capitals in 1976. He was the first member inducted in the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame in 1980.

This video tribute to the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium includes footage of the game winning goal for the Sabres from "The Fog Game" and Wayne Gretzky breaking the single season goal scoring record of 76.

Our final video today is the final minute of the last game ever played at The Aud.