Go Sabres Go

Sabres fan Dan O'Brien (far left) has been bringing his friends to North Bay for more than a decade. His annual fishing trip became secondary to the beloved Sabres. Photo by Chris Dawson.

Don Cherry’s restaurant seemed to have transformed into the “Old Aud” in Buffalo on Monday night as cheers of “Go Buffalo Go” could be heard outside the sports bar.

More than a dozen Buffalo fans up here in North Bay on a fishing trip huddled around the Don Cherry's television sets hoping to watch their Sabres take a commanding 2-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference finals against the Carolina Hurricanes.

The score stood 3-1 Carolina after two periods of play but these guys still tried to remain upbeat.

“The game is not over yet and there’s another period to play and Buffalo has been the team that has been down 3-2, 3-1 and they’ve won many games,” said Buffalo native Dave Casslowsky, alluding to the come from behind victories in game five and game one in the Sabres previous series against Ottawa.

Dan O’Brien, a bus driver from Buffalo, is the man behind this annual trip which brings as many as 30 people from upstate New York to the area for what’s become an annual fishing expedition since mid 1990's. Usually these die hard hockey fans have been able to focus on fishing this time of year, but for the first time since 1999, the Sabres are in the conference finals threatening to win the Stanley Cup.

“It’s just amazing I mean, we are just happy we can see it somewhere because they don’t have it at where we are so we had to find a spot and what better than Don Cherry’s,” said O’Brien.

Jay Tom has been a Buffalo fan since he was a toddler and plays men’s league hockey in New York. He even made an open invitation to any North Bay Hockey fans to jump on the Buffalo Band Wagon.

The Sabres ended up falling 4-3 in game two, disappointing these enthusiastic Sabres fans as the series now heads back to Buffalo for Game 3 and Tom says he’ll be there.

“I’ve paid through the nose but I’ve got tickets for every game coming, I won’t able to go on Friday because I’ll be out of town but I’m going Wednesday and I’m going game six next Tuesday if necessary hopefully it just becomes Edmonton-Buffalo because that’s what I’m routing for,” said Tom.

With virtually zero Buffalo memorabilia on the Pro-Boston and Toronto Walls of Don Cherry’s these fans still felt very much at home watching the Sabres in North Bay where some of these Sabres supporters watched their team make it to the Stanley Cup final in 1999 against the Dallas Stars. However, when the group was asked to pose for a photo underneath a familiar figure to Buffalo fans; a life size poster of Brett Hull, they responded with a loud “NO!”

Yes, (remember the Hull OT Stanley Cup winner?) they are hoping for a better finish to the season than 1999, so next year when they come to North Bay for their annual fishing trip, they can show off their 2006 Stanley Cup champion hats and shirts.