Rick Jeanneret finally said yes to the Sabres Hall of Fame for one reason that mattered most to him: his mother.
After years of turning down the invitation, Jeanneret accepted the honor in 2011 so his 91-year-old mother, Kay, could share the moment with him. That decision turned the ceremony into something bigger than a standard team tribute. It became a family night, and a deeply personal one at that.
“I had a lot of encouragement from my mom,” Jeanneret said Tuesday prior to his induction with center Dale Hawerchuk before the Sabres’ 6-5 overtime win against the Winnipeg Jets. “It just seemed to be the right time.
She’s here tonight. I’ll tell you, you couldn’t have kept her away tonight.”
Inside the First Niagara Center, the crowd of 18,690 gave Jeanneret a loud, emotional ovation. Up in a suite, Kay Jeanneret watched with family members, all of them wearing No.
40 Sabres jerseys with “PP” on the front for “play-by-play.” When she met Sabres owner Terry Pegula and president Ted Black before the game, her son said it put her in “seventh heaven.”
“She’s absolutely having the time of her life up there, and I’m glad that I made the decision to do it now,” Jeanneret said.
The night also honored Dale Hawerchuk, whose Sabres career often gets overlooked outside Buffalo despite the numbers he put up. He wore No. 10 for nine seasons in Winnipeg and five in Buffalo, and he was already in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto after being inducted there in 2001.
Hawerchuk chose this night because the Sabres were facing the Jets, the team that traded him to Buffalo in 1990 for defenseman Phil Housley. The timing made the ceremony feel especially fitting to him.
“I think everybody in Canada and around the National Hockey League are excited to see the Winnipeg Jets back,” Hawerchuk said. “This is a special night.
I stand out there and they’re the two teams I spent the most time with. Those two are definitely closest to my heart.”
Jeanneret is part of that group, too.
“If I hear that voice, I try to find a TV because I know it’s going to be a hell of a highlight,” Hawerchuk said.
Hawerchuk’s production in Buffalo was easy to miss only because the roster around him was so loaded with scorers. He had seasons of 89, 98, 96 and 86 points, and his 80 assists in 1992-93 still rank second in franchise history. But that year belonged to Pat LaFontaine and Alexander Mogilny in the spotlight, with LaFontaine piling up 95 assists and 148 points and Mogilny scoring 76 goals.
“We had a lot of guys who could score goals here,” Hawerchuk said. “I felt my niche was always what I can bring to the table that’s going to be best for this hockey team.
When Mogilny and LaFontaine want the puck, you get it to them. That was going to best for the Buffalo Sabres.”
That 1992-93 club gave Buffalo one of its best shots at a Stanley Cup. The Sabres swept Boston in four games, with Jeanneret’s Brad May call in overtime closing out the series.
Then came Montreal in the Adams Division final, where Buffalo lost all four games by a goal. LaFontaine and Mogilny did not finish the series.
“The buzz in the Aud just never seemed to end,” Hawerchuk said. “When a power play came about, the buzz went to another level.
We had guys that really wanted to score goals, that loved the game and had passion for the game. It was unfortunate we didn’t stay healthy.”
At the time, Hawerchuk was in his second season coaching the Ontario Hockey League’s Barrie Colts, a job that kept him in hockey from a different angle. He said the rhythm of coaching never really stops.
“As a player you practice hard and prepare and then you go rest and get ready for the game,” Hawerchuk said. “When you’re resting, coaches are usually looking at game film and trying to put together that little tweak to put the team over the top. It seems I’m doing that all day long, and my wife can attest to that.
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