Ten years ago, poor enforcement of a dubious rule awarded the Stanley Cup to the Dallas Stars.
Sabres fans remember it as so much more.
For me, it was one of those "Why are my hands sweating while I watch televised sports?" moments. After each heart-pounding overtime, I had to run downstairs and play video games just to stay awake. The game? "Virtual Bart." You needed to beat this board to win the entire game. Not sure I ever did.
My mom mandated that everyone stay in the same seats they were in when Stu Barnes equalized in the second period. Everything was superstition based, and when Brett Hull got his goal, my parents' immediate reaction was "No goal! No goal!"
We knew the rule. Everyone did. I wonder if it helped or hurt the Sabres more during the run to the Finals, but it stunk. It was "Saturday-night-not-old-enough-to-drink-don't-wake-me-up-for-Church-tomorrow" awful, and it was all part of a disturbing trend. It didn't help that Brett Hull was as smug a winner as you could imagine. I still remember him scoring off a face-off for St. Louis to beat the Sabres in overtime several years before "No Goal."
In the late 1990s, it seemed like Buffalo teams's seasons were only allowed to happen if there was tomfoolery and/or heartbreak. John Leclair scored a goal through the side of the net. Frank Wycheck's supposed forward pass. Pass interference on a Hail Mary against the Patriots. Even St. Bonaventure's thrilling, double-overtime upset attempt of Kentucky in 2000 didn't finish off quite right.
There's no overriding point here, just commemoration of a miserable event. The goal probably should've counted, and maybe we're even close to over it by now. I'd say I'd take it to my grave, but that's embarassing when you consider its a sporting event.
One day, I won't have to feel like I've typed in this tone 150 times. One day, we'll have our names on something special. We get a taste from time-to-time, whether it be the Bandits' MLL titles or UB Bulls' MAC Championship, but I can't wait for the day the whole community is 100 percent behind a title.
I'm ready, but I was just as ready 10 years ago. Stupid Brett Hull.
i just purchased Virtual Bart off of ebay. I remember renting it, now I finally own it.
06/19/2009 7:48AM
dont hold your breath
better not hold your breath, nick.the only thing this community is behind 100% is the fear of both our teams moving.i cant believe that is even a topic of discussion, it's sad isnt it.
06/19/2009 8:37AM
Hasek
Why is Hasek's jersey not retired by the Sabres yet?
06/19/2009 9:38AM
What about the Pen's
A rule was broken where Malkin should have been suspended for one game. The NHL miffed that up. This series was tainted as well.
06/19/2009 9:45AM
:-(
man it hurts when you open up these stories again. it's hard, but i just really try to not think about any of Buffalo's misfortunes :-(
06/19/2009 10:46AM
Decade of "get over it"
Had it not been a news article today i wouldn't have known about 10 years, nor would i have remembered "OJ". These things are fodder or shall i say "filler" that are supossed stories that are not stories. To anyone lamenting anything like this, simply get a life and get over it. Stop lending to the stigma of the whiney Buffalonian who lives life to think we are jobbed in everything bad that happens and that the world is out to get us. As far as our name on anything, it won't be the sabres under Land Developer Larry & Average Ryan
06/19/2009 10:57AM
decade of shut up commenter
you anonymously comment the same crap under every sabres topic. do you actually enjoy anything about sports... or is it all about whatever is miserable about the teams currently playing. who is average ryan? ryan phillippe?
06/19/2009 11:19AM
Screwed
Do you people recall how the NHL tried to justify that it was a good goal? Bryan Lewis, the NHL's director of officiating said that Hull’s initial shot that was stopped by Hasek constituted beginning of possession for Hull. Then, while in the process of corralling the rebound, he put his foot in the crease, and then shot the puck in the net. But because Hull was in the act of retrieving the rebound, he was still considered “in possession” of the puck and therefore he could score a goal with his foot in the crease.
Then, when asked why NOBODY had ever heard of this exception to the “foot in the crease” rule, the league responded by saying that a memo had been sent out to all 30 NHL teams explaining this amendment to the rule in March of 1999.
Three things:
1) No coach or general manager ever confirmed receiving the supposed memo.
2) The supposed amendment to the rule was never cited by the video review judges to nullify a goal during the regular season or playoffs in 1999. In addition, I never once heard any broadcaster or league official even mention that this amendment existed. But, most importantly…
3) This supposed memo that explained an exception to the rule they had in place all season long was NOT in the rulebook. So even if this memo actually did exist, it wouldn’t have had any value anyway.
I can live with bad calls, they happen. This was not a bad call. When a league goes so far as to “make up” a rule to justify their corrupt agenda, and then insist that all proper procedures were followed in reviewing the goal, I just don’t know what to say. But, after all, this is the NHL.
06/19/2009 11:35AM
Brett F*cking Hull
in honor of Bucky F*cking Dent
06/19/2009 11:44AM
Atleast
Atleast Buffalo is not Cleveland!!!
06/19/2009 12:06PM
MLL
NLL*
06/19/2009 12:49PM
decade of get over your face
We lament over these things because name me one team, other than the red sox, that has ever won anything and had to deal with even a fraction of the controversy and heartbreak as the sabres?? Thats right, so don't you think that if it looks like a rat, smells like a rat, that maybe it is a rat? All I know is that when the sabres finally do get to sink the cup to the bottom of a pool, i'll be laughing in "Decade of get over its" face with his stupid patriots hat, lakers jersey, and any other recent championship teams apparel on...
06/19/2009 1:44PM
average ryan
without miller u bum, we would be no better than the islanders with the collection of bums we have. when he got hurt, we tanked 5th to 10th place
06/19/2009 6:25PM
lots of errors in this piece
Leclair's goal was in 2000 not the 90's as you claim, and the Bandits play in the NLL not the MLL
06/20/2009 12:03PM
makes me cry
i know how you feel. i watch msg sometimes and they always play the spring of '94 i believe and watching that show almost makes me cry. it makes me think about what this town would be like if either the sabres or the bills were even to get back to the finals for their respected sports. I know i would be ecstatic and the entire city would have their hearts into the teams aagin. It really is a shame but when we get back to respectability, this city will be rockin
06/20/2009 10:07PM
lots of errors guy
the season was 99-00. don't be a douche.
06/21/2009 12:02AM
spring of 94
ah not even rangers or nicks fan but thats some great televeison right there, damn,
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