Monday, May 18, 2020
Rob Ray Remembers
Rob Ray
hails from Stirling, Ontario. He played exactly 900 games in the
National Hockey League, all but 11 of them with the Buffalo Sabres.
He stayed in Buffalo following his career on the ice, and has been
doing commentary work for the Sabres since 2012. He was a fan
favourite in Buffalo, without question. At one game I attended, in
Buffalo, Ray spent most of the game on the bench. During the third
period, things got a little nasty on the ice. 18 000 fans began to
chant, “We want Ray, we want Ray”. The coach sent Robert to the
ice. Things settled down considerably the moment his blades cracked
the surface.
In 1999, the
Sabres faced the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Eastern Conference Final.
They split the first two games in Toronto, won the next two in
Buffalo. Ray added a marker in the second period of game four, and
they headed back to Toronto for game five. The Sabres disposed of the
Leafs in that game, and headed back to Buffalo, by bus. Needless to
say, it was a raucous trip. “It was an emotional time,” reported
Ray. Things quieted down at the border, as the American customs agent
border the bus. “That lasted for about two seconds before he
started running down the aisle, high -fiving everyone, and joining
the celebration.”
Dominic
Hasek, the Sabres goaltender, greeted the agent at the front of the
bus, put his arm over his shoulder, and poured a beer over his
head. “We're in trouble,” was the thought that crossed the
minds of all of the players on the bus. After a moment's hesitation,
the officer hollered, “Yeah!!!”, and exited the bus. ( Once we
get to cross the border again, this is not recommended.)
Ray won the
King Clancy Award that year for his humanitarian efforts in Buffalo.
He has always been involved in charity work, on both sides of the
border. He visited my classroom several times, and the kids were
delighted to spend an hour or two with Mr. Ray. After one visit, I
invited Rob to dinner at my house, fresh corn and steaks.
We headed to
Lewis Wight's corn field when he arrived. We met Lewis at the field,
and I introduced him to Rob. “What do you do for a living?” Lewis
asked Rob, barely into the conversation. Rob told him he played
hockey. “No, no,” Lewis retorted, “I mean for a living!”.
I told Lewis that Rob had made half a million dollars the
previous year. Lewis chewed on that for a minute, then asked Rob
where his home was. When told that he was from Stirling, Lewis asked
him if he knew John Ray, the farm machinery dealer. Rob told Lewis
that John was his Dad. Lewis then blurted out, “Why, I kept you in
coveralls for years!” The corn was excellent, as usual.
Robert Ray
watched a lot of the play in the NHL from the penalty box. He spent
more than 3200 minutes in the “sin bin”. He trailed just a few
other notables in the career penalty minute category when he retired:
Tiger Williams, Dale Hunter, Marty McSorley, Tie Domi, and Chris
Nilan. He did not win all of his scraps, but he showed up for every
one.
Rob had a
decent career in the Ontario Hockey League before being drafted by
the Sabres. He had 52 points in 61 games in his final season with the
Cornwall Royals. He saved his best games for the Stirling fans who
made the trip to Belleville to watch him play against the Bulls. He
was no favourite of coach Larry Mavety, as Ray would sometimes cruise
in front of the Belleville bench with a huge smile on his face!
Certainly
the pride of Centre Hastings, and Stirling, Ontario!
May 12,
2020.
James Hurst
# posted by James Hurst @ 5:56 PM 
