NHL, Sabres considered postponement
Published: February 13, 2009, 9:07 pm
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In the wake of the crash of Continental Flight 3407, the Buffalo Sabres had brief discussions with the National Hockey League about postponing Friday's game in HSBC Arena but ultimately decided the show would go on.
Speaking to the media during the first intermission of the Sabres' 6-5 shootout victory the San Jose Sharks, Sabres minority owner Larry Quinn said he took a call from NHL Vice President Bill Daly to discuss the situation.
"[Daly] first asked me if any team members, team personnel or family were involved," Quinn said. "I told him I didn't know but I was pretty sure there weren't. Then I had a conversation with [General Manager Darcy Regier] to take the pulse of the team and see what he thought. We thought it was best that we play the game.
"I explained to Bill that the plane crash was in an area where a lot of our people live. Once we made sure that nobody was directly affected on the team and their families, we felt it was best for the community to play the game."
With the HD video board above center ice set to black, the sellout crowd of 18,690 was stunningly quiet as the Sabres held a long moment of silence to honor the victims prior to the national anthems.
"I think that people want to be with other people in times like this," Quinn said. "I think the arena and the games here are really our town hall. It's the only place in town where people from different strata of society get together. ... People that aren't here are probably gathered in their family rooms watching the game, gathered with family, so I think it does have a nice community purpose to it."
Quinn said he went to bed early Thursday night and did not hear of the crash until his 30-year-old daughter, Molly Decker, called him at 5 a.m. Friday. She lives in New Jersey and Quinn said she regularly takes the same Continental flight.
"Although I didn't know anyone on the plane, it really did strike home with me," Quinn said.
Some Sabres players live within several hundred yards of the crash site in Clarence Center. Regier and coach Lindy Ruff both live about 2 miles away.
"Despite all the ups and downs we find in Buffalo, it's a very close-knit community," Quinn said. "I'm sure in a much bigger community they would feel the same way, but I don't think they'd be sitting around talking about a plane crash 500 yards from their players' houses. So it's very close to us."
Quinn said one of the vivid images he'll remember was a widely televised interview with the brother of Ellyce Kausner, the Florida law school student who was returning home to visit family.
"When I turned on CNN, I saw the young man talking about his sister who was lost on the flight," Quinn said. "The first thing I saw was he was wearing a Sabres hat and you realize how that connects the whole community."
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