A sweater sets Kennedy’s heart racing
Home-grown Sabre cherishes the jersey
Tim Kennedy is studying. He’s watching the older Buffalo Sabres, picking up tips on how to find holes in defenses and how to make fewer mistakes. But one lesson he learned all on his own is that adrenaline is a powerful, powerful thing.
Kennedy got his first chance to wear a Sabres uniform Tuesday, dressing for the preseason game against Montreal. For a kid who grew up in South Buffalo watching the Sabres, putting the logo across his chest was a pulse-quickening moment. It pumped him up a little too much.
“I don’t know if I can describe it,” Kennedy said. “The first period my skates were tied so tight I couldn’t feel my feet. It was pretty fun, though, to put on the jersey I’ve been watching for the past 20 years or so. It was awesome.”
Kennedy is dreaming of the chance to wear it in front of his hometown. The Sabres play back-to-back exhibitions this weekend in HSBC Arena. Kennedy won’t dress for tonight’s game against Toronto, but he could be in the lineup Sunday when Minnesota visits.
“I’ve always dreamed of playing here, and it would just be surreal,” he said. “I’m probably going to spend the year in
Maine, so if I can get just one game here, that’d be awesome.”
It’s easy to tell the 22-year-old grew up in the City of No Illusions. He’s aware he’s ticketed for Portland when the Pirates players split from training camp. But he’s going to learn as much as he can from the NHLers before starting his American Hockey League career.
“I’m just trying to watch them,” Kennedy said. “I’ll make mistakes because it’s my first year pro, where with guys like [Jochen] Hecht [they] won’t make that mistake. But that comes with time, and hopefully over the next few years I’ll be like them and I won’t make those mistakes.”
Kennedy is making an impression at training camp. The locals who followed his national championship career at Michigan State know he can rise to the moment, and now his coach is learning he comes through in the mundane times, too.
“The area that he’s surprised me at is he’s shown real good composure with the puck,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “We’ve played him at center a lot, which really isn’t his natural position, but it’s somewhere we’d like him to be able to play. His ability to make plays is good.”
Being from Buffalo, Kennedy has always been aware that Sabres players get extra attention around town. He just didn’t know how much. He’s finding out fans aren’t shy.
“It’s just people that I don’t even know,” Kennedy said. “They just walk up randomly and just ask me about stuff, so that’s been kind of the weird thing so far. People I’ve never talked to in my life asking me if I can get them a box for some series during the year. I’m like, ‘I’m not even going to be here, so how am I going to get you a box?’ But it’s just funny the way some people think.”
If Kennedy excels in Portland, he could put himself in line to be one of the first call-ups. If the adrenaline is flowing now, just wait until that happens.
“Hopefully something happens during the year where I can get a call-up, but I’m just going to wait for my time,” Kennedy said. “I’ll make the best of it.”
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The Sabres’ roster for tonight features an ample amount of star power. The forward lines will be Derek Roy in the middle of left wing Thomas Vanek and right wing Maxim Afinogenov; Paul Gaustad centering Clarke MacArthur and Ales Kotalik; Marek Zagrapan flanked by Philip Gogulla and Drew Stafford; and Felix Schutz between Andrew Peters and Patrick Kaleta.
The defense pairings are Toni Lydman and Craig Rivet; Mike Weber and Teppo Numminen; and Andrej Sekera with first-round draft pick Tyler Myers. Ryan Miller and Jhonas Enroth will be the goaltenders.
“I’m looking to put a fairly strong lineup in for both games,” Ruff said. “There’s players that I want to see in different situations, but the lineup both nights is going to be a pretty strong one. We’re at home, and we’d like to put on a good show.”
