1974-75: Gare's unforgettable debut

Danny Gare was tending to his lawn in Nelson, British Columbia when he got the call that made him a Sabre in spring 1974. He remembers pushing the mower through the hilly landscape, sweating out a hot May afternoon when his mother called him from the front door.
"Danny! Danny! Punch Imlach's on the phone!"
"She's screaming at me and I got mower, I can't hear her very well, she's waving her arms," Gare recalls. "I go in and Punch Imlach was on the phone and said, 'Hey Danny, welcome to the Buffalo Sabres. We just drafted you, wanted to say we'll be in touch with you,' and so forth and so on. I didn't say much, I just listened. It was a great day."

Gare was selected days later by the Winnipeg Jets in the rival World Hockey Association's draft. But he was familiar with the Sabres, particularly with the French Connection of Rick Martin, Gilbert Perreault, and Rene Robert. Plus, it was his dream to play in the NHL. He chose Buffalo.
He became a key presence not only for the 1974-75 team, but for an entire era of Sabres hockey.

Training camp was held in St. Catharine's, Ontario. It was there Gare had his "welcome to the NHL" moment. Gare was small in stature - he stood 5-foot-9 during his NHL career - and so his father instilled in him the importance of toughness at a young age. He trained in boxing and, in his final year of junior hockey, he accumulated 238 penalty minutes to go with 127 points. He felt ready for the next level.
Then he ran into Jim Schoenfeld. One practice, the 6-foot-2 defenseman flattened Gare with a hard hit behind the net, then smiled as helped him up to his skates.
"I remember the big redhead, after he hit me, he came down and put his glove in hand and grabbed me by the shirt and pulled me up and he goes, 'Welcome,'" Gare said.
It was one of several awe-inspiring moments the 20-year-old Gare would experience that fall. He remembers one such instance in a Holiday Inn lobby, where he first met Martin, Perreault, and Robert. Another came following his first practice at Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, when he ventured alone up to the steep orange seats and imagined what it might be like to one day score a goal there.

Which brings us to another Gare story, one many Sabres fans have heard but is too good to ignore. The Sabres opened their season at home against the Boston Bruins on Oct. 10, 1974. Gare started the game on a line with Don Luce and Craig Ramsay, tasked with checking Boston's top players: Wayne Cashman, Phil Esposito, and Ken Hodge at forward; Bobby Orr and Gary Doak on defense.
It was another awestruck moment for Gare, who'd watched these players only months prior in the Stanley Cup Final against Philadelphia.
The puck went into the Boston zone off the draw. Ramsay quickly had an attempt from in front of the net, and the rebound kicked out the left. Gare was in the perfect spot to bury it into a wide-open net.
Here's the kicker: The goal came 18 seconds into Gare's NHL career, matching the number on the back of his sweater that now hangs in the KeyBank Center rafters. Gare leapt in the air and thought to himself, Maybe I belong here.
"Because you never know," he said. "You work so hard to get to the league and then when you get there, it was pretty cool. You get the confidence, and that year it just seemed to grow and grow and grow and grow."
The Sabres won the game, 9-5. Gare tallied a goal and an assist, the beginning of a 31-goal, 62-point rookie season.
"It really started us off for the season and it continued to get better and grow and elevate our games," Gare said. "We were a young team, we were an exciting team, we were a good group of guys, and we were a very close group. What a way to start a career."