Sabres have edge in Fort Erie
Patriotism favors Ottawa Senators, but Buffalo is very close to home
http://www.buffalonews.com/103/story/71646.html
FORT ERIE, Ont. — Their capital is Ottawa. They live in the land of the maple leaf, “Hockey Night in Canada” and Don Cherry. And when it comes to patriotism, they’re intensely loyal to their “home and native land.”
But Fort Erie residents also live in Buffalo’s backyard, only a figurative slap shot from HSBC Arena. Most of them are inundated by Buffalo media reports of the Sabres. Some have bled Sabres blue and gold for almost 37 years.
So where is Fort Erie leaning in the Eastern Conference finals, in the battle between the Sabres and Ottawa Senators? That depends on whom you ask.
The Sabres seem to have the edge — some say a huge edge — but there clearly is plenty of support for the “last Canadian team standing.”
“Go Ottawa, anybody but Buffalo,” Fort Erie resident Christine Carty said Tuesday. “I like Toronto, but Toronto’s not in, so you have to go with the Canadian team.”
That appeared to be the minority view Tuesday, in a quick non-scientific survey in a parking lot for Niagara’s Freedom Trial, just a few yards from the Niagara River. From that perch, on a gorgeous blue-sky day, the HSBC Arena roof clearly was visible across the river.
“Buffalo, for sure,” said Mike Lottridge, a computer consultant from Welland who does work in Fort Erie. “I used to be a season-ticket holder in the ’70s, and I’ve been a fan ever since. I lived and died with the Sabres last year.”
Deanna and Derek Hopkins, also interviewed at the river’s edge, both are rooting for the Sabres.
“Now that Toronto’s out, we’d like to see the Sabres go all the way,” Deanna Hopkins said. “Why not?”
Another Leafs fan, Fort Erie Mayor Douglas G. Martin, also will be pulling for the Sabres, explaining that he has been a 30-year seasonticket holder for the Buffalo Bills.
Martin believes most Fort Erie residents will be in the Sabres’ corner this series.
“They’re basically our home team,” the mayor said. “Most of the people who live in Fort Erie live closer to HSBC Arena than a lot of people in the Buffalo area.”
A consensus of opinion seemed to emerge Tuesday that a clear majority of Fort Erie residents, workers and visitors are rooting for the Sabres. The estimates ranged anywhere from a thin margin to 80-20 percent.
Bob Burger, circulation district representative for the Fort Erie office of the Niagara Falls Review, explained the split feeling among Fort Erie residents.
“There certainly are a lot of Southern Ontario fans who come to Sabres games,” he said. “A lot of the ones who have been around since the Sabres started, including myself, have [stood by] that team since the days of the French Connection.”
“But there are others who are clinging to the fact that Ottawa is the last Canadian team standing,” Burger added. “There are a lot of Toronto Maple Leafs fans who despise the Ottawa Senators, but we’re such a patriotic country that many of them want to defend their turf.”
Everyone seems to agree that the Fort Erie area appears to be split pretty evenly between Leafs and Sabres fans, with the Leafs perhaps having a slight edge. So where will local Leafs fans put their allegiances in this series: to their fellow Canadian team or to their neighbor?
“Most of them will go for Ottawa,” Burger said. “A lot of it is being patriotic, the Don Cherry mentality — a great love and support for your country, unquestioned love, like your dog gives to its master.”
It may be hard for Americans to appreciate the concept of rooting for a pro sports team based on its native country. In last year’s Stanley Cup final between Edmonton and Carolina, Buffalo- based Carolina supporters probably had other reasons for picking the Hurricanes; it probably was based more on Carolina having beaten the Sabres or Carolina being the Eastern Conference team.
But Canada claims hockey as its game, and it has only six teams in the 30-team National Hockey League. Canadians don’t hesitate when asked how many Canada-based teams still are alive. Most American hockey fans probably don’t think in those terms.
“It’s not an anti-American thing,” Burger emphasized. “It’s more of a Canadian thing. It’s our game. I think we take a lot of pride in that.”
But Fort Erie-area fans also vote with their cash and credit cards.
Doug Reid, president of Reid Sports on Garrison Road, guessed that area residents favor the Sabres over the Senators by maybe an 80-20 ratio.
“Buffalo is our biggest seller by far,” he said. “It’s unbelievable the sales we’ve had with the Sabres. And everybody wants the names on the backs of the jerseys — Briere, Afinogenov and Miller.”
His wife, Linda, said people who visit the area for local hockey tournaments come to the store and marvel at all the Sabres merchandise.
“People come in and say, ‘This is Sabres country,’ ” she said.
Sometimes, fans have unusual reasons for picking their teams.
Dan Patakfalvi of Ridgeway, eating a quick lunch with his wife, Betty, had a curious reason for rooting for the Sabres over Ottawa: the recent appearance of Irish tenor Ronan Tynan at a Sabres game.
“That was a class act, singing our anthem and paying tribute to our troops,” he said. “Otherwise, I would have rooted for Ottawa. I think that showed a lot of class.”
One woman who didn’t want her name used showed perhaps a bit of national guilt over her choice.
“I should root for Ottawa,” she said. “But I’m a Sabres fan.”
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