Rest In Peace Rick Jeanneret

08/17/2023 at 10:25pm EDT

from Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News,

Rick Jeanneret, the legendary play-by-play voice of the Buffalo Sabres who became one of the franchise's biggest icons over his 51-year career behind the microphone, died Thursday night, the Sabres announced.
Jeanneret had turned 81 on July 23. A cause of death was not immediately available.
Jeanneret's bombastic style and high-powered goal and fight calls made him a fixture on NHL highlight packages on both sides of the border throughout his career. Sabres fans can routinely imitate many of his most famous ones, a list that's almost always led by the "May Day, May Day" call of Brad May's overtime goal that gave the Sabres a four-game sweep of the Boston Bruins in the first round of the 1993 Stanley Cup Playoffs and ended Buffalo's 10-year drought without a playoff win.
Jeanneret, who formed a play-by-play pair for the ages with longtime voice of the Sabres Ted Darling, started his career as the analyst on the team's radio broadcasts during the 1971-72 season, Buffalo's second in the NHL. He moved full-time to television in 1995 and the team went to a simulcast in 1997, with Jeanneret calling the game on both radio and TV with partners Jim Lorentz, Harry Neale and Rob Ray.

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Below watch some of his top calls.

from Chris Reynolds of Sabres.com,

Legendary Buffalo Sabres play-by-play announcer Rick Jeanneret passed away Thursday at the age of 81.

Jeanneret called Sabres games from 1971 until his retirement in 2022 and served as the team's broadcaster emeritus last season.

RJ was a member of the Sabres Hall of Fame, the Hockey Hall of Fame (as the recipient of the Foster Hewitt Award in 2012), the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame, the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame, and the Township of Terrace Bay, Ontario's Sports Wall of Fame, and an honorary member of the Bare Knuckle Boxing Hall of Fame.

"Rick was indeed a very special and very loved man, to and by all, who knew him and listened to him, his magic, and his command," Sabres owner Terry Pegula said. "How glad I am to have known him. How lucky were we all to have been around him and to have listened to him.

"Rick Jeanneret's mark on Sabres history extends far beyond the broadcast booth and we will miss him dearly. I extend my deepest condolences to Sandra, Rick's family, friends, and all that were loved by him."

Because of his impact on the franchise, Jeanneret is one of only 11 members of the Sabres organization to have a banner raised to the rafters of KeyBank Center in his honor.

Former owners Seymour H. Knox III and Northrup R. Knox, and alumni Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin, Rene Robert, Tim Horton, Danny Gare, Pat LaFontaine, Dominik Hasek and Ryan Miller are the others.

continued with numerous videos...