Hockey is a rough sport. Players routinely check opponents to the boards and slash, punch and poke their competitors. The Buffalo Sabres have had more than one athlete who’s dropped the gloves. Here’s an examination of the Blue and Gold’s 10 toughest all-time players.
Rob Ray
Sabres enforcer Rob Ray is well-known as one of the most famous goons to put on a Buffalo jersey. Ray spent most of his career with the Sabres, and rarely had fewer than 100 PIM (penalties in minutes) per season until his last three years on the ice. Ray was infamous for losing his jersey, which made it easier for him to win fights. One of the best examples of this is a slugfest he got into with San Jose Sharks defenseman Jim Kyte.
Because of his habit of fighting shirtless, the NHL instituted the Rob Ray Rule , which stated that “a player who engages in a fight and whose sweater is not properly tied-down (jersey properly fastened to pants) and who loses his jersey (completely off his torso), in that altercation, shall receive a game misconduct.”
Andrew Peters
A Rob Ray protégé, Andrew Peters had a career 650 PIM, with the bulk of that time spent as a Sabre. Peters wasn’t afraid to take on all comers and spent plenty of minutes in the penalty box. One of Peters’ most famous fights took place on Feb. 22, 2007 against the Ottawa Senators. Buffalo was leading 3-2 in the second period when Senators’ enforcer Chris Neil blindsided Sabres forward Chris Drury, hitting him from behind. The tension escalated and eventually, Peters exchanged punches with Ottawa goalie Ray Emery.
Emery, along with Peters and Buffalo goalie Marty Biron, were thrown out of the game for fighting. Officials handed out a combined 100 penalty minutes to both teams. The Sabres received 63 minutes, which was a little lopsided, considering Chris Neil started it. Regardless, Peters and the rest of the team (including head coach Lindy Ruff) didn't let Drury's dirty hit go unanswered.
Adam Mair
Not a hulking player, the 6’1’’ Mair would be a contender in most confrontations but was undersized in the NHL. Nevertheless, the Sabres center didn’t shy away from the hockey battlefield. As readers saw in the previous video, Mair was involved in the same brawl versus the Ottawa Senators in 2007 that sent Emery, Peters and Biron packing.
After Neil hit Drury and sent him to the locker room with a head injury and no penalty, Mair didn’t wait for Peters to respond. In the following faceoff, Mair punched opposing Sens player Jason Spezza in the head and a battle royale involving everyone from both benches was on. Mair spent seven seasons with the Sabres, after coming to Buffalo from the L.A. Kings in 2002. While he didn’t spend as much time in the box as other players including Ray and Peters, his PIM minutes were still near 100 or better for at least four of those years.