Emotional Ray inducted into Sabres Hall of Fame

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Rob Ray the feared NHL enforcer gave way to Rob Ray the son, father and beloved teammate Friday night, showing his softer side upon induction into the

Ray paid tribute to each of his coaches, and to late NHL Hall of Fame broadcaster Rick Jeanneret, by saying, “I miss you, buddy. We all do.” Jeanneret, who died in August 2023, provided Ray his broadcasting start after his retirement.

Tie Domi, who squared off with Ray on numerous occasions, sent a video tribute.

“They changed the rules because of you. The streaker, the fighting streaker,” Domi said. “I’m proud of you, man. Our friendship goes way beyond hockey.”

Ray lamented how the NHL eventually phased out the enforcer role by introducing a series of rule changes to limit fighting over the past two decades.

“I think that sometimes what we lose in our game is it’s all about winning and losing and it’s all about stats, you forget it’s an entertainment business,” said Ray, a member of the late 90s Sabres squads that were dubbed the hardest working team in hockey.

“We didn’t win a lot of games back then. But we played hard and people respected it. They liked it,” Ray said. “They knew that we might not win, but you know what, ‘I may see a fight tonight. I might see two.’ And that was kind of the draw that lured them.”