Inside the NHL: Mike Robitaille will never forget the impact Tim Horton made on his life and career

We know you like your double-doubles and coffee and apple fritters, and I just may have a fondness for the turkey bacon club and chili. But I was not prepared for the outpouring of memories I received from Wednesday’s column on the 50th anniversary of the death of former Buffalo Sabres defenseman Tim Horton.

To those who remembered him from his hockey days, including the last days of his life, he was way more than the guy whose name is on the donut shops.

Horton’s career with the Sabres was short, only 124 of the 1,445 NHL games he played. Only one of his 115 goals was scored as a Sabre. But his impact was large, Harrington writes.

Former Sabres defenseman and uber-popular ex-team television analyst Mike Robitaille often was Horton’s defense partner during the 1972-73 and ‘73-74 seasons here. Robitaille and I played phone tag last week, and when I caught up to him when I was in Montreal, he said simply, “I fell asleep a couple times when I was going to call. That’s what happens, what you do when you’re 76.”

I know you can hear the Roby voice saying exactly those words.

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Robitaille’s thoughts could not be included in that column prior to publication, but his perspective was so unique that it could not be wasted. So you get an extra shot of Tim Horton in this space, courtesy of the inimitable Robitaille.

The night of Horton’s death: “He was really hurting during that game in Toronto, really playing with some guts with a fractured jaw, or close to it. As the game went on, he wasn’t even hardly coherent, just very quiet. When the game was over, I asked him, ‘Timmy are you OK? You want me to go home with you, ride back with you? Are you going to be all right?’ And he said, ‘No, go back with the guys (on the bus).’ He said he was meeting his business partner and said, ‘I’ll see you in the morning.’ We know what happened.”

News of his death: “I was in bed, and Isabel (Robitaille’s wife) came in and told me the news. I was in a dead sleep and I woke up quick. And I was so angry that I punched a wall. I was so selfish at that point. I was thinking like, ‘How could you do this to me? Because I need you.’ Whatever Timmy does, I tried to do. Certainly as a hockey player, and how he played the game, I tried to play the same way he did. But he was my mentor. ‘How could you do this me?’ What he did for me as hockey player was so profound, I didn’t even think of him in that moment. I was just thinking of myself, crazy as it was. But it’s a good way to show you the impact he had on me.”

The game the next night in the Aud vs. Atlanta: “It was just like there was a pall over the city, and people are walking around kind of like they had tombstones in their eyes or something. Very quiet. Nobody was saying much. And you’re just kind of going about your business in a fog. You came into the dressing room, and there was that spot where Timmy sat and there was nobody in there in that spot. Really, really difficult.

“We had the national anthem. We’re all lined up across the blue line. The building is absolutely silent. I could hear guys choked up and crying. My teammates. Just expressing how bad they were feeling. I’ll never forget it.”

Horton as a leader of the young Sabres: “Incredibly humble. Oh my god, the humility of what he did in his career. If anybody had the right to pound his back, it was him, and he wouldn’t do it. How he led was what he did on the ice. I watched him like a bleeping hawk. I was like a puppy dog and he couldn’t get rid of me. And I watched the impact he had on the other players, too. Jimmy Schoenfeld, Paul Terbenche. We all followed.

“You learned how to stand up at the blue line, how to put players on bad angles, into a position that they’re not going to do any damage. When you go into the corner, your job essentially is you’ve got to come out with the puck. So much more: The first pass from the defenseman to the forwards and how quickly and efficiently it’s done. It keeps up the tempo of the game or you can slow it down. He was a master at that. I studied and watched carefully. My game improved immensely.

“I remember how he moved guys out from the front of the net. You don’t have to be the strongest guy in the block, but you have to understand leverage. And you have to understand timing. You don’t start wrestling with the guy three minutes before he takes the shot from the point. Time it, clamp on to that guy in front of the net when the shot is coming.”

Coffee and donuts: Robitaille revealed he would often take drives with Horton and fellow veteran blueliner Larry Hillman through different spots of the suburbs – particularly Amherst – looking at busy street corners that might be good spots for new Tim Hortons stores. And that his trips to the stores today always bring memories of his old teammate.

“You want to say, ‘Do you people even know who this guy is and what he meant? The effectiveness of his life on people?’ It’s really kind of fun to say I knew him. I very, very clearly remember going out with him after practice with Larry Hillman along. Timmy wanted to know different areas of Buffalo with really busy corners. Like Niagara Falls Boulevard. He was always interested in Niagara Falls Boulevard.

“He was always ahead of the game. He knew down the road this would be a nice little deal for him with his name in Buffalo. It’s really cool to think back how that whole thing happened and to have watched it unfold in front of my eyes. I can hear him saying, ‘Roby, where are the real busy spots? Let’s go over here. Is there any place else?’ He was always working, his mind was always on business. I think he would then drop in and play a hockey game every now and then. He was a lovely guy, a very loving, caring person. I was so fortunate.”

Banner to behold in Montreal

The view from the media gondola high atop Montreal’s Bell Centre can be a tad unnerving, but it is breathtaking, as well. And you get a terrific look at all the championship banners and retired numbers of perhaps the best collection of hockey history in any rink in the league.

A revised seating location for Wednesday’s game had me at a different end than previous trips, and staring directly at the banner the Canadiens have hoisted to the rafters to honor the Montreal Expos.

It was put up during a ceremony in 2005, the year after the team left for Washington, and features tributes to the four players whose jerseys were retired by the club – Rusty Staub, Gary Carter, Andre Dawson and Tim Raines.

On the scene in Montreal, News Sports Columnist Mike Harrington talks about the Expos banner hanging in Bell Centre and wonders why the Buffalo Sabres can’t honor the Buffalo Braves in similar fashion.

Mike Harrington

Continuing the question many old-time fans ask here: Why can’t the Sabres put up a banner in KeyBank Center to honor the Buffalo Braves? They shared the Aud with the NBA club in the 70s, and it could be a way to honor, say, Bob McAdoo, Randy Smith, Ernie DiGregorio and coach Jack Ramsay for all their contributions here.

Former Sabres president Ted Black often was asked about the topic and routinely dismissed it, which was a shame. The 50th anniversary of the Braves’ departure is in 2028. It would really be nice to see something done by then. It shouldn’t be so hard for the Sabres to do things people want.

Around the boards

Rielly’s first game was Thursday’s 7-3 win at Vegas, with the six-game winning streak representing the longest in the Auston Matthews-Mitch Marner era.

Speaking of Marner, while Matthews’ run to 70 goals is getting most of the attention, you can’t overlook his teammate’s contribution. Heading into Saturday’s game in Colorado, Marner had six straight multi-point games – without scoring. No goals, 15 assists. The run broke Borje Salming’s club record of five games set in 1985.

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