October 1, 1997 Lindy Ruff coached his first game as head coach of the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres beat St. Louis Blues, 3-1 on the road. Miro Satan scored a goal and added an assist in Ruff’s first win.
Ruff’s first season was a successful one. His team posted a 36-29-17 record and made the playoffs. The Sabres lost in the third round of the playoffs. Don Lever served as Ruff’s associate coach, while Mike Ramsey served as assistant coach.
Career highlights:
Ruff's Sabres lost in the Stanley Cup Finals to Dallas in 1998-99. They lost in the ECF to Carolina in 2005-06, and to Ottawa in 2006-07.
Ruff won the Jack Adams Trophy after the 2005-06 season.
Career lowlights:
Ruff's teams have missed the playoffs in 2001-02, 2002-03, 2003-04, 2007-08, 2008-09, and 2011-12.
Thanks to Kevin Gibson from TSN Research for the anniversary reminder.
Mikhail Grigorenko is simply toying with the Quebec Major Junior League right now.
He's the undisputed leader of Patrick Roy's Quebec Remparts, and it appears as though he's playing the game at a different level than his competition.
In Sunday's win over Val-d'Or, Grigo chipped in three assists. In four games, he has three goals and eights assists for eleven points. He's +8.
His Remparts are 4-0.
On Saturday night, Grigo scored two goals in the 5-0 pasting of Sherbrooke.
Grigo will have to pull up his socks and take his game to another level now that his talented winger Anothiny Duclair is injured. Duclair slammed hard into a goal post on Sunday and was forced to leave the game. Grigorenko seems like he's ready, willing, and able to carry a his team. Its not known right now how long Duclair will be out of the lineup. Matters not. Grigo's got broad shoulders. He and his other linie, Logan Shaw will have to take up the scoring slack. I like their chances.
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