NHL Rasmus Dahlin confesses his love for Buffalo

NHL: Rasmus Dahlin confesses his love for Buffalo

Inspired by the welcome Ryan Miller received at the KeyBank Center when his number retired, Buffalo Sabers defenseman Rasmus Dahlin is determined to bring playoff hockey back to Buffalo.

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After 11 seasons without a playoff, the Sabers’ fans are shrinking ahead of home games. That was an average of 14,633 spectators per game since the start of the season. The utilization of 76.7% is the lowest in the Bundesliga.

However, during the ceremony honoring Miller, all 19,070 seats were filled. A situation that only happened five times in 25 home games. And each time, Dahlin fed on the atmosphere. This convinces him a little more each time to stay with the Sabers for a very long time.

“It’s hard to describe what it feels like when the KeyBank Center is full,” Dahlin wrote in an open letter posted on the Sabers website Tuesday. I get chills just thinking about the crowd roaring every time we have a chance to score. Or a big hit. Or passed a run in numerical inferiority. To be honest, the whole game feels like a power play.”

“It’s like there are 19,090 of us: 20 of us in uniform, the rest of us in the stands. Together we will mentally break the other team. That’s how it feels. We love that feeling. We believe in what we have here and we wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

At the height of the fight

The ceremony for Miller brought together some former Sabers and of course the current players got to chat with them. Several young members of the squad have never played in the qualifiers before and the stories of their predecessors have certainly encouraged them to change that this year.

Rarely have the young Sabers come this close, trailing just one point behind second and last place drafted teams in the Eastern Conference.

Granted, not everything is acquired. But with a little fan support, it will be the Sabers’ turn, according to Rasmus Dahlin.

“Now we’re almost at the break of the Star game and in the race,” said the Swede happily. We all know where we are in the table and what these games mean. But the only way to achieve our goal is to keep the same mindset. We have to improve day by day.”

“We’ll see where it takes us, but we look forward to being on this journey together.” I’m so proud to play here, to consider the boys in the bedroom as my brothers and this city as my home.”