(Buffalo) Anglophones have an expression that perfectly describes Dan Dunleavy’s situation: “Tough act to follow”. There isn’t really a direct translation, because “hard act to follow” doesn’t mean much.
Posted at 6:00 a.m.
Let’s just say Dunleavy finds himself succeeding a legend, which comes with challenges. The legend is Rick Jeanneret. He is the one who describes Buffalo Sabers games on the radio from Methuselah. Do you think we are exaggerating? Tell yourself that Ken Dryden won the Calder Trophy during Jeanneret’s first season at the microphone of the Sabres.
Jeanneret is the voice behind “May Day, May Day”. His reputation goes well beyond the simple Buffalo market, as evidenced by the compilations of his best descriptions circulating on the Web.
“I accept the fact that some people will never like me because I’m not Rick, admits Dunleavy, met at the end of the week. Today a fan asked me what it was like to be in RJ’s shoes. I said: no one will replace him. The Beatles did not replace Elvis. No one will replace Vin Scully. Nobody replaced Bob Cole and Danny Gallivan. Anyway, RJ was so unique that if you try to emulate him in every goal, you’re going to exaggerate and it will be too forced. »
In fact, Dunleavy isn’t entirely new around. In 2013, the Sabers announced a three-year succession plan to ensure a transition between Jeanneret and his dolphin. Originally, Dunleavy was to describe 25 games in Year 1, 35 the following year, and then the two descriptors would split the job equally.
The transition ultimately lasted nine years, until Jeanneret bowed out last spring.
“I won’t replace him, but I want to reach his level of professionalism,” Dunleavy said. That said, it also takes you a while to build a reputation. What would RJ have been without Dominik Hasek? He still would have been Rick Jeanneret, but he couldn’t have described those defining moments. It happened that Brad May scored one of the most important goals in Sabers history, and it became May Day. »
PHOTO FROM TWITTER ACCOUNT @BUFFSPORTSHSTRY
Rick Jeanneret
Nor did Dunleavy come without experience. Our man has spent a good part of his career in the Toronto area, describing junior hockey, hockey at the Vancouver Olympics, Toronto FC games and Toronto Maple Leafs games for two years.
Optimistic, he prefers to say that the longer transition than expected has allowed him to better tame the environment of the Sabres. “When RJ was describing the games, I was doing the intermission interviews, I could watch the games from ice level. It allowed me to see the game differently, to know the players. So I was able to develop a more complete relationship with the organization. »
As he tells us this, an equipment attendant stops by to greet him warmly and take some news.
The coming season should mark a relative return to normal in the NHL, which excites our man to the highest degree. Now that he describes all the games, he is therefore guaranteed to come to the Bell Center during Sabers visits. “My favorite amphitheater to work in, and I’m not saying that because I’m talking to a journalist from Montreal! “, he launches.
His enthusiasm is also no stranger to the fact that the Sabers are finally starting to see the end of the tunnel on the ice. Proof that it does not only flatter readers in the direction of the hair, there is this prediction. “I know people in Montreal won’t want to hear that, but I really believe I’m going to describe the Buffalo Sabers’ first Stanley Cup! “, he assures.
If so, he will have his moments that will go down in legend, like Rick Jeanneret before him. No matter how well he describes a Rasmus Dahlin goal, it will be more viral in overtime of a seventh game than in the second period of a Friday game in November.