Sabres Edge

COLUMBUS, Ga. -- Sometimes life just works out perfectly. The Sabres play in Atlanta on Sunday, so I got to travel to Georgia, where I began covering hockey for the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer in 2000. The city is about an hour south of Atlanta, and the team I wrote about, the Columbus Cottonmouths,is playing tonight. So I made the journey down.

The best part is, it's the 10-year reunion of their 1997 Central Hockey League championship team. There are 25 guys in town, and I covered probably 20. I still keep in touch with the captain of those teams, Jerome Bechard, and he's now the GM and coach.

Which gets me to the point of this. Beesh was the greatest hockey player I've ever seen. (Here are his numbers.) He was born to play hockey. You know those guys: missing teeth, fearless, eager to do anything to win, would block a shot with his skull if it prevented a goal. He's not the best player, but he's the ultimate player. Bechard is absolutely beloved by his town and teammates, and of course hated by everyone else's players and fans. During one playoff series, an opposing player tried to hit him with his car in the parking lot!

Chris Drury was the closest I've encountered to Beesh from the aspect that he'd do anything to win. But Bechard loves hockey off the ice, while I've always got the sense Drury just loves the on-ice aspect.

So, the question is, who's your Jerome Bechard? Who's the guy that makes hockey matter for you? He doesn't have to be the best, just the ultimate.

---John Vogl