Sabres Classics: A run worth celebrating

The Buffalo Sabres saw their unforgettable run through the 1999 playoffs reach its end in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.

You know how it ends. But the epilogue to the season was worth remembering, too.

More than 20,000 people gathered in Niagara Square outside City Hall for a rally to celebrate the hardest working team in hockey. Here's how Donn Esmonde captured that day for the Buffalo News:

"They didn't come to this rally for a hockey team that lost in the Stanley Cup finals because Buffalo loves a loser or likes to cry in its Genesee Cream Ale.

"They came because this team carried the city's name on its jerseys the way we want it to be carried.

"They came not to lament what might have been, but to celebrate what was."

Jason Woolley remembers the rally capturing the spirit of how the city had treated him throughout the season, when people would say hello at grocery stores or honk their horns when passing on the thruway. To Woolley, it was recognition for the hard work he put in. That stuck with him.

Rob Ray wrote for Sabres.com just how much the fans inspired the 1998-99 team.

"I think we just had that blue-collar style that people could relate to," Ray wrote. "They respected how we worked, and we could feel it. Our guys would run through a wall because we knew our fans appreciated it. We were young and dumb enough that it was like, 'Let's just keep feeding the fire. This is fantastic.'"

For Michael Peca, that's what the rally was truly about. The controversy regarding Brett Hull's skate remains 21 years later. It might always remain.

But the run in 1999, and the connection between players and a city - that was worth celebrating.

"As competitors, I think as players, I think it was a great tribute to the fans because they were so good to us throughout the entire run. But it was also bittersweet because we didn't win," Peca said.

"… I didn't feel like we were celebrating a conference championship and a Stanley Cup berth. I felt, in my own mind, it was more a celebration of how great our fans were because it truly was special. It was a special run."