Robert Simonick was there when Gilbert Perreault needed his game-night coffee and smokes.
He was there when Brett Hull dashed Buffalo’s Stanley Cup dreams in triple overtime of Game 6 of the 1999 Cup final with his foot in the crease.
He was there when Clint Malarchuk needed someone to help save his life as his sliced carotid artery almost caused the netminder to bleed out on the ice.
And he was there when Lindy Ruff pulled one of the great pranks in team history, followed by the inevitable payback that was almost as amusing.
Whenever needed, the man they call Rip has been there for the Buffalo Sabres, serving as the team’s equipment manager for an incredible 46 years.
On Tuesday night in Calgary he worked his 3,500th game, an NHL record unlikely to be broken.
It makes him one of the most colourful historians for the team and the game as he’s paid witness to the evolution of NHL players from a day they warmed up with caffeine and nicotine to the modern era where ultra-fit players treat their bodies like temples.
“Before games in the Montreal Forum in the early 70’s I used to go get a pack of cigarettes for Guy Lafleur and Gilbert Perreault who were junior buddies and friends since they were kids,” smiled the affable 66-year-old.
“I’d go get them six cups of coffee, a pack of cigarettes, two ashtrays and they used to smoke ten ciggies each, drink six cups of coffee and they were the two fastest guys on the ice. That went on for years.
“Every player had their own ashtray with their number on it and they used to count on me for smokes.”
So revered in the business, Rip was paid a rare visit at the Saddledome Tuesday by legendary Flames trainer Jim “Bearcat” Murray who spent 16 years with the Flames before being inducted into the Professional Hockey Athletic Trainer Society Hall of Fame.
Rip would be in there too if not for the fact he’s still active as a trainer and on the committee overseeing such accolades.
While Rip says he can still count on the odd European player to smoke in the laundry room (“you just open up the dryer, blow the smoke in and turn it on,” he laughed,) or chew tobacco, players have obviously approached the game much differently as the salaries increased.
“The players are now fed breakfast, lunch and dinner – they’ll probably change the league’s name from the National Hockey League to Never Hungry League,” he laughed.
“It’s unbelievable what they do. We have dieticians and we take blood tests on the players to make sure they’re getting their nutrition. It’s a high tech sport now.”
So much for running to the ol’ coffee shop to get a peckish puckster a salami sandwich before opening faceoff.
Rip credits coffee for helping him get his foot in the door with the organization as a teen when his job was to get 30 coffees for each team on game days. The old Buffalo Auditorium didn’t have a coffee machine.
Hired by Punch Imlach in 1970, Rip is the last original Sabres employee and has long been seen as a father figure for players through different eras.
He’s catered to their every need and listened to all their stories.
And when it comes to equipping the players, he witnessed a complete transformation there too.
“I had Dave Andreychuk and he used the same helmet for 20 years in Buffalo,” he smiled.
“Now these guys wear then for 25 games and then change them because those are the rules – the league wants the guys protected, which is the right thing.
“Some lines you’ll never hear again: ‘you’re alright kid – get back out there.’
“Hey, the coaches want the players on the ice. It’s still like that now, but not to the extent you’ll take chances on an injured player.”
The worst injury he ever tended to, by far, was Malarchuk’s in 1989 when Steve Tuttle’s skate blade sliced the goalie’s neck in gruesome fashion. Rip was one of the first on the scene to help save the goalie’s life.
“I was one of the guys, yes, but he actually saved his own life,” said Rip, who assisted athletic trainer Jim Pizzutelli.
“When it cut him he could feel the warm blood coming out and he basically put his thumb in the skatehole. It was the carotid artery. He was at the right end of the rink where the doctors were and he was at hospital in 14 minutes and stitched up.”
So fearful he was about to die Malarchuk asked Rip to call his mother to tell her he loved her.
Asked if it ranked as the worst day of his professional life, he had an interesting response.
“Truthfully, and Bearcat will tell you this too, when a player gets hurt it doesn’t hit you until the next day,” said Rip, explaining he just went into autopilot.
“The next day I cried – I couldn’t believe it.”
Asked if today’s players were far more coddled than years past, he shrugged.
“Today’s players are very well treated from a young age so when they are drafted and come to training camp their agents have already called in with what they want to wear and who their contracts are with equipment-wise,” he said.
“So we pretty much know what’s coming when they come to us.”
He said one of the best parts of the gig is you never know what’s coming on a daily basis with a roomful of young, happy-go-lucky players constantly looking to make one another laugh.
“The westerners are the funniest, friendliest guys ever -they ride the buses for 12 hours and have a lot of time to think about pranks,” he beamed.
“Lindy Ruff was the all-time best. He had a few injuries and when the first SUVs came out everyone had one. He went into everyone’s pant pocket during practice, got their keys, put them in a jar and shook them up. Then he put them back on their keys rings and not one guy’s keys matched his truck. It took them, like, three hours to figure out who had what.”
The predictable retaliation was equally as memorable.
“When he got back into the lineup one of the players who needed to get home quick that day took all Lindy’s clothes and tied every single piece of clothing together and made one big ribbon around the room,” said the proud member of the Sabres Hall of Fame.
“No one is safe.”
In a nice touch, Rip’s milestone game was saluted Tuesday by the Flames who congratulated him on the Jumbotron during a stoppage in play. He said he didn’t need any recognition as his gift was the visit from Bearcat.
“He’s a legend and we are a tight-knit group,” he smiled.
“I would imagine it’s an NHL record but I’m not a record follower. It’s about the game – we’re just here to win a game. 3,500 is just a number and I’m just proud to be a Buffalo Sabre.”
