It was a typical day at the office for former NHL tough guy-turned-broadcaster Rob Ray — taking pucks to the face and getting right back to work.
That was the scene Saturday afternoon when Ray — who spent 14 years as an enforcer for the Buffalo Sabres and now does color commentary between the benches during games — was hit in the face by a deflected puck during the Sabres’ afternoon matchup with the visiting New York Rangers.
A hot mic caught Ray’s immediate reaction — think of a four-letter word beginning with ‘f’ — as a gash quickly opened above his left eye. Ray’s glasses were also ruined by the flying rubber.
The Sabres’ doctors leaned over into the space next to them where Ray was broadcasting to check on him. The puck did get close to his eye, but Ray didn’t miss a beat. He stayed on to continue the broadcast before getting stitched.
Ray is used to those sorts of bumps and bruises given his hockey history. He holds the Sabres’ record for most penalty minutes in a single player’s career with the organization (3,189), owns the sixth-most penalty minutes in NHL history (3,207), and there is even a Rob Ray rule related to his fighting style. When Ray would drop the gloves, he was prone to taking off his jersey and shoulder pads so the other party couldn’t clutch and grab at him. What some interpreted as a response to this practice, the NHL issued a ruling that any player who removed their jersey in a fight or didn’t have it properly tied down received a misconduct penalty.
That’s influence.
Turns out that Ray is just as scrappy in his broadcasting post — which he took over from Harry Neale in 2012 — as he was on the ice. And while some reporters might start wearing a helmet after taking a puck to the face, it doesn’t appear Ray will change his ways any time soon.
