He was 10 when he began hanging around the minor league Bisons' locker room. Simonick has 40 years of Buffalo hockey in his blood. He grew up in the city's Old First Ward, within a long walk of the Aud, where the Bisons played. Silky, Oggie, Ollie and Yogi. In the First Ward, you don't get to know your friends' real first names until their obituaries run.
Locker rooms are like that, too.
You might think of an equipment manager as a guy who picks up the dirty socks. He had it removed and missed the last 13 games of the regular season. He started a new streak with the playoffs. I've been dreaming of this since I was 10, since before there was the Sabres.