Lee Stempniak coming home to Buffalo

Blues player was big fan of Sabres when growing up

BY NORM SANDERS - News-Democrat

ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- He proudly wears a St. Louis Blues sweater now, but there was a time when Lee Stempniak concerned himself with all things related to the Buffalo Sabres.

The pride of nearby West Seneca, N.Y., returns to Buffalo for the first time in his NHL career Wednesday when the Blues take on the Sabres. Stempniak's parents, two grandmothers and assorted other family, friends and ex-teammates will be in the stands.

"I definitely had a Buffalo Sabres jersey on when I first started doing this," said Stempniak, a 27-goal scorer last season who has 42 goals and 90 points in 160 NHL games. "This was certainly a day I looked at and circled on the calendar when the schedule came out. I've gotten so many phone calls from family and friends and people I played with growing up. It's going to be really special."

Stempniak, 24, hasn't forgotten the 1999 Stanley Cup finals when the Sabres lost to Dallas on Brett Hull's famous "in-the-crease" goal in triple overtime.

"It was crazy, they had giant big screens up in the parking lot outside the rink and people were going down there to watch it," Stempniak said. "The whole city was swept up in it and the last couple years with the good runs in the playoffs, Buffalo was really swept up in it again."

Stempniak saw Sabres games and even played a few youth hockey games at the old Memorial Auditorium. He's also been to games at the HSBC Arena, Buffalo's newer home rink that opened in 1996.

"We never had season tickets, I've probably only been to like 10 games there in my entire life," Stempniak said. "I watched it a lot on TV when I could, but I was playing a lot and tickets were pretty expensive.

"I remember getting tickets down near the glass one year for Christmas from my aunt, and that was awesome."

All in the family

Stempniak's mother, Carla, works the midnight shift in Buffalo's main post office downtown. His father, Larry, works in a local bookbinding factory.

"They've sacrificed so much, from working overtime to giving up their social lives to cart me and my brother around," Stempniak said. "With both of them working different shifts, they were always around and that was great."

Stempniak's grandmother, Lorraine Stempniak, got to watch him play at Madison Square Garden in New York last year, but this will be the first game for grandmother Elva Paoletti.

Stempniak's 22-year-old brother, Jay, plays Division III hockey for Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire and will have to miss his brother's homecoming.

The Dominator

One of Stempniak's favorite players growing up was a guy he now sees on a regular basis in goal for the Detroit Red Wings: former Sabres star Dominik Hasek.

Some of his other Sabres heroes were Dave Andreychuk, Matthew Barnaby and Pat Lafontaine.

"I loved Dominik Hasek then," Stempniak said. "He's a world-class goalie and it was fun getting to play against him."

Stempniak recalls an amazing save Hasek made against former Penguins star Mario Lemieux.

"(Hasek) went down on his side and stacked the pads and Lemieux had an open net," Stempniak said. "Lemieux shot it and no one was sure if it went wide or where the puck went. The ref came and checked Hasek's glove and the puck was in there.

"It was unbelievable. No one knew what had happened, but Hasek played it off like it was no big deal."

Pro sports, including Buffalo Bisons minor-league baseball, is a way of life to Buffalo fans.

"When I was younger, the Bills were in the middle of four Super Bowl runs so it was all about them," Stempniak said. "Then the Sabres had a good run and lately they've been neck and neck, if not the most popular team.

"People take a lot of pride of being from Buffalo and everything associated with it."

Getting a big break

Stempniak was known as an above-average college player, but it took playing on a line with 6-foot-6, 230-pound Hugh Jessiman at Dartmouth to help attract some attention.

Jessiman was taken with the 12th overall pick in 2003 by the New York Rangers and is still waiting for his NHL debut. Stempniak -- taken 148th overall in that same draft -- is one of the Blues' top young stars.

"All the scouts were coming to watch him play, so I was fortunate enough to play on a line with him and had a good season," Stempniak said. "At some point I caught St. Louis' eye and it's been a great situation ever since.

"They gave me a tremendous opportunity, so I'm really grateful for that."

Contact reporter Norm Sanders at nsanders@bnd.com or 239-2454.

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