Mikael Hübinette sits in the stands at First Niagara Center, rattling off the names of the players he'd control as a 10 year old in Sweden playing NHL games on his Sega Genesis. Alexander Mogilny. Pat LaFontaine. Dale Hawerchuk. Dominik Hasek.
The Buffalo Sabres, he said, were unbeatable.
"You couldn’t lose with that team," Hübinette said. "That's where it all started and it just continued. I'm 32 now."
He's 22 years older, but the passion that was sparked by a video game burns even brighter today. He's watched his Sabres avidly from Sweden for the last two decades, from "No Goal" in 1999 to back-to-back conference finals in '06 and '07 and up until now, with a team working to take great strides at becoming perennial contenders.