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"You never forget the memories of an arena that's been so good to you," says Sabres' great Rene Robert.
This week, for the first time since the Aud closed, Robert stepped into the building he called home for nine seasons.
And even though Robert last played a game in the Aud more than 25 years ago, it was if he had never left.
Our tour started in the lockeroom.
Scott Brown: "Just tell me where everybody dressed, can you remember?"
Gilbert was of course center Gil Perrault and Rico, was left winger Rick Martin. Along with Robert, they comprised the famed French Connection.
During their heyday, it was the most famous and exciting line in hockey. Their rushes repeatedly brought the Aud's sell-out crowds to its feet.
Brown: "What can you tell me about the fans, I remember I think it was 16,433 was a sell out."
It was Robert who scored one of the most famous goals in Sabres history, the overtime, game winner in the fog against the Flyers in the 1975 Stanley Cup Finals.
The Sabres of course lost to the Flyers and then four years later, Scotty Bowman began to break up the team, trading away Robert, Danny Gare, Jim Schoenfeld and Rick Martin.
Brown: "Is that your only regret from your time in Buffalo, that you guys weren't able to win the Stanley Cup?"
Although the retired numbers of Robert, Martin and Perrault hang in the rafters at the HSBC Arena, Robert says the Aud, like the home you grew up in, will always have his heart.
Brown: "Is it a little sad for you that this building is coming down?"
This week, for the first time since the Aud closed, Robert stepped into the building he called home for nine seasons.
And even though Robert last played a game in the Aud more than 25 years ago, it was if he had never left.
Our tour started in the lockeroom.
Scott Brown: "Just tell me where everybody dressed, can you remember?"
Robert: "I'm going to try as best as I can- Roger Crozier dressed in this corner right here, Dave Dryden dressed right there, Jerry Korab, Jimmy Schoenfeld and where that mark is on that wall, the late Timmy Horton. And the three of us dressed right in the back there, I dressed in the middle of Rico and Gilbert."
During their heyday, it was the most famous and exciting line in hockey. Their rushes repeatedly brought the Aud's sell-out crowds to its feet.
Brown: "What can you tell me about the fans, I remember I think it was 16,433 was a sell out."
Robert: "You've got pretty good memories, you know what every game- game in and game out -it was the same faces regardless of where you were, when you focused they'd all be sitting there, it would be like going to church on Sunday. They're the greatest fans in the world."
Robert: "I got a semi-breakaway, so Gilbert shot the puck in this far corner over here, and it bounced off the boards and near the red line. It was an impossible angle to be honest with you, and I just took a shot on net and it just happened to go in, I could try that shot over a hundred thousand times and it was just meant to be that night that the puck had to go in, it was special, it was special."
Brown: "Is that your only regret from your time in Buffalo, that you guys weren't able to win the Stanley Cup?"
Robert: "Absolutely, this is the toughest trophy to win in all of sports. We had a team that was so close, we only had a few ingredients missing for this hockey club to win the Stanley Cup, we just couldn't put all the ingredients together."
Brown: "Is it a little sad for you that this building is coming down?"
Robert: "Oh absolutely, because everytime we (the older players) go to HSBC, we all look around, turn around and look at this building, cause this is where our memories were, so once it's gone we'll have no more memories."
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