BUFFALO – The talented rookie arrived just as the graying enforcer was about to leave. For 16 games over parts of three months in 2002-03, the careers of two Sabres Hall of Famers – goalie Ryan Miller and tough guy Rob Ray – overlapped.
Miller was a 22-year-old prospect up from the Rochester Americans for his first taste of the NHL. Ray, meanwhile, was a 34-year-old tough guy on his last legs.
“He was an interesting guy,” Miller said Friday prior to Ray’s induction into the Sabres Hall of Fame in KeyBank Center.
Right away, the veteran wanted to test the youngster.
“See what you were made of,” Miller said. “That’s how I remember my first interactions with him, just kind of figuring out who is this kid? He had a lot to say. He was poking, poking, poking and waiting for your response, and he wanted to see you stand up for yourself.”
Miller said Ray “wanted to know who he was going on the ice with.”
“That’s kind of how he lived his life on the ice,” he said. “He wanted to know if you were going to war. And if you could interact with him, I’ll say, then you were worthy of stepping out on the ice. But he was going to test you. He wanted to see what you had.”
In one game, Miller said he gave it right back to Ray.
“I was told not to swear in here, but I told him do something because he was on me about something during the game,” he said. “I just kind of chirped back about maybe how many minutes he was playing and that maybe he should mind his own business, and I think he thought that was funny.”
Miller got to know Ray a bit during their short time as teammates, sometimes sitting with each other on the plane.
After the Sabres traded Ray to the Ottawa Senators that season, he returned to the team as a broadcaster.
Being around the legend so much helped Miller develop an appreciation for Ray the person and his work in the community and leading the Sabres Alumni Association.
“You really have a picture of a guy who has not only accomplished something in hockey, but accomplished something in his life,” Miller said. “He has the respect of all the people he comes across.”