Dear Salisbury Clients,

What a great response to the Buffalo Sabre tickets I’m giving away this upcoming Friday. I have read some truly amazing stories. Some of them are so good that I have posted what I think are the top stories on my Blog. I will add a comment on the Blog announcing the winner before Noon on Thursday. Thanks to everyone who shared their stories.

Here are some of the best, in no particular order…

Hey Tim

My son is a huge hockey fan (plays goal) and a great kid, he’s in his first year of University working his butt off to keep the marks up and his parents off his back, he’s got Friday night open and it would be a great surprise to say we got two tickets to the game tonight! Keep us in mind and take care.

John

Tim,

It is not how much I would like to go to see a Sabres game, but I would REALLY like to win these for a gift. My Aunt is turning 50 later this month, and is a HUGE Buffalo Sabres fan. She lives in Port Colborne with her husband & three boys and can’t really afford tickets to go see any games (NHL games can be quite expensive). I would really love to see the look on her face if I were to give her two tickets to see her favourite team.

Thanks, Drew

T.

If there is 1 person who deserves these tickets over anyone else it is me. For 41 years I have been a Toronto Maple Leaf fan. If you didn’t know, the last time the Leafs won the Stanley Cup was 43 years ago – 1967 to be exact.

Since I started watching hockey on Saturday nights in the mid 1970′s, there haven’t been many things to cheer about. From the Darryl Sittler ripping off the captains C to the Harold Ballard 1980′s era. How about the Gretzky high stick on Doug Gilmour in the conference finals of 1994. Not to mention the fact that the team hasn’t made the playoffs since the lockout season of 2004.

To top it all off, they traded away their 1st pick in the draft the next 2 years to the Bruins and there’s a good chance they’ll finish last in the standings.

I challenge you to find a more deserving person to see a real NHL hockey game then me.

Thought you’d get a kick out of this story. I would not be able to use the tickets anyway.

Tom

Hi Tim:

Yes, would love to go to game with Ryan, our son.

Loves hockey, has passport.

Director of company I work for son (Cal Clutterbuck) plays for Minnesota and it would be wonderful opportunity to see him play.

Ryan has an autographed photo, which he received recently, and would be more than ecstatic to find out he was able to go and watch him play.

Ryan currently plays hockey for CYO Special Needs Hockey Team and would never miss a game. At his nephew’s games (3 of them) he loves to keep stats on what is going on and always, always walks around the area with clipboard in hand.

Yours in anticipation!!

Best regards,
Carol

timmy salisbury…….i submit…

for her birthday i was late.
on the couch, my bedtime fate.
with my wife, i need a date.
a sabres game to celebrate?
dinner, then to see them skate.
hope they win 10 to 8.
should i need more real estate,
I’d call on timmy – boy he’s great.

cheers my man….
john

Hi Tim

As a child I was always a Minnesota North Stars fan.

I was truly saddened when they gave up their NHL franchise.

Once restored—Minnesota Wild—I again had a team in the Western Conference to cheer for.

Today the coolest looking Jersey belongs to “The Wild.”

The Wild plays textbook hockey with very few mistakes down ice.

This Minnesota team has two Niagara natives—John Scott (St. Catharines) and Cal Clutterbuck (Welland).

GO WILD GO!!!!!

Thanks Tim for reading why I would look forward to such a game.

Tom

Hey Tim,

Would love to go to the game. Haven’t been to one in like 4 years. Justin keeps asking me if I would take him to his first hockey game and I haven’t had the time or extra money to be able to. This could be a great opportunity to do that. Thanks either way. Take care.

Marc

Hi Timothy,

I guess explaining that I am big hockey fan is hardly original, right?! I am in Canada, after all.

Instead, let me take time out of my work day to tell you my (self-serving) story…

I lived in St. Stephen, NB for most of my life and never had an opportunity to see live professional hockey until years later when, as an adult, I moved to Maine. I used to make the 7-hour trip down Hartford each year to watch Whaler games and cheer on Sean Burke and the Whalers as they got clobbered most times.

As the years passed, I moved to pursue professional opportunity in a more urban spot — I was looking for a place with reasonable unemployment rates, blue skies and a NHL hockey team. It came down to Colorado and Arizona. I moved to Phoenix in 1997 and watched many Coyotes games while enjoying the clear starry nights and beautiful sunny days.

After 9/11 and 17 years in the USA, I determined it was time to return to my native land and made my way to Vancouver (again, milder weather and… you guessed it, a NHL hockey team!). My wife (originally from Arizona) and I spent 7 years in BC, but both of us were longing for a place we could make our long term home — a place with reasonably priced real estate, a smaller city close to major urban centers (and NHL hockey!), mild winters, beautiful natural surroundings, and warm, helpful people. We spent 18 months researching ALL OVER the US and Canada for the right fit for us — a place we could call home! In our research, we discovered the Niagara wine region and St. Catharines, a city with a rich history, in the process of reinventing itself, with a vibrant new interactive media community that we could play a leadership role in!

When we researched the real estate opportunities, one guy with long flowing hair kept standing out — his website and newsletters painted the kind of place we were looking for. Right, it was you, Timothy!

When we emailed your office, one of your colleagues (Sally Dollar), got back to us right away and spent time helping to validate the move to St. Catharines, reassuring us through our concerns and making us feel that this would be the right decision for us to move our household and business to the region. Of course, you followed up with us to make sure all of our questions were answered.

Last October, we moved here and have been renting as we get to know the neighbourhoods — establishing our business and embracing everything the region has to offer. We are thrilled you helped us find our long term home — and all of our expectations have been exceeded! I even bet your office has had something to do with this beautiful mild winter we got in our first year here!

Of course, moving here means we weren’t in Vancouver for the Olympic festivities and I can’t see any Canucks games this year (and I was sad when I discovered they didn’t play in Buffalo this season). So now don’t you feel responsible for this? Wouldn’t it make you feel a bit better to give those 2 tickets to 2 huge hockey fans who don’t really even have any friends here yet (in the city that you convinced us to call our home)?

This email, is the truth, but meant in fun — both Katie and I appreciate all the help you have given us directly and through all the resources you have created in your website! Thanks, Timothy (and I am sure we will be talking about homes as we get closer to our lease ending — even if we don’t get those Sabres tickets)!

Sincerely,
Dan & Katie

I would love to be able to take my son to a Sabre’s game. He started playing hockey when he was 5 and has enjoyed it ever since but he has yet to see a professional team play.

So in the words of a 12-year-old boy…please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, can we have some tickets?

Thanks
Jim & Andrew

Hi Tim,

Terry and would love the chance to get away and see the Buffalo game Friday night… As you may or may not know, our boys are now 12 and 10-yrs-old and both play travel hockey….this means we are at the ARENA for them typically 6 or 7 days a week….all winter long!!!! There seasons are starting to wind down and we actually have NOTHING this Friday……it would be great to have date night…….(and the boys would be SO envious of mom going to the game…)

Hope to be considered for this…

Thanks
Lynne

Great contest!

I would sincerely love Buffalo Sabre tickets. I’ve only ever gone to 2 NHL hockey games…one in Montreal back in 1998, and an exhibition game here in St. Catharines about 5 or 6 years ago. I love sports playing hockey and baseball throughout my childhood for 10 years, and most recently golf, tennis, and jiu jitsu, so sports is in my blood! This prize would be especially nice because it’ll be a great treat for my “little.” I’m in Big Brothers and my “little” Ray has never gone to a hockey game and he’d be absolutely 100% totally amazed by the skill of the game and its players. I tried organizing a free ball hockey league in his government subsidized housing by passing over 200 flyers with Ray however there were only 2 responses back. I feel bad that I couldn’t create a hockey league however hopefully if I’m chosen this might be my redemption. Ray comes from a single parent low income situation with little to no sports involvement, and this would help immensely.

We both have passports!

Please pick us!

John and Ray