Rick Jeanneret has been the voice of the Buffalo Sabres for this writer's entire lifetime.

PHOTO CREDIT - sabres.nhl.com

Buffalo - November 14, 2014 - It’s been a long, tough road for Rick Jeanneret since he announced that he had been diagnosed with throat cancer back in July.

“I would like to stress I have every intention of coming back. I have probably three months ahead of me that aren’t going to be fun. I know they aren’t going to be.”

On Saturday, the man who has been the voice of the Sabres for my entire lifetime and has had some of the franchise’s most famous calls (“MAY DAY! still gives me the chills) will return to the TV booth to call the first period of the Maple Leafs – Sabres game.

Take it away, Buffalo News:

“I’m going to do a period Saturday and no more than that,” said the 72-year-old Jeanneret. “I don’t know how my voice will hang on. There is only one way to find out. There is no way to practice it.”

If all goes well, Jeanneret’s plan is to work another period at Tuesday’s home game with San Jose and work two periods of games on Friday, Nov. 21 against the New York Rangers at home and the Washington Capitals on the road on Nov. 22.

“If it is good after that, let it rip,” said Jeanneret.

His eventual goal is to work the entire November 26th game against the Winnipeg Jets and then call games for the rest of the year, plus 41 games in 2015-16.

It had been a rough year for not only Jeanneret, but fellow Buffalo sports legend Jim Kelly. Kelly had been dealing with mouth cancer, but had battled hard and announced that he was cancer free after dropping the pre-game ceremonial puck during the team’s Hockey Fights Cancer Night.

Glad to have Rick back in the booth. It wouldn’t feel the same without him.

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