James Peter Lorentz, Jr. (born May 1, 1947) is a Canadian retired

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

who played 10 seasons in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

for the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

and

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

between 1969 and 1978. He won the Stanley Cup with Boston in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

. He was the color analyst for the Sabres on the

MSG Network The MSG Network (MSG) is an American regional cable and satellite television network, and radio service owned by MSG Entertainment, Inc.—a spin-off of the main Madison Square Garden Company operation (itself a spin-off of local cable provider ...

and the Sabres Radio Network. He worked alongside play-by-play commentator

Rick Jeanneret John Richard Jeanneret (born July 23, 1942)Pergament, Alan (October 5, 2014)‘I feel like an American,’ Jeanneret says, as he gets cancer treatment here ''The Buffalo News''. Retrieved October 5, 2014. “Jeanneret received his first radiatio ...

Career

Lorentz's career started in 1964 when he played the first of three years of junior hockey with the

Niagara Falls Flyers The Niagara Falls Flyers were two junior ice hockey franchises that played in the top tier in the Ontario Hockey Association. The first, a Junior "A" team existed from 1960 until 1972, and the second in Tier I Junior "A" from 1976 until 1982. ...

, which was part of the Ontario Hockey Association. He began his professional hockey career with the Oklahoma City Blazers of

Central Hockey League The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which opera ...

in 1967-68. Lorentz was named rookie of the year in his first season with the CHL. In his second and final season in the minor leagues, he led the league in scoring and was named as the Most Valuable Player. Lorentz left the CHL and went to play for the

, which were a powerhouse in the NHL, led by

Bobby Orr Robert Gordon Orr (born March 20, 1948) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest of all time. Orr used his ice skating speed, scoring, and play-making abilities to revolutionize the pos ...

and

Phil Esposito Philip Anthony Esposito ( , ; born February 20, 1942) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, coach and executive, and current broadcaster for the Tampa Bay Lightning. A member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, he played 18 seasons in ...

. Lorentz scored his first NHL goal in Boston's 4-0 home win against Pittsburgh on March 2, 1969. Lorentz did not play much that season, and was shuffled around from center ice and to the wing. In his rookie season with the Bruins, Lorentz won the Stanley Cup in the

1970 Stanley Cup Finals The 1970 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1969–70 season, and the culmination of the 1970 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was a contest between the Boston Bruins and the St. Louis Blues, who appea ...

. After the Cup, the Bruins traded Lorentz to the

in exchange for the Blues' first pick in the 1970 Amateur Draft (the pick was used to select Ron Plumb). Jim played the 1970-71 season with St. Louis before splitting the 1971-72 season between the Blues, the

and the

. Over his more than six seasons with the Sabres, Jim racked up 134 goals, 197 assists and 331 points in 487 games. Jim also enjoyed his best seasons in a Sabre uniform, recording a career-high 27 goals in 1972-73 season and a personal-best 70 points in 1974-75 season, the same year he helped Buffalo reach the Stanley Cup Finals. In 1975, during game three of the 1975 Stanley Cup Finals against the

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Well ...

at the Memorial Auditorium, Lorentz earned the nickname "Batman" when he swatted a

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most ...

out of mid-air with his stick. During the 1975 finals, Lorentz scored 6 goals and 10 points in 16 playoff games. Lorentz continued to play until 1978 when he retired from NHL duty. He retired with 659 games, 161 goals, 238 assists and 399 points. After he stopped playing hockey with the Sabres, Lorentz served as the

play by play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

announcer for the Sabres. He filled in for Ted Darling from October 16, 1991 to November 20, 1991 when Darling was on medical leave. He also filled in for Sabres play-by-play announcer

twice.

Retirement

On September 25, 2007, he announced his retirement from his position as color commentator for the Sabres after 26 years as a broadcaster with the team. The official statement was as follows: "My long association with the Buffalo Sabres was nothing but positive and I was fortunate to retire from the game as a player but be able to stay involved as a broadcaster," said Jim Lorentz. "I was blessed to work with two of the best play-by-play men of all-time in Ted Darling and Rick Jeanneret. This was a tough decision to make, but after 43 years of travel as a player and broadcaster, I based my decision on the unwillingness to tackle another long season and grueling travel schedule

Lorentz later stated that, if he had been given the same opportunity as Jeanneret later got to reduce his workload to only home games, he would have stayed on with the team. In late 2015, Lorentz decided to return to Western New York to coach the Hamburg Hawks youth hockey team.Gleason, Bucky (January 24, 2016)
Jim Lorentz hooked on teaching hockey to kids
. ''The Buffalo News''. Retrieved January 25, 2016.

Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame

Lorentz was inducted to the Buffalo Sabres hall of fame on February 9, 2010. During the first intermission, Lorentz told the viewers that he is currently working on a full book about salmon fishing and is also an avid fisherman during his retirement from broadcasting. As of March 2014, Lorentz states the book is nearly complete.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lorentz, Jim 1947 births Living people Boston Bruins players Buffalo Sabres announcers Buffalo Sabres players Canadian ice hockey centres Ice hockey people from Ontario National Hockey League broadcasters Niagara Falls Flyers players New York Rangers players Oklahoma City Blazers (1965–1977) players Sportspeople from Waterloo, Ontario St. Louis Blues players Stanley Cup champions