WARBURG, Alberta — On the day the Buffalo Sabres’ 10-game winning streak started with a win over the Edmonton Oilers, Shirley Ruff got into her Jeep Grand Cherokee to make the 45-minute drive from her home in Warburg, Alberta, to Leduc. From there, a friend took her the rest of the way to downtown Edmonton, where she was meeting her son for lunch.
Hours earlier, Lindy Ruff and the Sabres had dropped their third straight game, a frustrating 7-4 loss against the Calgary Flames. Days later, questions about Ruff’s future as the team’s head coach would hang in the air after the team fired general manager Kevyn Adams and replaced him with Jarmo Kekäläinen. The 65-year-old has already cemented his place in Sabres history after a lengthy playing career earned him a reputation for his hard work and toughness. His first stint as Sabres coach was further evidence of his passion for the game and for Buffalo.
But when he sat down for lunch with his mom on that mid-December day in Edmonton, Ruff was still struggling to find the right answers during his latest stint with the Sabres. After finishing with 79 points in his first season back in Buffalo, the Sabres were last in the Eastern Conference and appeared headed toward a 15th straight season out of the playoffs. His mom didn’t have any words of wisdom that Ruff remembers, but she did help him take his mind off things.
“My mom was more worried about getting one of those beer sabres,” Ruff said, referring to the promotional item the Sabres offered at a few home games earlier this year. “Her friend wanted one of those beer sabres. I said, ‘Seriously? I have to carry one of these out to Warburg?’ She said, ‘Yeah, they want it badly.’ I had to cart one of those out with me. That was my main goal at lunch to meet her and give her that sword.”
Ruff only gets to see his mom a few times a year. He typically returns home to Warburg for her birthday in May and finds another time to visit in the summer. His father, Leeson, died at 88 in 2022, so he doesn’t take lunches like that one in Edmonton for granted.
“She’s old enough now that you relish those opportunities,” Ruff said. “When they’re gone, you always wish you spent more time.”
That night, the Sabres stormed out to a 3-0 lead against the Oilers, allowed three third-period goals and then managed to escape with a 4-3 overtime win. Afterward, Ruff was in prime form, ripping the officiating. That game ended up sparking a season-altering winning streak and 28-game run in which the Sabres went 21-5-2 heading into the Olympic break to get into the thick of the playoff race. The season turned after lunch with Mom.
“You know what, I’m going to tell her that,” Ruff said. “You know, Mom, you realize you got us going that day in Edmonton.”
When you head south out of Edmonton through Leduc and arrive on Highway 39, you’re surrounded by farmland in every direction. Drive west down that road, and you’ll come across Warburg. The village has a population of just 684, but you can’t miss the large Welcome to Warburg sign. In the last few years, they’ve added to that sign to include, “Home of NHL coaches Lindy Ruff and Dave Hakstol.” Ruff and his family lived in five different houses around town over the years, but never left Warburg.
“You knew everybody in town,” Ruff said. “You literally knew every house. At one time, there was probably 400 people there, and you pretty well knew everybody’s house. You knew who the town mayor was, you knew the guy at the gas station. You knew everything. There was just enough to have a hockey team, and we actually had to combine with another town to have a baseball team. I think the odds of making it from a smaller community is pretty thin, but somehow got it done.”
This is the place that made Lindy Ruff, but spend a few hours here, and it’s clear he and his family have helped shape this town, too. When Ruff was growing up, Warburg didn’t have an indoor rink. Until he was 11 or 12, he skated on the town’s outdoor ice surface. He and his family played a major role in helping to raise the funds to put a roof over it and turn it into a proper arena.
“We actually had walk-a-thons to raise money for the rink,” Ruff said. “Everybody helped put the boards in, and it was just natural ice back then still. We were weather dependent on whether we would have ice.”
That arena has continued to grow and evolve over the years. And just as it always was, that arena is still the heartbeat of this small town. When I sent a note to the arena’s email address to let them know I was interested in visiting Warburg and getting a feel for the place that shaped Lindy Ruff, I received a response almost immediately. On the day I arrived, seven people were there to greet me. Arena board members Ryan Taves, Barry Gidosh and Cody Kay were there to show me around the rink. Past arena board president Rob Wenzel wanted to share some stories about Ruff and his family. Chris Pankewitz, CAO of the Village of Warburg and Ruff’s old classmate, was there to take us through the school. Even the mayor of Warburg, Dwayne Mayr, who was also a classmate, wanted to help show me around.
And then there was Gary Bredin, who is about 10 years older than Ruff and played two seasons in the AHL and also spent time in the WHA. He was the first to make it off the farm in Warburg and into the world of professional hockey. He recalled playing on Warburg’s outdoor rink and only being able to get in 10 good games a year, depending on the weather. The first time he saw a real referee in a game was when he went to Edmonton to play junior hockey.
“He was kind of the guy growing up who I thought, ‘Man, he played pro. That’s pretty cool,’” Ruff said.
Ruff eventually followed that path, too, and he credits his parents for helping make it happen. His father, Leeson, was a talented baseball player growing up. He had a chance to move to the United States and pursue playing at higher levels, but his father didn’t let him. That made it extra important for Leeson to make sure his boys had the chance to chase their dreams and leave the farm if they needed to.
“I loved my childhood,” Ruff said. “I was a farm kid. My dad farmed and me and my three brothers were the laborers. We drove a lot of tractors, baled a lot of hay, helped with the cattle. We didn’t need a gym to go work out. That’s all I have to say.”
Leeson also drove a bus in Warburg for 31 years, so he got to know everybody in town, and everybody got to know him. People still talk about his booming voice that you could recognize from half a mile away.
“He was probably a bigger figure in that town than I was,” Ruff said.
Leeson was a fixture at the town rink and the bowling alley, and he was a legendary crib player. Bredin always loved following Lindy’s career as a player and coach through Leeson’s stories, the pride and cutting humor, evident in every word.
“If he had allowed his dad to take some of his press conference, his career would have been over a long time ago,” Bredin said with a laugh.
Ruff has that same quick wit, and he and his brothers, Marty, Randy and Brent, shared Leeson’s love of baseball. In between riding tractors and baling hay on the farm in the summer, they always had mitts and a ball lying around.
“He coached us in baseball,” Ruff said. “When you got to like 14 or 15, there wasn’t enough for a kids’ team, so we played in a men’s league. He would get upset sometimes and take one of us out and pinch-hit as a coach. We thought it was the funniest thing. I don’t think there was a time he didn’t hit the ball.”
Ruff was a pitcher who specialized in throwing junk. He got an opportunity to pitch for a scout once, and the scout thought he was good enough to play winter ball. But baseball in the winter was a non-starter.
“I said I can’t go play winter ball,” Ruff remembered. “I play hockey.”
Mayr marvels at the volunteer spirit in Warburg. It’s part of what keeps rinks like this one operating.
“You don’t find people like that everywhere,” he said.
(Matthew Fairburn / The Athletic)
(Matthew Fairburn / The Athletic)
(Matthew Fairburn / The Athletic)
Ruff has always quietly supported the fundraising efforts, too. After he was an assistant coach for Canada at the Olympics, he got a jersey signed by the whole team to auction off for the arena’s fundraiser. It raised more than $10,000.
Getting a roof and artificial ice put in were just the start. Being in the place now, you would never know it was once an outdoor rink. It’s outfitted with six renovated dressing rooms and four overflow areas. They recently redid the mezzanine area where pictures of Ruff, his brothers and Warburg’s other great hockey players like Bredin hang. Next door is a curling rink, where Ruff’s grandfather was once the caretaker. Ruff has brought his coaching staff out to that curling rink a time or two, when the schedule allowed, on road trips.
“Keeping these small rinks alive is the only way to keep hockey here,” Kay said. “Otherwise, kids wouldn’t play or wouldn’t be able to afford it. We’re able to keep the ice in this area around half the price of the ice in Edmonton, so a lot more kids get an opportunity because it’s more affordable.”
These people and this arena have always been there for Ruff and his family. When his brother Brent died in a bus crash along with three of his junior hockey teammates in 1986, Ruff, then the captain of the Sabres, took a leave of absence from the team, but he skated on this rink. This community was there for him and his family through an unimaginable tragedy. It’s part of why Shirley and Leeson never left. They thought about moving a few years before Leeson died, but ended up deciding against it. Shirley has told her kids she’s so glad they decided to stay. She had a group of friends she plays cards with multiple times a week. There are generations of families still in Warburgh, and people look out for each other in this town.
When Leeson died in 2022, Lindy was back here in Warburg. Again, he put his skates on to take a spin around the old rink with some of the youth hockey teams.
“The message when I go out, the last time I was out there shooting on 10-year-old goalies and having some fun, you just talk about hope and you talk about dreaming,” Ruff said. “Follow your dreams and chase them for as long as you can. Really, that’s all I did. I just thought as a kid, ‘Boy, I would love to play hockey.’ I probably equally loved baseball, but at the end, hockey was the path that I was given. I worked hard to get to where I was at and worked hard at trying to be a good player. By no means was I one of the best players. I just tried to be that hardworking guy that could help the team win.”
Ruff did that for 12 NHL seasons, including 10 with the Sabres, and two more in the minors. He then went on to coach for more than 30 years in the NHL. He’s now in his 25th season as a head coach and his second stint as coach of the Sabres. Like his parents in Warburg, Ruff never got rid of his house in Buffalo. This has become his home, and he’s spending the final chapter of his career trying to do what his family did in Warburg: leave this place a bit better than he found it.
With 25 games left, the Sabres have a strong chance to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since the 2010-11 season. The turnaround Ruff has helped steer since that day in Edmonton will put him firmly in the running for the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year, especially if Buffalo does end its NHL-record, 14-year playoff drought.
Everyone in Warburg would love to welcome Ruff back this summer for a happy celebration. This group has always wondered what it would be like to have the Stanley Cup make a visit to Warburg. At the time of my visit, they thought Hakstol, who is behind the bench for the Colorado Avalanche, might make that a reality. Little did they know what the Sabres had in store.
They also made it clear they’re prepared to host an epic retirement party for Ruff, who turns 66 in February, whenever he decides he’s done coaching. When informed of that, Ruff scoffed at the mention of the word. He’s not one to spend much time contemplating his future. He shut the question down the day he was reintroduced as the Sabres’ coach in 2024. Before the Warburg arena even had a roof, this was Ruff’s dream. So, kindly, he’d like everyone to forget about planning that retirement party.
“Let’s worry about the Stanley Cup first,” Ruff said.