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 work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

centre who played 10 seasons in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

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 (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The t ...

, St. Louis Blues,

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

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 (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Con ...

between 1969 and 1978. He won the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...

with Boston in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

. He was the color analyst for the Sabres on the MSG Network and the Sabres Radio Network. He worked alongside play-by-play commentator Rick Jeanneret.

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. B ...

, which was part of the

Ontario Hockey Association The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) is the governing body for the majority of junior and senior level ice hockey teams in the province of Ontario. Founded in 1890, the OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern ...

. 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 and Phil Esposito. 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

in the 1970 Stanley Cup Finals. After the Cup, the Bruins traded Lorentz to the St. Louis Blues 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 The 1975 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1974–75 season, and the culmination of the 1975 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Buffalo Sabres and the defending champion Philad ...

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 (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team play ...

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

bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). 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 birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

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 color commentator/

play-by-play In Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real time (media), real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present t ...

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 Rick Jeanneret 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 stated the book was nearly complete. ''The Atlantic Salmon: Moody & Mysterious'' was published in 2017.

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 National Hockey League broadcasters Niagara Falls Flyers players New York Rangers players Oklahoma City Blazers (1965–1977) players Ice hockey people from Waterloo, Ontario St. Louis Blues players Stanley Cup champions 20th-century Canadian sportsmen