Buffalo Sabres goaltender Robin Lehner will temporarily switch his jersey number and wear a special tribute jersey to honour former Buffalo K-9 policeman Craig Lehner when the Sabres host the Florida Panthers on Friday night.
The Sabres will be hosting their Military Appreciation Night. Lehner will change the number 0 on his jersey that normally features the number 40 to 3 . The significance of the number 43 is to honour Craig’s radio call sign, K-9 43.
In an interview with The Buffalo News on Thursday, Lehner mentioned that a number of people had contacted him on social media about Craig, who unfortunately passed away during a underwater training routine. The jersey hell wear in the warmups will go to Craig Lehner’s family. The Sabres started wanted to wear the jersey of his namesakes during the game, but the NHL wouldn’t approve.of it.
"It feels like the right thing to do. There have obviously been quite a few things around here for him, so for me it just makes sense. They sacrifice a lot for the communities. It's a dangerous thing they do day to day. They deserve some recognition for their day-to-day work. It's obviously a tough situation for them."
Prior to joining the police force, Craig served 16 years in the Army National Guard. The game marks what would’ve been Craig’s 35th birthday. The 26-year-old goaltender felt Craig derserved recognition for sacrificing his life all those years on the job.
Good on Robin for saluting the former police officer and solider and bringing a little solace to Craig's family.
