BUFFALO, N.Y. — In the final minutes of the Buffalo Sabres' 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday afternoon, the broadcast flashed to a section of KeyBank Center that was filled with cardboard cutouts.
All of the cutouts, 64 of them in Section 206, were of the same person: Theodore "Teddy" Steeg III, a Sabres fan who died suddenly in February. He was 38.
"Let's find a way to give Teddy a tribute that he deserves," Nathaniel Roche, a friend of Steeg's since the fourth grade, told Sabres.com earlier this month. "He's such a character in our group of friends, such a core piece to everything.
"We all thought about that. He's this core piece that ties us all together in a lot of ways. So, how do we provide a tribute that makes sense for him?"
The way they did it was on display Saturday afternoon, for a nationwide audience to see.
Money for the cardboard cutouts came from an online fundraising effort by Roche and others.
2 On Your Side's Claudine Ewing spoke with Steeg's parents about this tribute for their son, who died wearing a Sabres jersey.
"There's 64 cutouts of Teddy in section 206 of the Sabres' arena, and it's just incredible," Linda said.
She added: "His friends wanted to pay tribute to him, and so they decided they would buy cutouts as a tribute to Teddy."
The family said they will be at Friday night's home game against the Boston Bruins for a special honor. That game begins at 7 p.m.
