Old Man b/w Maybe the Next Time

Jim Lorentz occupies one of the more unusual corners of Canadian music history: a Waterloo, Ontario-born singer-songwriter who made records during the 1970s while simultaneously enjoying a long career in professional hockey. Best remembered in sporting circles as a Stanley Cup champion and longtime member of the Buffalo Sabres, Lorentz also pursued music seriously enough to write and record his own material, receive Canadian radio exposure and perform live with other musicians.

James Peter Lorentz was born in Waterloo, Ontario on May 1st, 1947. Before his professional hockey career took him across Canada and the United States, he spent three seasons playing junior hockey with the Niagara Falls Flyers. That Niagara Falls connection would later become significant to his recording career. After moving through the Oklahoma City Blazers, Boston Bruins, St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers organizations, Lorentz joined the Buffalo Sabres, where he became one of the club's familiar players of the 1970s. He had already been a member of Boston's 1970 Stanley Cup championship team and would ultimately spend more than six seasons with Buffalo.

Music, however, was more than an off-ice diversion for Lorentz. In 1976 he emerged with the Canadian single 'Beautiful Lady' b/w 'The Road Ahead', issued on the small Niagara Falls-based Little Guy Records label and manufactured by Quality Records Limited. Lorentz wrote both songs, with Russ Little producing and Cataract Music handling publishing. The record's Niagara Falls origins provide an interesting connection to the city where Lorentz had spent his formative junior-hockey years.

'Beautiful Lady' attracted genuine attention within the Canadian music industry. During the spring and summer of 1976 the song appeared in Canadian radio programmer reports. Although his fame as a hockey player inevitably supplied the novelty value for the press, the record itself was treated as a legitimate Canadian release rather than merely as a sports celebrity souvenir.

Later that year Lorentz returned with 'Old Man' b/w 'Maybe The Next Time' on Toronto's Blue Chip label. Both songs were again Lorentz originals. This time he worked with producer Paul J. Zaza, recording at Zaza Sound in Toronto, with the material published through Zaza Sound Productions and Tanned Fur. Contemporary Canadian trade coverage specifically identified the recording artist as the Buffalo Sabres' Jim Lorentz, firmly connecting the records to the hockey player and establishing the second single as a 1976 release.

The Blue Chip record also placed Lorentz within Toronto's professional recording community. Paul Zaza was already developing an extensive career as a musician, arranger, producer and composer, while Zaza Sound became involved with a variety of Canadian recording projects. Lorentz's move from the Niagara Falls-based Little Guy operation to a Toronto production with Zaza suggests an artist attempting to develop his recording activities beyond a single locally produced release.

There is evidence that Lorentz's musical life extended considerably further than the four songs documented on his two known singles. Niagara Falls guitarist Ed Supple later recalled touring with Lorentz during the 1970s, indicating that Lorentz was also performing his music live rather than limiting his activities to occasional studio sessions. Supple's career history additionally notes songwriting credits with Lorentz dating from the 1980s. The compositions involved have yet to be fully identified, but the connection suggests that Lorentz continued writing after his two known 1976 records.

Lorentz was not the only member of the 1970s Buffalo Sabres with musical ambitions. Teammate Jim Schoenfeld also recorded professionally, and recollections of the period describe guitars and music as a regular part of life around the young Sabres team. Within that environment, however, Lorentz developed his own identifiable body of work as a Canadian songwriter, recording four original compositions under his own name and apparently continuing to write and perform beyond those releases.

His hockey career inevitably produced the story for which he remains most famous. During the extraordinary fog-shrouded 1975 Stanley Cup Final game at Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, Lorentz used his stick to knock a bat out of the air as it flew above the ice, adding another surreal element to what became known as the 'Fog Game'. After retiring as a player in 1978, he remained closely associated with the Sabres and eventually spent 27 seasons as a member of the team's broadcast crew alongside Ted Darling and Rick Jeanneret.

Lorentz's long association with Buffalo eventually brought significant recognition. On February 9th, 2010 he was inducted into the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame, followed by induction into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame as a member of its 2011 class. His contribution to hockey in New York received another major acknowledgement in 2025 when he was inducted into the New York State Hockey Hall of Fame.

-Robert Williston