"It's in my blood": Rob Gronkowski names the NHL team he's grown up rooting for

By Ankit Kumar

Modified Dec 18, 2024 01:26 GMT

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Rob Gronkowski is apparently a big hockey guy and a Buffalo Sabres fan. The former star NFL tight end appeared on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast on Dec. 17 and shared his love for hockey.

The 4x Super Bowl winner and all-time NFL legend explained his long history with hockey.

"That was exactly my game. I loved hockey actually. That was actually my sport growing up,” Rob Gronkowski said. “It actually kind of just got facilitated out of my life." [2:35:00]

In high school, Gronk had to give it up as it conflicted with other sports he was playing, like football and basketball.

Still, his love for the Sabres never faded.

"And I'm actually from Buffalo, New York. So Buffalo has great hockey.....Now, they're still, we still watch our hockey, and I love our hockey there, so I'm a Sabers fan going up my whole life.....that's definitely in my blood."

"I mean, my whole entire family, we played hockey growing up. That was the first part you start playing when you're in Buffalo as well, when you're when you're two years old, you like, put the skates on you, and you're going out to the rink, and you're skating around."

Rob Gronkowski’s comments come as the Buffalo Sabres continue to struggle this season. The team is on a 10-game losing streak and sits seventh in the Atlantic Division with an 11-16-4 record.

Defensive issues and weak goaltending have hurt the Sabres this year. They rank 26th in goals against per game and have one of the NHL’s weakest power plays at 14.6%.

Rob Gronkowski's Sabres lost to Maple Leafs, their 10th straight defeat

The Buffalo Sabres lost 5-3 to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday, extending their losing streak to 10 games. Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff was disappointed with the loss.

“I’m almost lost for words, obviously,” Ruff said, per NHL.com, “It’s on me to solve this.

Buffalo started strong when Jack Quinn scored a power-play goal at 1:05 of the first period. Alex Tuch doubled the lead at 2:46 with a wrist shot. Toronto responded with Max Domi’s goal at 15:45, cutting the lead to 2-1.

In the second period, Quinn scored again at 9:11, making it 3-1 for Buffalo. However, Toronto rallied quickly. Nicholas Robertson scored at 11:20, and John Tavares tied it at 12:41 on a power play. Tavares added another goal at 13:51, giving Toronto a 4-3 lead.

Tavares completed a natural hat trick with an empty-net goal at 17:48. Defensive lapses and inconsistent play hurt Buffalo throughout the game.

Rob Gronkowski will be hoping the Sabres can end this streak against the Montreal Canadians in their next game on Tuesday.