Career
James Thomas "Jim" Kelley, Junior. (October 26, 1949 – November 30, 2010) was a professional sports news columnist from South Buffalo. His 30-year career focused primarily on the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League, and the greater Buffalo area.
He pursued other media besides newspaper writing.
From time to time he continued to contribute various hockey articles to Entertainment and Sports Programming Network.com and FOXSports.com. His experience and knowledge of hockey led The Hockey News to proclaim him in 2002-2003 as one of the "100 People of Power and Influence in Hockey." Kelley was a regular co-host on Prime Time Sports, a columnist for Sports Illustrated, and wrote a hockey column for Sportsnet.ca.
He continued writing columns for Sportsnet up until his death, with his final column being published the day of his death. One of the most notorious moments of Kelley"s career came in the 1996-1997 National Hockey League season, while he was covering the Buffalo Sabres" first round playoff series against the Ottawa Senators.
After Sabres goaltender Dominik Hašek claimed to be injured with a knee popular in Game Three of the series, Kelley wrote a column the next day that accused Hašek of having "poor mental toughness." After Game Five of the series, Kelley approached Hašek for an interview.
When he saw Kelley, Hašek unexpectedly yelled at him, pushed him and subsequently ripped his shirt official He later issued a formal apology to Kelley, and was suspended three games and fined $10,000 for his actions. In his Sportsnet.ca column on Christmas Eve 2009, Kelley revealed that had pancreatic cancer.
He died at the age of 61 at Buffalo General Hospital on November 30, 2010.
The subject was the Toronto Maple Leafs" status on the two-year anniversary of the hiring of Brian Burke as its general manager.