Taro Tsujimoto

Taro Tsujimoto is an imaginary ice hockey player that was legally drafted by the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres in the 11th round of the 1974 NHL Entry Draft.cite web|url=http://www.nhl.com/features/pond/asia061506.html|accessdate=2007-07-31|title=Asia Hockey League: Pioneering hockey's great frontier|publisher=hockeydraftcentral.com|date=2006-06-15|author=Meltzer, Bill] cite web|url=http://hockeydraftcentral.com/1974/74183.html|accessdate=2007-07-31|title=1974 NHL Draft Pick|publisher=hockeydraftcentral.com]

The Sabres' General Manager at the time, Punch Imlach, was reportedly fed up with the slow drafting process via the telephone. He decided to have some fun at the expense of the league and President of 28 years, Clarence Campbell, and contacted public relations director Paul Wieland for the translation of Sabre in Japanese and a common Japanese name.Bailey, Budd, "Celebrate the Tradition: 1970-1990," Boncraft Inc., 1989, p. 40.] When the 11th round surfaced, Imlach chose to select star center Taro Tsujimoto of the Tokyo Katanas, a team from the Japanese Hockey League. The NHL made the pick official, and so it was reported by all major media outlets including reputable magazine The Hockey News.

Imlach did not clear the air about the fake draft pick until weeks later. He admitted that he had made up Taro Tsujimoto, based on a name he found in a Buffalo-area phone book, and the team name Tokyo Katanas translated loosely into English as Tokyo Sabres. The NHL would eventually change the pick to an "invalid claim" for its official record-keeping purposes (Campbell not finding it nearly as funny as Imlach), but this was after Tsujimoto's name had appeared in several of NHL Guide and Record Books. Tsujimoto is still listed among Sabres' draft picks in the Sabres media guide.cite web|url=http://downloads.sabres.nhl.com/other/history.pdf|title=History|accessdate=2007-07-31|date=2006|publisher=Buffalo Sabres and the National Hockey League]

Taro quickly became an inside joke for Sabres' fans and staffers. For years after the pick, fans would chant "We Want Taro" when games at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium got one-sided.

External links

* http://www.hockeydraftcentral.com/1974/74183.html

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