The Road To Hockey Heaven

Buffalo, NY has been deemed locally as “Hockey Heaven” for its passionate fan base and loyal sports following. I know many cities love their home town teams but there is a connection that exists between the Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo Bills and their community that goes deeper than the sport+fans=love relationship. Buffalo is a hard-working blue-collar community with great people and culture. The Western NY area has always seemed to be in an uphill battle to turn the corner back to the once great destination it was. And with that battle comes a sense of pride that I love and helps builds a deeper appreciation of who you are and what you support. And what easier outlet for local pride and passion is there than being loyal to your teams. With a loyal fan base come many things including critics, and that is expected. But when you have a fan base that has been searching for a major championship in any sport for as long as Buffalo, NY it can get ugly. 40+ years and counting when looking at NHL and NFL.

Turn the page, fast forward, do as you must to the point when Terry Pegula enters the picture as the new owner of the Buffalo Sabres. Mr. Pegula enters the picture as a long time fan of hockey, a passionate Buffalo Sabres fan, and maybe most importantly a Billionaire. After his purchase of the Buffalo Sabres in February 2011 he made it known that “Starting today, the Buffalo Sabres’ reason for existence will be to win a Stanley Cup.”. For a city with a failing NFL club and the Sabres getting a new lease on life this was indeed the start of the road to Hockey Heaven.

This is where the article will take its turn from where it was supposed to go. I may catch up on that at a later date. This piece was supposed to be filled with stats and evidence that support how we must be patient with the rebuilding of this team. But I think it has too much passion involved to get into dull stats and additional comments on injuries and so on. The current owner of this club has been behind the wheel for less than 1 year. In that year the organization has made player changes, had a run at only 1 NHL Entry Draft, and made the environment at the arena more welcoming for players and fans. 1 year people! The 2010-11 Buffalo sabres put together an unthinkable post All-Star Break record to squeak into the playoffs and then making a 1st round exit. It was an amazing 1st round performance but in no way shape or form was this a team that deserved to do much more than that. And I think almost everyone can agree with that. The current state of the NHL is such a competitive environment that no one team can for certain acquire the proper tools in less that one year to ensure any certain success. Some success yes, but we need to realize that we are not the only club with deep pockets and a desire for a Stanley Cup. The fact that we have a team looking to make positive changes and looking at new options is a refreshing compared to owners only watching out for their dollar return before wins. And as much fun as it is to play GM or coach you have to think that there is a long-term goal in mind here that looks at dollars, players, CBA, and much more to get us to the ultimate end goal. You just don’t get to that level without it…..

This is a call out to all fans of the Buffalo Sabres. Please, be patient. Building a team with championship potential does not happen over the course of one season or maybe even two for that matter. We need contracts to expire, dollars to be freed up, key players to hit Free Agency. This isn’t Fantasy Hockey and you won’t catch someone giving up something for nothing. Yes some of these moves will and possibly do stink. But give these events time to unfold and grow. The Buffalo Sabres have over $10 million dollars potentially coming off the books this off-season in just UFA alone. We have a trade deadline and an NHL Entry Draft before that even happens. We have been patient for 40 years and have the opportunity of a lifetime with a great owner who seems to have surrounded himself with success, great people, and family. Can we all please give this new era some time and support to grow? The environment we produce in these coming years for a team that needs to define its identity may just help us as fans identify ourselves.

Go Sabres!