Being a born New Jersian and avid NHL 94 player as a child, my thoughts on the Buffalo Sabres growing up were limited to Alexander Mogilny being very fast and “Sabres” being a very strange nickname. As an adult, my thoughts are pretty much the same except it has me wondering how in the world Buffalo of all places not only got an NHL expansion team in 1970, but kept it. Turns out, it’s a pretty cool story.
Flyers vs Colorado Avalanche
Full Flyers Schedule
Monday, October 19th at 7pm
Flyers at Buffalo Sabres
Wednesday, October 21 at 7:30pm
Flyers vs Anaheim Ducks
Saturday, October 24 at 1pm
By 1970, population in Buffalo, NY was on the decline, losing over 120,000 residents in 20 years. That really should not have made it a candidate for professional sports. However, the city had one really important thing going for it: wealthy men who loved hockey. Seymour and Northrup Knox were grandsons of the Woolworth fortune, born and raised in the Buffalo area, and were desperate to bring hockey back to the area.
What Do You Mean “back”?
Well, even though the NHL only had 6 teams from 1942 to 1967, that doesn’t mean they were the only game in town. The Buffalo Bisons played in the AHL starting in 1940 and another Bisons team dates back to the 1920s. The goal was an NHL team though, especially when the league finally expanded in 1967. They would have received a team too, had Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney not intervened to get his city a team instead. After expansion failed, the Knoxs tried to purchase and relocate another recent expansion team, the Oakland Seals. That didn’t work either. Finally, in the next wave of NHL expansion, Buffalo joined the big leagues along with the Vancouver Canucks.
The Buffalo What?
What the hell is a Buffalo Bill? That has always bothered me when it comes to sports nicknames. Their mascot and symbol is a buffalo. A bill is something you get when you owe someone money. Together, they pay homage to an icon of the Wild West, Buffalo Bill, who has absolutely nothing to do with the city of Buffalo. It’s silly.
Even though the football name is outside the box, that doesn’t make it good. The future Buffalo NHLers wanted to go a different route from the traditional and redundant “Bison.” A local contest brought in possible names like “Mugwumps”, “Buzzing Bees”, and “Flying Zeppelins.” Sad as it is to say, the chose Sabres instead. Still pretty cool though considering a saber is a sword, no one else in sports is anything like it, and they went with the Canadian spelling just like the Maple Leafs.
1970 Was a Hell of a Time in Buffalo
Do you know how many top tier professional sports teams existed in Buffalo, New York in 1969? Zero. Do you know how many top tier professional sports teams existed in Buffalo, New York in 1970? THREE!!! This has to be the single greatest expansion year for a city in history. Here’s what happened along with the NHL.
1970 happened to be the year of the AFL-NFL merger. The Buffalo Bills began playing in 1960 as a charter member of the AFL. They managed to survive for 10 years and found their way to the NFL. It was lucky too as the NFL suspended their rules on stadium seating capacity in order for Buffalo to build Rich Stadium as an upgrade from their old War Memorial Stadium.
The NBA also decided to do some expanding in the late 60s and early 70s with the Buffalo Braves joining the Portland Trailblazers and Cleveland Cavaliers in beginning play in 1970 as well. The team actually had financial trouble before it even began playing and was bought by local a-hole Paul Snyder. He was 33 years old and openly fought with the Knoxs about how Buffaloians should be spending their sports time.
The big problem was that the Sabres, Braves and local Canisius College all played their games in the same stadium, Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. This wasn’t as bad for the Sabres since they had first dibs, but the Braves got the scraps and were forced to play some home games literally out of the country in Toronto. After 8 years, it was finally too much. The Celtics and Braves actually traded owners (WTF?) first before moving the franchise to San Diego.
Meanwhile, the Sabres thrived for the most part, making the Stanley Cup Final in 1975 and losing to the Flyers. In fact they made the playoffs damn near every year of their existence for the first 30 years, missing only 6 years ever (despite missing in 3 of their first 4). The team moved into a new arena in 1996 and the was purchased by Terry Pagula in 2012 who then purchased the Buffalo Bills. Needless to say, the team will remain in Buffalo for the foreseeable future.
Leave a Reply