MITCHELL HORUCY
Assistant Sports Editor
It’s April 2011. President Obama is in his first term, E.T. by Katy Perry is the number one song in America and Zach Benson is six years old.
That is the last time the Buffalo Sabres played in a playoff game.
This drought of 12 seasons, soon to be 13, is good for the second-longest active drought in the four major North American professional sports.
With that being said, it’s obviously fair for fans to be upset with the franchise.
I think fans have even more of a right to be annoyed when we look at what owner Terry Pegula said 13 years ago when he purchased the team.
“Starting today, the Buffalo Sabres’ reason for existence will be to win the Stanley Cup,” said Pegula in his introductory press conference.
Since he said that, the Sabres have not made the playoffs with him as the owner for a full season.
The closest they’ve gotten to making the dance was last year when they finished with 91 points, one point out of a playoff spot.
After having legitimate and reasonable expectations to qualify this year, the Sabres currently have a 2.7% chance to make the playoffs according to moneypuck.com.
This has led to fans, rightfully so, showing frustration at games with boos and chants of “fire Donnie.”
The chants were aimed at Sabres head coach Don Granato, who lots of people are unhappy with.
After an article from the Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington, fans found out that the players really did not like these chants.
They stopped saluting fans after home wins, which a lot of people have noticed.
This has led to a bit of a discussion on whether the fans are in the wrong for booing, or the players are wrong for being mad.
On one hand, a fair amount of the players have only been here for a handful of years, and shouldn’t be at blame for 13 years of misery.
But from a fan’s perspective, there has been little to no improvement over the last 13 years to give them any hope.
A term I see get used a lot that I agree with is that the Sabres as a franchise have “settled with mediocracy.”
This isn’t just the players, but the front office, all the way up to Pegula and the ownership group.
There’s way too many games where the players come out flat, or don’t show any heart, which you hate to see as a fan.
If the players aren’t going to care about the team or game, why should the fans watching it?
The decrease in fan engagement has shown when you look at the arena during games.
In 2011, the Sabres ranked ninth in attendance with an average of 18,500 people, or 98.7% of the capacity.
Fast-forward to this season, their average attendance is only 15,970, while only filling up 83% of the arena.
This is good for second last in the league, slightly in front of the San Jose Sharks.
On top of losing a lot of fans they once had, there’s an entire generation of people that have never seen the Sabres win.
Being born in 2004, I fall in this generation.
As I mentioned before, the Sabres haven’t been in the playoffs since the 2010-2011 season, making me six years old.
Since then, the team hasn’t even been competitive for most of those years.
I’ll see pictures and videos from the days when Lindy Ruff was the coach, and the team was led by Chris Drury, Danny Briere and Ryan Miller.
The arena packed to the brim, “party in the plaza” happening outside of it, all showing the passion Buffalo sports fans are known for.
I’ve never gotten to experience this in my 19 years of life.
In fact, I watched my first meaningful Sabres game in April this past season.
By “meaningful,” I mean that it was a critical game for the Sabres playoff chances, not their chance at the number one pick in the draft, which we’ve had many of.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing I see is on social media – which if you’re a fan of the Sabres, you know Sabres social media is a great place.
The thing I see so consistently and something so many Sabres fans feel, including myself, is how they want to love this team.
This past week, the team had their first three-game win streak of the season.
However, after they beat the Hurricanes to win their third straight, you would’ve thought the Sabres won the cup.
When the team gives the fans something to cheer about, something to be happy about, they support them.
It just happens to be so rare that the team does indeed give fans something to cheer about.
You don’t have to look far to see what happens when a team cares as much as the fans do.
We all know about the Bills Mafia and how rowdy and passionate they are, but the Buffalo Bandits have shown what happens when a team cares.
With both teams playing in the same arena, I think it’s fair to compare the two.
In the 2023 season, the Bandits had an average attendance of 14,700.
In the 2024 season, which is still ongoing, they have an average attendance of 16,130: more than the Sabres.
It’s worth noting that the Bandits are reigning NLL champions and not fighting for a playoff spot.
I think the players can be slightly annoyed at the constant booing, but the fans have every right to boo, and should continue to boo until this franchise turns it around.