Remember those guys?

 The Sabres are back! As in, back in the playoffs, back in Round 2 and back on my TV. 

It's been a rough few (14) years around here.. somewhere along the way the Sabres totally lost me. I stuck with them for a few years after that last playoff appearance, but life got busy, we ditched cable, and didn't have season tickets anymore and, and, and... it wasn't that I didn't like hockey anymore, it's just that I didn't care enough to put in the effort. And whenever I would watch a game, more likely than not, it was terrible and not worth watching. 

So here we are. 2026. The Sabres were actually good this season. They started off terrible as usual and were completely in the toilet at Thanksgiving. Then they had a serious "Come to Jesus" moment with Lindy and decided that maybe they actually should figure out how to win some hockey games. I think they ripped off a 10 game winning streak, and then kinda tore up the rest of the season after that. I heard rumors of this 'good' team but as usual, was afraid to believe it. We have been let down too many times. 

But here we are, halfway through May and still playing hockey. Game 7 of round 2 is tomorrow night. I have watched all of the games so far and it has been FUN. My niece Jaycie (age 13 and no previous interest in sports or hockey) has been getting into the games - she even asked to watch when I wasn't home. She's paying attention and learning about the game and bonding with me and it's so fun! I did this with her brothers but she wasn't interested/I wasn't interested for half the time so we never had a chance to share this before. 

I think it actually started with the Olympics. We watched game 7 of the last 2 Stanley Cup finals cuz I happened to be home when the games were on, but it was just something to do. We checked out a couple of the 4 Nations cup last year (precursor to the Olympics) and that was a lot of fun. 

Then in February when the Olympics were on I was ready to watch some hockey! I watched a couple of the round robin games, then the women's gold medal game (USA BABY!) and the Men's gold medal game (USA BABY!) and she was kinda into those with me. She liked the figure skating more but the hockey seed was planted. We also watched the paralympic sled hockey gold medal game (USA BABY!) which was extremely interesting and fun. 

And now it's the NHL playoffs, and the Sabres are in it (and winning, sometimes, when they feel like it) and it's like 2007 all over again and I don't know what to think about any of it. 

I want to write about hockey again. I care about hockey again. I feel like these guys have a real shot. They have played hard all year, come from behind a bunch of times (including last night, scoring 7 unanswered goals after being down 3-1) and could totally take this game 7 against Montreal and advance to the conference final. One game. Let's do this! 

The city's statutes are sprouting Sabres jerseys, flags are everywhere, people are packing the plaza for the parties for home games, and they had the arena practically sold out last night for a watch party. It's so fun! I love springtime hockey and it has been SO LONG since we have experienced it. I don't want it to end. I hope it doesn't have to. 

Let's Go Buffalo!