Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Earlier today, in my open letter to the Sabres organization, I wrote that I would love to be able to write something positive about the Sabres, but could not, due to a complete lack of anything positive coming out of Sabre land.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to report that I was wrong: there is good news!  And it has to do with beer!

Seems the folks over at saveonbrew.com did a little research regarding 2012-2013 beer prices at all of the NHL arenas.  No, First Niagara Center did not have the lowest beer price – that honor went to the Pepsi Center in Colorado, where a 24 oz. cup of beer will only set you back $6.25! – but it was close.  Out of all 30 NHL teams, the Buffalo Sabres had the fourth cheapest price for beer, with a 20 oz. cup costing $7.00, which works out to 35 cents an ounce.  (Colorado’s beer was 26 cents an ounce, by the way.)

Yeah, Sabres!  Who said you weren’t competitive this season?

Compare First Niagara’s 20 oz. price to the price of a 12 oz. beer at the St. Pete Times Forum, home of the Tampa Bay Lightning: $8.00, or 67 cents an ounce.  No wonder the Lightning ran a $200 season-ticket special at the beginning of the year – they commit highway robbery once you’re in the place.

You can check out what all 30 NHL teams charge for beer here, if you’re curious.  Myself, I’m just glad the Sabres organization has some of the best beer prices in hockey.  At least that way, when you’re watching a game, you won’t feel like you’re getting ripped off twice.

Ba dum chhh!!!!

Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports

Happy New Years Buffalo Sabres Fans!  In just a few hours, we will all wish out with the old, and in with the new as the calendar swings from 2012-2013.

Of course the end of 2012 could have been better – I mean we could have been watching hockey the past two months.  But all in all 2012 has been a great year.

For Sabrenoise.com – the year 2012 was a great year as well.  2013 marks the four year anniversary of the first NHL blog in Fansided history.  Sabrenoise has been bringing you news, notes, opinions, and the like since February of 2009.  In that time we have grown leaps and bounds.  We have seen the network expand – and put on a new face in Fansided 3.0 – the new model of our sites.

Early in 2013 we will publish 2,000 articles, and 2012 saw the publishing of my 1,000th article on the site.

We have seen some great authors on the site, and while many of them have moved on to other things – the site lives on, and we are always looking for talented writers and passionate fans to join the team.

We joined Twitter, we hit Facebook – we have made our mark on the internet world.  We hope to continue bringing you unique opinions enroute to the Buffalo Sabres first ever Stanley Cup.

If your going out tonight, or just spending the evening with friends or family, be safe, and have a very happy new year!