Buffalo Sabres Earn A Thumbs Down For Bailing On Rochester

The Buffalo Sabres have moved a preseason game originally planned for Rochester.

The Buffalo Sabres announced that they have relocated a preseason game to Pegula Ice Arena at Penn State, which is great news for the people of Happy Valley and the semi-great state of Pennsylvania.

(Sorry – I can’t commit to calling PA a great state for two reasons: perennial construction, and the Pittsburgh Penguins.)

Unfortunately, this news is pretty much a kick in the dick to the city of Rochester, where the game was originally scheduled to be played.

Did the Buffalo Sabres move the game due to a scheduling conflict?  Natural disaster?  Nope – they relocated the game because the Blue Cross Arena is, in fact, entirely undeserving of existing.

Okay – I might have been exaggerating a bit (I’ll start indicating when I use sarcasm for some of our hostile readers who still think we are a source of news, instead of a blog!).  The Sabres see a future for the Blue Cross Arena, and would like to become more involved in renovations, according to Russ Brandon, President of the Sabres and the Buffalo Bills:

"Being the largest tenant, we would like to have more control and active discussion in how the dollars that come in are appropriated.  There’s exciting plans for the downtown corridor in Rochester and we want to be a part of it. The arena can be a real beacon for downtown, and right now it’s far from that. (Courtesy of Syracuse.com)"

I understand why the Buffalo Sabres might not feel that the BCA is up-to-snuff, but the problem is, the arena was not “up to NHL standards” when the Sabres originally decided to hold a preseason game there in the first place.  Nothing has changed since that decision was made, so yanking the game seems like a cheap way to endorse Sabres owner Terry Pegula’s new baby down in Happy Valley than anything else.

I’m not going to rant about how the Sabres need to do more to support Western New York – it’s pretty clear that the Pegulas have invested a lot of time and money in in the area.  Scheduling a preseason game outside of the 716 is not the end of the world, so Sabres fans should not be too upset over this decision.

Next: Sabres Being Used As Leverage By Steven Stamkos

Still, there was a better way for the Buffalo Sabres to handle this.  If the team truly feels like the Blue Cross Arena is in need of a major facelift, the front office should have declined to host a preseason game there right from the start, with a clear explanation why.  Dropping the game now, just so the Pegula Ice Arena can host its first-ever professional hockey game, is a tad bit insulting to the people of Rochester.   Last time I checked, the Blue Cross Arena had ice, which is all you need to play a preseason hockey game for goodness sakes, so the Buffalo players should have treated the game like it was one of the countless youth hockey games they played in less-than-NHL-caliber arenas and had some fun with it.   Play hardball with the city of Rochester all you want, Sabres, but honor your commitments first.