With today being International Women’s Day, it’s worth looking at the Buffalo Sabres and the trailblazing women who have been a part of the organization.
In 2018, Kim Pegula became the first female team president in the history of the NHL and she along her with husband Terry Pegula, became president of the Sabres. Pegula remained the president of the team until 2023 due to health concerns. Kim was joined by Valerie Camillo of the Philadelphia Flyers as female presidents in the NHL when Camillo was hired in 2022.
She also became the first female president in the NFL in 2018 with the Buffalo Bills. Kim had the pleasure of being joined by Carolina Panthers team president Kristi Coleman and Las Vegas Raiders president Sandra Douglass Morgan. Coleman and Morgan were both hired in 2022.
In 2017, the Pegula’s purchased the Buffalo Beauts. The Beauts were a part of the trailblazing NWHL (National Women’s Hockey League). Before the league dissolved, the Beauts played from 2015 to 2023 before the team folded and the league was rebranded. Buffalo won the championship in 2017 as well.
This past summer at the team's development camp for the Sabres in August, two of the three guest coaches were women. The first is Chelsea Walkland who is a Rochester native. She is an assistant coach for the women’s hockey team at Colgate University.
The other is Shelly Picard. Picard has been an assistant coach for women’s hockey at Princeton University and Long Island University. She also was a member of the U.S.'s silver medal-winning team at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.
Sabres coach Dan Granato stated that both coaches went through the interview process this summer which became a valuable tool for them as other opportunities arise.
Each night there are plenty of diehard women cheering on the Sabres at KeyBank Center. They will be there tomorrow afternoon against the Edmonton Oilers.