An era of Buffalo sports fans exists who arrived too late to enjoy the early-1990s Bills Super Bowl teams or the late-1990s Dominik Hasek-led Sabres squads who nearly won a Stanley Cup while earning the nickname, "The Hardest Working Team in Hockey." Yet, their fandom also began well before MVP quarterback Josh Allen arrived to make the Bills an annual Super Bowl contender.
For those fans, their best sports memories — at least until Allen leads a Super Bowl parade around the city — likely reside with the post-lockout Sabres. And surely many of them fondly remember the Party in the Plaza as Chris Drury, Daniel Briere and Co. made the 716 Cup crazy.
The Party in the Plaza began as a series of pregame activities. Bands, guest speakers, alumni appearances and Sabretooth, the team's mascot, roaming around Alumni Plaza outside what was then called HSBC Arena (now the KeyBank Center).
It became something far more during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons, though.
The Sabres, who'd missed the playoff each of the three seasons prior to the NHL's 2004-05 work stoppage, surprisingly emerged as a Cup contender immediately after the lockout. Their young, speedy roster was built perfectly to take advantage of the league's emphasis on cutting down on obstruction to create a more wide-open, talent-friendly sport.
Drury and Briere were joined a cast of fan favorites, including Ryan Miller, Maxim Afinogenov, Thomas Vanek, Derek Roy, Tim Connolly and Brian Campbell, among others. They played an exciting brand of hockey that immediately won back fans who may have been frustrated with the lockout's lost season.
The Party in the Plaza, which was meant to build hype before playoff games, started to transform as Buffalo began to march through the 2006 playoffs. As nearly 20,000 fans flooded inside the arena, those without tickets began to hang around to watch the game on an outdoor screen as the voice of legendary play-by-play announcer Rick Jeanneret echoed throughout the Queen City.
Celebrations became so raucous outside the arena that the camera almost always cut to Alumni Plaza after Sabres goals. Perhaps the most indelible images came from Buffalo's comeback against the New York Rangers in Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference semifinals:
On May 4, 2007, the #Sabres took Game 5 in their series against the #Rangers after Chris Drury scored with 7.7 seconds remaining and Maxim Afinogenov scored in overtime. Full game at https://t.co/xX4Qb4bPps pic.twitter.com/5fUALNLezh
— SabresClassics (@SabresClassics) May 4, 2025
Although the Sabres weren't able to bring a long-elusive championship to Buffalo, falling short in the Eastern Conference Final both times, those teams left a lasting mark on the city's sports landscape.
In 2019, Briere spoke with Tim Graham of The Athletic about realizing the team's impact after a win during the 2006 conference final against the Carolina Hurricanes.
"I still talk about that Game 6 when we won in Buffalo, we thought that building was coming down," Briere told Graham. "People would not leave the atrium. The whole building was shaking. A few of us left the locker room to see what was going on, and the fans were in the atrium, just singing, jumping, dancing. To be part of something like this is amazing when you know you're affecting how people feel. It was just awesome."
Fast forward nearly two decades and that immense level of Sabres fandom has eroded. Make no mistake, it's not gone. It's merely dormant and waiting for a reason to become re-energized amid an NHL-record 14-year playoff drought.
Meanwhile, the Party in the Plaza still exists. It's an occasional experience for marquee events like the home opener, which this year is scheduled for Oct. 9 against the Rangers, or the occasional weekend game when the weather starts to heat up in the spring, but the vibe is far from the same.
Sabres fans who were raised in the Drury-Briere era will tell you the Party in the Plaza was special, and they eagerly await the day it's a must-attend event once again.