Early Sabre Memories

[Marvelo]

I went to a Sabres game in the Aud in the first year... it was the first game against the California Golden Seals. First they had Sundae Bafo, The Sabre Girl, a figure skater with a sword routine. Then they trotted out a seal that was spray-painted gold and they gave it as a gift to the Golden Seals. Fun times!

[Doohickie]

I remember going to a Sabres game with my parents. We had dinner in some fancy-pants restaurant in the Marine Midland tower (or whatever it was called), then went to the game. I remember very little of the game itself. To be honest, I remember more about the Buffalo Braves game I went to...

[BuffaloFansR_Crazy]

I remember never being able to afford a ticket to the Sabres until recently. My first game was only three years ago. But when I was growing up my pops took me and my two brothers to an Amerks game at least twice a month.

 

As soon as I could afford it I bought season tickets for the four of us. It was great being able to watch players develop or follow them all season and being really excited for a guy when he got called up. Much like the Amerks, I too recently moved away for a better business opportunity, but I still miss the games and "the dollar beer dollar dog" nights.

 

As great as a minor league hockey town Portland is, the Sabres AHL teams belongs in Rochester. Buffalo teams have always represented all of WNY. Let Portland find their own franchise, and bring The Americans back home.

[Bmwolf21]

My dad used to go in on four season tickets with a couple work buddies. This was back in the late 80s. They'd split up the tickets in 9-10 game packs, depending on their work schedules and what teams they wanted to see, and every year would argue about who got the tickets for the Oilers' lone appearance in the Aud. I think the only compromise was that they would all go to that game and not let one guy take all four seats.

 

My favorite giveaway from the Aud days (not sure if they do this anymore) was a full-color 9 or 10-month calendar that had all the games, TV/Radio coverage and action photos of different Sabres for each month.

[Weave]

My first Sabres game was against the St. Louis Blues. Might've been '77 but I'm not sure. I seem to remember the score was 4-4 at one point.

 

In the ensuing years Dad and I went to alot of Sabres games. Our usual MO was to arrive a few minutes after faceoff and buy tickets from scalpers that were reducing prices to dump what they have left. We probalby saw 15-20 games a year that way, and sat in a variety of locations, anywhere from SRO to reds for dirt cheap prices. It was rare that we had to go home without getting a ticket.

 

In '88 Dad and I bought season tix. 1st row oranges in the corner. Can't remember the section. Kept those until they moved to the new arena. The price of equivalent seats doubled, I was fairly newly married and just bought a house. I couldn't afford it.

 

I rarely get to games anymore. Combo of the price for the whole experience, travel distance, and quality of HD TV.

[nucci]

I went to a Sabres game in the Aud in the first year... it was the first game against the California Golden Seals. First they had Sundae Bafo, The Sabre Girl, a figure skater with a sword routine. Then they trotted out a seal that was spray-painted gold and they gave it as a gift to the Golden Seals. Fun times!

My first game also. Sat in the Greys. Doug Barrie got in to a fight. I was 9 and thought is was so cool.

[Ohiofan]

Lots of games in the Aud with my dad in the 70's and early 80's. I have a feeling that if I had had a brother, those experiences would have been his...but I was the only one interested in a house full of girls, so dad took me. These trips to the Aud with dad are now some of my nicest memories. Neither of us live in Buffalo anymore, but we call each other after games sometimes just to talk hockey. Its always been a bond I alone share with my dad, and its nice.

When I got to high school, my best friends dad had season tics in the oranges, and reds. Her older brother always took the available reds which left us with the oranges, but hey, Kelly and I had some damn good times up there watching hockey.

I feel a lot of nostalgia for the Aud and those 70's teams. I spent a lot of my youth there. I think, tho, that my susbsequent teenage concert experiences in the Aud wiped most of my memory clear...I don't remember any specific games. But I can still see Gilbert flying up ice with his hair streaming out behind him.

[plenzmd1]

Climbing the ramps to the SRO

Racing my brother down the ramps at what seemed like 100 mph

That beautiful, nasty,Aud smell

Needing 5 for the Big Mac

Scalping tickets from the same dude out front for like 16 years

Buing beer at 16..no worries, never carded by a vendor

parking a million miles away in high school cause wnated the $5 to buy beers

 

 

in Mid-8o's

I bought Season's first year out of college, and first game Mom came with me beer guy had brought me a Christmas present :doh:

[Corp000085]

I was born in 78, so it must have been after that. My dad had season tickets since 1970, so I went with him when I was very young. I don't have many details about the game, but I must have been 2 or 3.

[Weave]

Lots of games in the Aud with my dad in the 70's and early 80's. I have a feeling that if I had had a brother, those experiences would have been his...but I was the only one interested in a house full of girls, so dad took me. These trips to the Aud with dad are now some of my nicest memories. Neither of us live in Buffalo anymore, but we call each other after games sometimes just to talk hockey. Its always been a bond I alone share with my dad, and its nice.

When I got to high school, my best friends dad had season tics in the oranges, and reds. Her older brother always took the available reds which left us with the oranges, but hey, Kelly and I had some damn good times up there watching hockey.

I feel a lot of nostalgia for the Aud and those 70's teams. I spent a lot of my youth there. I think, tho, that my susbsequent teenage concert experiences in the Aud wiped most of my memory clear...I don't remember any specific games. But I can still see Gilbert flying up ice with his hair streaming out behind him.

 

LOL Change the decade to the 80's and I have the same experience. Including the concert scene in my teens and early 20's wiping my memory.

[frissonic]

to be truthful, i'm envious of all of you who grew up with hockey. i grew up in colorado in the mid 70s, moved to southern ohio in the late 70s, and to buffalo in the late 80s. my first game wasn't until i was 14, and i moved out west when i was 18. but man ... what a ride in those 4 short years.

 

the first thing i remember about my first hockey game was my dad having to explain what the red lines and blue lines meant. "no two line passes." "offensive team has to come over the blue line after the puck." stuff like that. don't know who won or who even played (other than the sabres, of course), but i was *hooked*. no pun intended.

 

my dad had season tickets second row reds behind the goal where the sabres shot 1st and 3rd. during the "soviet invasion" tour, buffalo played dynamo riga. with my worthless little crappy camera, i manged to snap a pic of the game-winning goal before the light even came on. it's one of my favorite pics, even though the quality is utter crap.