The line of blue and gold-clad fans snaked all the way through the concourse of Sahlen Field early Saturday night. From the Oak Street gate all the way past Swan Street, long past Conehead hawking his beers and nearly to the first-base gift shop.
It was an hour before a Bisons game and an hour after a Bills preseason game, but all the ruckus was because the Sabres were in the house.
That hasn't caused much of any stir in these parts in recent years, but you started to sense a change the final two months of last season. And when the team aired a clip of veteran Kyle Okposo speaking to players at development camp last month, his message was clear: People can't wait for hockey season.
"It's awesome. I think that people have been waiting obviously a long time for it," Okposo told me Saturday night in the ballpark. "It's been a long time coming for a fan base that's as passionate as any one in the league. I've said to you guys many times that I live here now and I understand the dynamics of how the town operates, and how much sports means to everybody in this town.
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"You can feel that excitement and people's moods are better. You see people saying they can't wait for the season, can't wait for all these guys who are coming. That's why it's just fun to talk to people and to feed off that excitement."
How popular are the #Sabres and #Beauts in Sahlen Field? Check out the concourse scene heading to the autograph booth prior to #Bisons game. pic.twitter.com/PJ2vxJBbG6
— Mike Harrington (@ByMHarrington) August 20, 2022
"Hockey Night at the Ballpark" was a pretty good advertisement for Sabres season as the Bisons wore blue and gold jerseys. Sabretooth was in the house and so was organist Curtis Cook, who can tinkle "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" as well as he rocks "Sabre Dance." Jeff Skinner threw a ceremonial first pitch and joined Okposo, Owen Power, Malcolm Subban and members of the Buffalo Beauts at the mob scene of an autograph table.
Power sat next to Okposo at the table and Okposo said it was good for the 19-year-old, who played eight games last season and is a potential Calder Trophy favorite, to have a good meet-and-greet with the fan base.
"It was good. We're sitting next to each other and we're like, 'This is not an hour-long line,' " Okposo said. "He's like 'Yeah, I know.' It was a little bit longer than that. You felt bad. But it was great for him to experience that firsthand."
"It's been pretty cool here," Power said. "'Skinny' threw a real good pitch so that was pretty funny. You could tell the fans are excited here. It's exciting for us also. They're as excited about this year as we are."
At age 34, that goes for Okposo, too. There's a pretty good chance he'll get named the Sabres' captain this season in the final year of his $42 million contract that was signed six years and two general managers ago. He's coming off a big bounce-back season that saw him score 21 goals after he totaled just 25 over the previous three years.
"It was a transition year for sure for us and everybody kind of saw that. And we started to move in that direction," Okposo said of the Sabres, who played at a 103-point pace over the final 28 games by going 16-9-3. "It's still an NHL season, still takes an emotional toll on you, a mental toll. I was looking forward to just spending some time (this summer) with my family and relaxing."
But Okposo was like the rest of you in watching the draft in Montreal and relishing how the Sabres added talent for the future in first-round picks Matthew Savoie, Noah Ostlund and Czechia World Juniors standout Jiri Kulich.
Okposo was sheepish about the Savoie clip making the social media rounds, noting it's something he's done previously in his career.
"It was good. Just a little quick one," Okposo said of the chat. "Seems like a nice guy, met him at development camp after that, too. ... Just as long as he feels welcomed, you know? Just trying to make young guys feel like they belong."
And of course, a call from Okie 😊#NHLDraft | @SenecaCasinos pic.twitter.com/82v6MEDYkY
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) July 8, 2022
Lots of young guys are going to be a major theme of the Sabres season, with training camp now a month away. But especially with all the changes on the rosters of Atlantic Division opponents, the strong finish of last season guarantees them exactly nothing.
"You have to wind down because nothing carries over into next year. You have to start anew," Okposo said. "You can build that foundation but everybody starts 0-0. You can't fake it. You can't bring the emotion that you had last year into this year. You have to reset. That's what I tried to do this summer. And now we got a month left. I'm starting to kind of ramp up again and get pretty excited."
The fans seemed excited, too. For once come September, they have more than just the opening kickoff to look forward to.
"I didn't really know what to expect because they just said we're doing autographs," said Skinner, whose first-pitch strike was dropped by Buster Bison and then celebrated by his personal goal song "Party in the USA."
"I heard some of the people talking that they weren't expecting that many people," Skinner added. "It's cool to get that big of a turnout. It was fun. Everyone was in a good mood ready to come to the ballpark."
A first-pitch strike from Jeff Skinner — and a drop from Buster. #Sabres #Bisons pic.twitter.com/SURtTm7iSe
— Mike Harrington (@ByMHarrington) August 20, 2022
