Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - This weekend marks the return of hockey, as the Buffalo Sabres get set to kick off their 2024-25 regular season on Friday against the New Jersey Devils.
However, Sabres fans in Western New York will have to wait until later next week to catch the team action at KeyBank Center when Buffalo welcomes the Los Angeles Kings for the home opener on Oct. 10.
That's because the Sabres have been overseas in Europe over the last 10 days, gearing up to open the NHL season in Prague, Czechia as part of the NHL Global Series at O2 Arena. Buffalo will play back-to-back games against the Devils, with Friday's puck drop coming at 1 p.m. ET, and Saturday's start time at 10 a.m. ET.
The Sabres have been in Prague since Monday after spending a few days prior in Munich, Germany and taking part in an exhibition game with EHC Red Bull München last week Friday. Buffalo ended up taking the entire NHL group overseas ahead of the NHL Global Series, as the rest of the team remained in Western New York to continue playing preseason games.
This week in Prague has, perhaps, been the most meaningful for the dedicated group of Sabres fans that make up the Sabres Czech and Slovakia Fan Club, led by longtime Sabres fan Viktor Maudr.
"Having them play in my hometown, it's something special," said Maudr in a recent Zoom call with WBEN. "I can't imagine how special it must be for an actual player of the team, playing in his hometown like JJ [Peterka] did in Munich, but for me, as a huge diehard fan who is watching all the games at 1 a.m., it's something very special to see, to see Buffalo in my own country. And also, to greet and welcome a lot of fans from Buffalo, traveling across the whole world to my city, to Prague, it's something out of this world. It's huge."
Growing up in Prague, Maudr says he owes it to his brother for helping him become, arguably, one of the most recognizable Sabres fans in Czechia and Europe.
"He was playing NHL 99 on the computer, and he played for the Sabres because of Dominik Hasek. But I fell in love with the 'goathead' logo, and I kind of got stuck in it also with hockey cards," Maudr said. "When I became a little bit older, I was 10, 11, I was starting to recognize more who the Sabres are, who was on the team. I fell in love with Ryan Miller, absolutely, I was starting to watch the games, and I was listening to 'RJ' [Rick Jeanneret]. It just became something like a religion for me, like, I should go to sleep to get up early [for] school, but I was staying up until like 3 a.m., 4 a.m. just to watch all the Sabres games that I could."
In his years of following the Sabres from afar, there are a couple of distinct memories that stick with Maudr as he grew up watching the team.
One of his favorite Sabres memories growing up was watching the brawl that took place between Buffalo and the Ottawa Senators in 2007.
"This game was actually streamed on the TV here in Czechia, so I watched it on the big TV. They crushed Chris Drury, and then I saw the lineup, saw that 'Petey' [Andrew Peters] is coming on the ice. For me, even if you are 12, 13-years-old, you are getting [angry], 'They are bastards, they just crushed our best player. Kick the ass out of them!' And it was huge," Maudr recalled. "I remember this pretty good, and the best thing about it at the end was that 'Marty' [Martin Biron] got to fight, and 'Millsy]' [Miller] got into the net. So it was much more better for me that 'Millsy' was the netminder the rest of this game."
Another memorable moment Maudr remembers watching back in Prague was a game in 2009 between the Sabres and San Jose Sharks, which took place just one night after Flight 3407 crashed in Clarence Center.
"I remember I was watching that game, and the crowd, I believe it was one of the loudest crowds in Buffalo. I wasn't there, but I could hear it," Maudr said. "When I was watching the game here, I could hear how loud the crowd was, and I almost couldn't hear 'RJ' because of how loud this crowd was. And when [Craig] Rivet took the shot and [Jason] Pominville deflected it, the building almost erupted it. That's one of the memories that I will keep with me forever."
Earlier this year, Maudr and several members of the Sabres Czech and Slovakia Fan Club got the extraordinary chance to make the journey over to Buffalo to take in a couple of games at KeyBank Center, while also further exploring the city. The few days in Buffalo ended up becoming the trip of a lifetime for Maudr and the group, and he has Rich Jureller from the Sabres to thank.
"We came there, and our only hope was to see the Sabres, to chant some stuff, and maybe get in touch with a couple of people, have some beers, and have good time. But what the Sabres, what Rich did for us, it was just amazing," Maudr said. "Welcoming the players in the tunnel, a Zamboni ride, I mean, the Sabres did a lot of things for us, and we tried to do a lot of things for them. So it's a win-win situation for both, and I believe it is. I think we fell in love with each other even much more, and I hope this will continue also in Prague, and after the games in Prague."
In European hockey, it is very common for the crowd in attendance at the arena to be standing for the entirety of the game, while also voicing numerous chants during play on the ice in support of the home team. It's a similar vibe among the fans to how European football games sound with the crowd actively engaged in the action from start-to-finish.
The Sabres Czech and Slovakia Fan Club brought some of that European energy with them to Buffalo with a chant that supports goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. The chant grew to some popularity among Sabres fans, especially since the team won three of the five games played during the group's visit to Buffalo, and included three wins from Luukkonen, including a pair of shutout performances.
Maudr says it would mean the world to the Sabres Czech and Slovakia Fan Club if their Luukkonen chant was able to stick and become a popular way for Sabres fans in Buffalo to cheer on their No. 1 goalie.
"Our goal is to, at least, give the people an idea how the proper chanting and cheering for the team should look like during the game. I know the European and American culture is much more different, regarding fans, but it would be awesome to have something stick in Buffalo so that we can say, 'Oh my God, the group of people from Czech and Slovakia made something that is actually working, and going on in Buffalo!' It would connect the Sabres family," he said.
The fun thing about the chant is Maudr and the group didn't have it prepared until they had actually arrived in Buffalo.
"We prepared a couple of chants before we flew out to Buffalo, but this chant just kind of happened at the stadium," Maudr explained. "We have a similar type of chant playing shorthanded, and then I just was starting to myself, going, 'Luukkonen!', and I created the chant sitting in KeyBank Center. We [chanted] it three, four times, and it started to become a hit all over the Buffalo."
Just a couple of weeks after the group had returned to Europe, Maudr got an unexpected call from the Sabres with the news that the team was set to open the 2024-25 season in Europe, specifically Prague, to take part in the NHL Global Series.
"When the Sabres actually told me that on thecall with 'UPL' [Luukkonen] and he announced to me that the Sabres will come to Prague, the first thing that came into my mind was, 'Oh my God, how will I handle all the things that I have in my mind that I want to do, if I will have the opportunity?' I was starting to think, 'I need the big group of people to do chants during the game. How will I do that? How will I contact everyone?' Maudr said.
Maudr takes his responsibility as the leader of the Czech and Slovakia Fan Club very seriously. Even though the Sabres' fan club in Czechia and Slovakia may not be the biggest fan base compared to some other NHL teams, he wants to ensure that everyone is sticking together.
"The last good NHL player [in Buffalo] was [Ales] Kotalik and [Jaroslav] Spacek, and that's 15 years ago. Since then, there was not a Czech player, so the people are kind of forgetting that there are Czechs. And, of course, if there are no Czechs or Slovaks, they are not cheering for the team," Maudr noted. "So we are not a big corps of the people, but we are maybe even more passionate because of that, and I wanted to do something big. I know New Jersey, for example, which we are playing, is having a huge corps of fans, but they are not as tight of a group as we are, so we will be loud, we will have a chanting group, and they will know. This is how it goes."
In the lead up to the NHL Global Series, another special moment for the group came when Luukkonen and JJ Peterka made a special trip to Prague in August to further promote the opening of the NHL season. It was Maudr and the Czech and Slovakia Fan Club then serving as tour guides for both players during their brief time in Prague.
"Going for a beer with NHL guys and Buffalo guys in Prague, it's something out of this world. I couldn't have imagined that this will ever happen in my life, that I will actually be able to go for a beer with stars in NHL like these two," Maudr recalled with a smile on his face. "It was my pleasure to [give] a tour in Prague, have a couple of beers with them and just have a fun time. And I hope they also kind of enjoyed it. I had a rough start, I needed to say a couple of things to show that I'm on the same level, that I'm not just like a fan, cheering for them, under them on a whole different level. I needed to make some sort of statement, but I think we all had fun."
Even in the lead up to this weekend's games, Maudr has had a chance to catch up with some notable Sabres players of the past, including his favorite player growing up.
Czechia and the City of Prague is no stranger to hosting the hockey world. Other NHL games have been played in the city in years past, while the international game has really taken the main stage with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) hosting both the World Junior Championship and the men's World Championship in recent years in Prague.
Maudr says Czechia is a hockey country, through-and-through, and while the two games between the Sabres-Devils may not be the biggest events to take place in the sport, the people of Prague will still fully enjoy the international spotlight.
"They love hockey, they want to watch good hockey," he said. "Even if the Sabres probably will not have a Czech player in the lineup - we will see with [Jiri] Kulich and [Lukas] Rousek, but it doesn't seem like it at this moment - I believe they will enjoy it a lot, and they will be a good crowd. We love sports, and hockey is, I still believe, the No. 1 sport here."
As Maudr and the rest of the Sabres Czech and Slovakia Fan Club get ready to cheer the team on to open the 2024-25 campaign in their backyard, the belief in the Sabres this upcoming season seems to be through the roof.
"I would say the belief, in general, is that this is the year. Come on, it needs to be the year!" Maudr exclaimed. "I really love what we added to the bottom line. We added speed, we added roughness, I would say. And we get 'Ruffness' on the bench also with Lindy Ruff. The past years, I saw that the team is going up, that we have great young players that are getting better with each year. This past season was a little bit of struggle with these players stepping up again, but right now, I really believe it's the year."
Maudr adds he's really looking forward to enjoying playoff games like he's never been able to do in the past, while also sharing those memories with his fellow members of the Sabres Czech and Slovakia Fan Club.
One aspect of this year's team that Maudr believes could put the Sabres over the top and back into the playoffs for the first time since 2011 is the fact that Buffalo is a complete group that seems to have everything together.
"We have a great group of forwards, we have a great group of defenders, we have great goalies, we have a great coach. And I think this mix together, we don't need to have someone like [Connor] McDavid, who's the biggest star. We need to have a close group that will be good as a group together, and that's what I'm excited about," Maudr said. "I really feel that right now, we are a team, and Buffalo needs a team. They don't need the single player stars, they need to be a team."
And when the team makes the trip back to North America for the remainder of the 2024-25 season, Maudr asks fellow Sabres fans to remain positive, and make sure it is heard throughout the region.
"People need you, people need to hear positivity. They love when you are cheering for them, and if you are cheering for them, they will give it to you back. That's what I think," Maudr added. "And even [with the] drought, these players are not responsible for the whole drought. So give them your heart, give them your voice, and they will give it back to you on the ice."
Be sure to catch all the play-by-play action of this weekend's NHL Global Series on the radio home of the Sabres - WGR Sports Radio 550.