“Means Everything” | Colten Ellis Earns Win In NHL Debut, Entire Family Watching | Buffalo Sabres

“Means Everything” | Colten Ellis Earns Win In NHL Debut, Entire Family Watching | Buffalo Sabres

I imagine a lot of emotions for you here winning your first NHL game in your first game. Absolutely. Um I was pretty emotional kind of before the game. Um me and my fiance were kind of sitting in the hotel and she found some old pictures of me playing hockey. So uh kind of didn’t really expect that for myself, but um you know just obviously ecstatic um to have all my family here and and so many supporters here. It’s so special and to get to share this moment with them. So, um, yeah, just just super grateful for it. Was your mom usually nervous when she’s watching? She was on TNT all night and she looked pretty nervous. Yeah, she she’s usually a wreck, so um she got through it, so good for her. But, uh, she’s definitely gets picked on for that. What was the rookie lap like for you? How nervous were you in that moment? I was just trying to not fall over the pucks that I tipped over. That was my big focus all day. It was um but yeah, it was there definitely a lot of nerves even the first little bit of the game and then I think I settled in and kind of started playing my game a little more but um was definitely nervous going into How tough was that though? The first 10 minutes you ended with a shot and goal. You probably would have minded a couple pucks. Yeah, I know. The the boys came out strong and they were playing so good and I was kind of like g like I need a shot here at some point to get me into it a little bit. But um you know I can’t um commend them enough for for all that for tonight and it’s really a team team win tonight. I know it’s a lifetime of playing, so it’s probably hard to summarize, but what does it mean to you to be able to have this night? Um, you know, it’s huge for me, but it’s also huge for everybody in my family. Um, you know, they’ve made so many sacrifices to help me get to this moment. And, um, there’s so many supporters um, you know, too many to name. Like, it’s it’s been been crazy the sport I’ve had um, since I was young that that played instrumental roles and helped me get to where I am. So, I’m just looking forward to share this moment. Like it’s not only my moment, it’s it’s, you know, all their all theirs as well. You got Dylan Larkin coming out of the penalty box on a breakaway. Is it really no time to think? You just have to react. Yeah, it’s that’s kind of I guess that’s how you want the game to be played. You just want to react. You don’t want to be thinking. Um, you know, when you’re you’re just playing and you’re reading and reacting, that’s when you’re going to play your best. So, um, for me all night, I just just wanted to try to read the play, react as quickly as I could, and and just kind of stay present. Do you think he was going for the five hole or the beak on the beak there? Uh, I mean, no, not until he did it, I guess. Just kind of read it. Um, he kind of opened me like a little to the left a little and then I just kind of got it close quick. So, um, was happy about that. How satisfying was it? You know, I think you stopped to brink it toward the end and then, uh, Jack scores the go ahead goal. It’s kind of a, you know, a game saving type save. How satisfying is that for you? Yeah, it’s it’s nice. Like I I think um you know you f fuel on moments like that in a game whether you know when we got the the second goal to go up to one you know you’re super pumped but at the same time there’s a lot of hockey left to be played and it’s the same thing for for that scenario after we got the fourth goal there was still maybe six minutes 8 minutes left in the game so um you just got to just focus on the next play and uh use that energy. This the first opportunity I’ve gotten to see in a game but you seem like you’re a battler. seems like you battle for your ice. Is that your normal game? Yeah, I think so. I think um you know that’s a big corner of my game. I I think as you know time goes on I’d like to kind of calm my game a little bit, still have that competitive ed edge, but um and battle in me, but um just let the play come to me a little more. But all in all, I think uh the game kind of put me in situations tonight where I had to battle a little more. So um you know, it was it was a lot of fun. What’s that feeling in the first period? you don’t see a lot of shots and then Casper’s coming in on you on a breakaway like almost like one of your first couple shots posted. Yeah, I I think when you’re not getting a lot of action like I kind of have other ways to stay engaged like looking at who who else is on the ice for the opposing team obviously and and what if they’re lefties, righties, like who their top guys are. So I think that was something that early on especially I was I was um just trying to stay on top of to keep me engaged in the game. What was today like just kind of leading up? Like did you even were you able to stay in your normal game day routine or was was it hard to not get pulled out of it with all the the people in town to see it and stuff? Yeah, they they just got in and I I just saw my family. Um I was going down the elevator on the way to the game and then they were coming up. They just got here so I was able to talk to them for 10 minutes. So that was that was really special. But um terms of the whole day, I just kind of tried to treat it like any other game day. I usually nap, but didn’t get much sleep today. This afternoon was pretty excited. So, um, yeah. How many people did you have here? Uh, probably 25 to 30, I would say. I think I’ve never seen goalies wear 92. Why are you wearing number 92? I wore it in junior for for my four years of junior. Um, when I went to Raooki, um, 29 was taken, so I just kind of flipped it and, you know, it brought me some success in junior. So, I figured new uh new team, new opportunity to go back. The Swayman Allar goalie hug thing became a big thing in Boston. Alex kind of has that role here. What was that like to have the veteran give it up to you at the end of the game there after that? Yeah, it was awesome. He was so good like to me since I got here, too. And and even just throughout the whole process, throughout the whole day today, like you know, he’s just like, “How you doing? Like, what are you thinking?” Stuff like this. and just kind of helping me instill trust in myself. So, um, you know, I can’t thank him enough for the support that, uh, he gave me today. Your team’s won three of its last four games suddenly. What’s coming together for this team? You know, what’s helping it become more cohesive? Um, I think just kind of figuring out our identity. Um, we kind of talked about it in the room, guys talking about it um, the last couple day games and going over video like when we play fast, we play hard, we play for each other. um you know, everybody’s buying into what we’re doing. Um you know, we’re going to get better results and you know, the reality is you’re not going to win 82 games a year, but um you know, you can learn something from every game. And I think as the season went on, everybody’s in here kind of realized the identity of this group. What is that identity? Just playing fast, playing for each other. Um you know, playing with pace and being able to get in on the for check. um you know um just kind of grinding and um we have a lot of skill up here um the forwards and D. So uh D getting active, getting pucks through and you know just battling together. Did you get the puck? Somebody grabbed the puck. Yeah, I got the I think Krebsy grabbed it for me. So I’ll uh have to keep that close.

Buffalo Sabres goaltender Colten Ellis spoke with the media after the team’s 4-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings on October 22, 2025. He earned the win in his NHL debut, and his entire family was at the game to witness it. He talked about how much it meant to have them there, how much the team performance meant in the win, and more.

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