From watching Team USA win gold to waving a Bills flag in the hockey crowd, Mike Shatzel is representing Buffalo on the world stage
BUFFALO, N.Y. — For one Buffalo business owner, going to the Olympic Games isn’t just a bucket-list trip. It’s become a tradition.
Restaurateur Mike Shatzel — who owns Cole’s, Colter Bay, Liberty Hound, and other local restaurants — started going to the Olympics in 2010, traveling the world with a group called “Journey to the Games.”
“I’ve been to Vancouver, London, Sochi, PyeongChang, and now Milan,” Shatzel told 2 On Your Side. “I prefer the winter games because of hockey.”
This time, his Olympic journey brought him to Milan for the Winter Games, and a front-row seat to history. He got to see the U.S. Women win gold on Thursday.
“I was six, seven rows right behind the net that Keller scored on,” he said. We were probably 20 feet from the net, so it was amazing.”
Even more amazing, a surprise run-in with a fellow Nichols School alum who now has a gold medal around her neck, Hayley Scamurra.
“Today we’re just doing the sites, and strange enough I ran into the U.S. hockey women’s gold team,” he said. “I managed to catch a picture with the flag with Hayley Scamurra, who also went to Nichols, unfortunately 23 years after I went, but was kind of cool.”
Look for me tonight pic.twitter.com/kZCvrcSVDI
— Mike Shatzel (@BlueMonkMike) February 20, 2026
If you were watching the U.S. men’s quarterfinal against Sweden, you may have spotted Mike and something very Buffalo in the crowd.
He brought a Buffalo Bills flag to the arena, which attracted attention from the NBC broadcast and Bills fans around the world on social media.
“The Bills are everything Buffalo and the colors match our colors, red white, and blue,” Shatzel said. “My kids said bring something so we can see you in the crowd, and I figured I’d probably be the only person with a Bills flag.”
“It’s nuts how one little flag could create so much chaos,” Shatzel added.
Proof that from Buffalo to Milan, Bills Mafia travels well.