{"id":555021,"date":"2026-04-18T05:11:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T05:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/555021\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T05:11:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T05:11:20","slug":"buffalo-bars-gear-up-for-sabres-playoff-frenzy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/555021\/","title":{"rendered":"Buffalo bars gear up for Sabres playoff frenzy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Watch parties offer fans an alternative to arena seats.<\/p>\n<p>BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2014 The atmosphere inside KeyBank Center is expected to be electric on Sunday, but the excitement won\u2019t be limited to the arena. Bars and restaurants across Buffalo are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wgrz.com\/article\/sports\/nhl\/sabres\/buffalo-sabres-fever-builds-for-sunday-game\/71-b9059537-2025-416a-ab43-649a0fb6728b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">gearing up for watch parties<\/a> as fans who couldn\u2019t secure tickets look for other places to gather.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe excitement is huge, we have tons of reservation requests already so we&#8217;re really looking forward to a packed house,\u201d said Chris Ring, a partner at Rec Room and president of the Chippewa Alliance.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s shaping up to be a busy weekend for downtown bars, many of which are seeing playoff-level crowds for the first time in years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis year it&#8217;s kind of new territory for us. This is the first time the Sabres have been good since we&#8217;ve been open,\u201d said Danny Licker, general manager of Ballyhoo.<\/p>\n<p>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wgrz.com\/article\/sports\/nhl\/sabres\/how-to-watch-buffalo-sabres-stanley-cup-playoffs\/71-f6b02c42-1c75-406d-9355-0f6d1c553fb7\" class=\"cms__embed-related-story__link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">How to watch the Sabres&#8217; first-round series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs<\/a><\/p>\n<p>With the Sabres in the playoffs, fans without tickets are turning to watch parties that aim to recreate the game-day atmosphere.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a DJ during commercial breaks, special effects, smoke goes off when the Sabres score,\u201d Ring said.<\/p>\n<p>Licker, whose restaurant is just steps from the arena, said business has already picked up significantly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the end of the season there would be nobody in here. Now it&#8217;s gangbusters everyday, and we have to stop letting people in for a little bit,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>With crowds expected to continue growing, business owners say they are preparing for a demanding weekend.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s a lot more difficult than it seems but we are ready for war at this point we have all hands on deck \u201d Licker said.<\/p>\n<p>And as the playoff run continues, there\u2019s a shared hope among business owners that the momentum will last.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe additional business is welcome and encouraged, open again and show these playoff games,\u201d Ring said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Watch parties offer fans an alternative to arena seats. BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2014 The atmosphere inside KeyBank Center is&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5100],"tags":[1107,229,5133,5,4,1108],"class_list":{"0":"post-555021","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-buffalo-sabres","8":"tag-buffalo","9":"tag-buffalo-sabres","10":"tag-buffalosabres","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-sabres"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116424002573378640","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}