NHL Draft 2018: 15 first-hand takeaways from a weekend in Dallas

7. Sabres fans came in droves

Approximately 1,368 miles separate the city of Dallas, Texas from Buffalo, New York. But that didn’t stop a large contingency of Buffalo fans from making their way down to the Texas heat.

They had plenty of reason to considering the Sabres owned the first pick in this year’s draft. And while it was obvious who they were spending their pick on, it’s a pretty special moment to be there and hear the player’s name officially called for the first time.

So that’s what Buffalo fans did. In years past, there haven’t been an extraordinary amount of Sabres fans in the stands at Sabres-Stars games, so the assumption is that a large chunk of the group at the draft came from out of town.

But boy, did they make an impression.

For the larger part of the weekend (though it was primarily on Friday night), the clumps of Sabres fans throughout the arena were active and energetic. When Buffalo was announced at roll call, the fans made it clear that they were also present. And once they were on the clock, the entire AAC knew it.

Chants and cheers rang through the building during each of Buffalo’s picks, including an explosion of joy when the selection of Rasmus Dahlin became official.

And when the Stars were on the clock for the first time, chants of “NO GOAL” rose up from the clusters of Sabres fans. As a lifelong Dallas fan, it was fun to listen to these chants and then look just above the fans where the “1999 Stanley Cup Champions” banner hung in the rafters. But at least they were passionate about it!

The Buffalo fans traveled incredibly well to see their team spend the no. 1 overall pick. And even though they haven’t seem much success in the past few years, it was neat to see so many passionate supporters of the blue and gold.