- Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan wants to skate from city hall to KeyBank Center with the Sabres’ Blade Gang
- The viral South Buffalo crew has become the unofficial face of the city’s playoff run
- Read below for the mayor’s quote, video of the Blade Gang’s pregame ritual, and the Round 2 setup vs. Montreal
The Blade Gang has gone from a handful of South Buffalo kids on rollerblades to something the actual mayor wants in on.
Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan said this week that he’s reached out to the viral Sabres-fan crew about a possible joint skate from city hall down to KeyBank Center, per Audacy.
“We’re also talking to the Blade Gang Guys, to see if we can get them down to city hall and maybe do a skate with them from city hall down to the arena,” Ryan said.
That’s where the playoff fever sits in Buffalo right now. The Sabres just won their first postseason series since 2007, knocking off the Bruins in six, and the city is treating every pregame like a parade.
Here’s the video that put the Blade Gang on the map:
The video clip has been everywhere since. The crew is nine childhood friends from South Buffalo: Sean Maloney, Jack Ellis, Danny Maloney, Alex Pawlik, Ian Macvie, Jackson Soto, Luke Soto, Tommy Maloney, and Michael Bollenbacher.
They’ve spent the last few weeks rollerblading around KeyBank Center and TD Garden, beating up a Cam Neely-jersey dummy, and turning every Sabres game into a block party.
Spittin’ Chiclets summed up the vibe:
When the series moved to Boston, they took it on the road:
Then came the official call-up. The Sabres invited the Blade Gang to bang the ceremonial drum at KeyBank Center before Game 5 against Boston, which Buffalo went on to win in overtime before closing the series out in Game 6.
Now Mayor Ryan wants in too. A skate from Niagara Square down to KeyBank would land somewhere around a mile, plenty of time for the city to lean into whatever this thing has become.
Game 1 against the Canadiens drops Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET. Don’t be shocked if the Blade Gang shows up with new uniforms.
