BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Sabres owner B. Thomas Golisano stood on
the temporary stage outside HSBC Arena before a recent playoff game
with a mob of fans chanting his name.
"Thank you, Tom! Thank you, Tom!" everyone yelled.
A reception like that might be enough for Golisano -- a Rochester
billionaire, sudden hockey nut and occasional politician -- to
reconsider his recent decision to rule out a fourth New York
gubernatorial election bid.
"That's a question that probably I think about every day,"
Golisano told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "But right now
the decision is still negative."
Political aspirations aside, Golisano doesn't need votes to
learn he's the toast of western New York.
Three years after purchasing the Sabres out of bankruptcy, a
move that prevented the franchise from folding or relocating,
Golisano is enjoying his young and resilient team's playoff run.
In their first postseason appearance since 2001, the Sabres
dispatched Philadelphia and top-seeded Ottawa to face the Carolina
Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference final, which opens at Raleigh
on Saturday.
"I can't walk down the street or into a restaurant without
people making comments to me about how well the team's doing or how
excited they are," Golisano said. "So it's almost like a fever
has come over the area."
Thanks in large part to Golisano, the Sabres have authored the
feel-good story of the NHL season. From bankruptcy to brilliance,
Buffalo has emerged as the model of success under the league's new
rules.
On the ice, the Sabres are fast and skilled, capitalizing on the
NHL's renewed emphasis to open up the game by negating obstruction.
They won a franchise record 52 games -- albeit in the first season
the league eliminated ties -- and finished fourth in the East to end
the longest playoff drought in their 36-year history.
On the balance sheet, the team will make money in the first year
of the league's salary-cap era.
After making about $600,000 before the playoffs, the team has
netted an additional $3 million in five home postseason games -- not
including at least two more against Carolina. Tickets for Buffalo's
conference final home games sold out within 17 minutes Wednesday
morning.
Because of the playoff success, Sabres managing partner Larry
Quinn projects the team will have more than 11,000 full
season-ticket holders next year.
That's nearly double the 6,200 the Sabres had when Golisano took
over.
"You sort of have to pinch yourself, don't you?" Quinn said.
"I don't spend a lot of time looking backward but, when you
reflect on it, it's really amazing. I think it shows a lot of
resilience to the city of Buffalo. I think that if this franchise
had folded, it just would've been devastating."
Quinn credits Golisano, who made his fortune founding the
Rochester-based Paychex payroll processing firm.
It was Golisano's incentive-driven management style that led to
the Sabres' vision of building around a young core of players. And
it was his hands-off approach that allowed Sabres general manager
Darcy Regier and coach Lindy Ruff to mold that group into winners.
Golisano might not have known much about hockey before he
purchased the Sabres, but he's since learned the nuances of special
teams, odd-man rushes and the strengths of his roster.
"My primary goal when I bought the franchise was to get it on
good solid economic footing, and that happened," Golisano said.
"The real plus is how well the team has done and what that's done
for the community and everybody's psyche."
Even his own. Golisano jumped out of his seat when rookie Jason
Pominville scored the series-clinching goal in Buffalo's 3-2
overtime win against Ottawa on Saturday.
"It all came together," Golisano said. "As every day goes by,
the community's confidence level, my confidence level continues to
go up. And you've got to admit, those young men are very
entertaining and very inspiring."