Buffalo brings back beer sabres ahead of Game 7 vs. Canadiens

          • Alaina GetzenbergMay 18, 2026, 08:05 PM ET
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              Alaina Getzenberg covers the Buffalo Bills for ESPN. She joined ESPN in 2021. Alaina was previously a beat reporter for the Charlotte Observer and has also worked for CBS Sports and the Dallas Morning News. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.
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          BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The tickets started being scanned to enter KeyBank Center and the masses descended.

          There's a natural excitement for a Game 7, but crowds two hours before puck drop? There was additional incentive to arrive early.

          The beer sabres were back.

          Fans were let into the arena two hours before the 7:30 p.m. ET scheduled start time for Game 7 between the Buffalo Sabres and the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night. The winner will play the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference finals. The team announced Sunday that the popular plastic drinking swords -- measuring 22 inches long and holding 20 ounces of your liquid of choice -- would be returning for the first time this postseason.

          They are sold for $27 and are filled with a 16-ounce can of either Labatt Blue or Labatt Blue Light (one location sold a Labatt draft with the sabre). Labatt is a partner with the Sabres.

          Sales took place only during pregame, beginning at 5:30 p.m. For Game 7, the team had 10,000 beer sabres throughout the arena -- doubling the previous total sold.

          The Sabres sold 5,000 over the first two regular-season games of the promotion (Nov. 21 and 28) before they sold out, and then 5,000 more for their return on April 6. They have been such a hit that fans have brought them back for games and out to bars during the team's playoff run.

          The limit of sabres available per customer is two, which most fans took advantage of. People all over the arena walked around with beer sabres in their belt loops, placed in bags or raised in the air to drink. One fan gestured with his sword and said: "It's Game 7. You gotta drink."

          Lines waiting for the opportunity to purchase a beer sabre -- which have been listed on eBay for $200 to $300 -- stretched throughout the 10 available locations around the concourse. The cardboard boxes filled with 40 sabres a piece were emptied quickly. The Williams family from Buffalo missed a previous opportunity to get beer sabres but made sure to not do that again, making it a priority to get there two hours early.

          The stand near section 112 sold out just over an hour after sales began. Pouring the drink and consuming it in the sword shape remains a challenge, but it wasn't a problem for several fans to walk around with a sword in each hand.

          When beer sabres could return again was unclear, but the team wanted to get the highly desired item to the fans.

          "It doesn't need to be a highly exclusive item," Mary Masich, general manager for Delaware North, the team's food service partner at KeyBank Center, told ESPN this month. "We're happy to see as many people get them as we can coming to the games and having fun with them."