The Buffalo Sabres have been closely following the men’s ice hockey tournament at the Winter Olympics, which saw several dramatic quarterfinal matches on Wednesday. Canada narrowly defeated Czechia, while Finland staged a late comeback against Switzerland. The United States, featuring Sabres forward Tage Thompson, secured a 2-1 overtime win over Sweden and Rasmus Dahlin to advance to the semifinals against Slovakia.
Sabres players and staff have been emotionally invested in the games. Forward Josh Doan described the experience: “Yesterday was a little bit nerve wracking,” he said after Thursday’s practice at LECOM Harborcenter. “… The Canadian guys were nervous in the room watching that game. And then sitting on the couch at home, you’re cheering for Ras and those guys, but at the same time, you want the U.S. to pull through, and thankfully they did.”
Assistant coach Seth Appert, who previously worked with USA Hockey before joining Rochester Americans in 2020, has personal ties to many of Team USA’s current players. He shared his reaction: “I was still in here in the coaches’ war room, by myself, definitely talking to the television – sometimes yelling at the television,” Appert said. “But the hockey’s been fabulous. You could probably argue yesterday was one of the greatest days that our sport has seen, in terms of three overtime games, the quality of hockey, three games that were tied late. It was a great day for our sport.”
Josh Norris also commented on his connection with members of Team USA: “Some of those guys on the team, I’ve been friends with since I was 15, 16. Just really cool to see a dream for them come true, and all the work they’ve put in,” Norris said. “I think U.S. hockey is in a really good spot, and their team’s so deep and so good.”
Although not present at Milano Cortina 2026 themselves, Buffalo’s coaching staff provided input on how Team USA might use Thompson during Olympic play. Thompson has scored two goals across four Olympic games as part of America’s top power-play unit.
“It’s something that the U.S. staff had asked our staff if we believed he could play that role, and obviously we do,” Appert said about Thompson’s position near goal during power plays rather than his usual spot on Buffalo’s left flank.
Appert also noted that participating in high-level international tournaments can benefit returning players by exposing them to new perspectives from other elite athletes: “Last year when guys went to the 4 Nations and came back it wasn’t just competitive fire,” he said.”I thought they also had some insight… When you’re around other elite players you can learn a lot.”
On Thursday at practice there were updates regarding player injuries for Buffalo ahead of their playoff push: Goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen returned as a full participant after missing time due to injury; forwards Josh Norris and Josh Dunne both practiced fully; Zach Benson remained absent due to an upper-body issue.
The Sabres will continue preparations with three more practices before traveling for their next game against New Jersey.
