While the Sabres and Predators battled a short distance away inside First Niagara Center, dozens of teams were battling outside on the RiverWorks rinks during the Labatt Buffalo Pond Hockey tournament.
The players were out there despite brutal temperatures on the first day of the tournament and slightly warmer temperatures Saturday and Sunday.
One team came in from Arizona for the games and flew home last night.
Labatt Brand Manager Lisa Texido says the event was a great success.
"It'ss been a fantastic weekend for hockey and for beer. We had a lot of people down here. Our estimates are that we had about 12,000 people at RiverWorks throughout the weekend and we're just thrilled that we had so many people come out and support this event."
Texido says the 9th annual tournament will be next February although the weekend isn't picked yet.
Pat Geerie from the "Mighty Drunks" team says he called in a few friends from Penn State and they competed in a game played to Pond Hockey rules.
"It's a hundred percent different. More skill, a little bit of luck, bounces here and there. They don't cut the ice as much so the puck's going to bounce. The goals are completely different. Different game. Different rules. No slap shots."
The games are played four-on-four with no goaltenders, low goal nets and, the playing surface divided in three-across.
