SAP Garden seats 10,900, Red Bull managing director Christian Winkler said.
“We’ve been talking so much about the building, and we’ve been hoping someday it would work out, and now after four years of construction we’re not only counting the days, we’re counting the hours,” Winkler said. “Then having the Buffalo Sabres here is the cherry on top. You could have any NHL team here, but you have the Buffalo Sabres here with JJ Peterka, who is born and raised and learned hockey in Munich. It couldn’t be better for this event.”
The Sabres are here because the NHL was initially asked by local organizers to be a part of the opening of SAP Garden.
“They prioritized us as being the organization they wanted to open the building with, over, as I understand it, potentially an NBA team in a basketball game, so we obviously were pleased to have been approached,” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said. “We approached the Sabres as a potential fit for that. The Sabres embraced it as an opportunity.”
Peterka was the hook. He grew up here and still makes his offseason home here, about 10 minutes from SAP Garden, he said.
“Certainly, that goes into the thinking on all the clubs we approach in terms of whether they have any connection with the marketplace,” Daly said. “Obviously, Peterka in Germany made for a good fit for sure.”
Buffalo general manager Kevyn Adams said the organization is “honored” to be included. Adams and Winkler sat together during the Sabres practice Wednesday and were planning to go out to lunch together Thursday.
“This is a really big deal here in Munich, it’s something special,” Adams said. “We’re here to do a job. This is a business trip for us, but you have to take a step back and enjoy this. I’m excited for our guys. I’m excited for JJ. To have an experience to come back to your hometown is pretty unique.”
Winkler said the hope is for the NHL to bring two teams for regular-season games here in the future. It might be a possibility as Daly said Germany and Switzerland are on the League’s radar for future regular-season games as part of the Global Series.
The only NHL regular-season game to be played in Germany was between the Sabres and Los Angeles Kings in Berlin on Oct. 8, 2011. There have been seven preseason games in Germany since 2008; three in Berlin, two in Mannheim, and one each in Hamburg and Cologne.
“It’s a developed market,” Daly said. “It develops elite hockey players. We’ve got a good relationship with the hockey infrastructure in Germany, both with the federation over time and also with the league.”
In addition to the games in Germany, the Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers will play two games at Nokia Arena in Tampere, Finland, on Nov. 1-2. Those will be the third and fourth NHL regular season games in Tampere and the 10th and 11th games in Finland.
The NHL will do a full analysis of the impact of the game here Friday before determining if Munich can handle a regular-season game, but the opening of SAP Garden, the facilities it has to offer plus the size of the market and growth of German hockey have local officials optimistic.
Reactions to the building like the one Tuch had could go a long way too.
“I always say this building will be for the best and highest sports you can have,” Winkler said. “Having a regular-season NHL game, maybe a season opener here in Munich, for sure I hope it’s in the future.”
NHL.com columnist Nicholas J. Cotsonika contributed to this story
