The Toronto Maple Leafs come to Buffalo tomorrow, and as long as I can remember, that would translate into the hottest ticket in town, what with all those crazy Leafs fans descending onto our city, plus the super charged raucous atmosphere that makes these games a special event.

Yet looking at the tickets.com website, it appears that there are oceans of tickets available. I did a search for 10 tickets in the upper deck, and presto… 10 came up in sec 303, row 7. I tried for 8 tickets in the club level, and no problems, 8 on the blue line.

The news doesn’t get any better… I looked at eBay an hour ago an there are 160 auctions posted for tickets for tomorrow night. Many have a starting price somewhere near or below face value and are closing with no takers.

So what gives here? The Sabres are bursting at the seams with season ticket holders and wannabes on a waiting list, right? Leafs fans are ga ga for their team, and the Loonie is stronger than ever, making a visit to the States a bargain.

My guess is that the team may have overreached a bit with its pricing matrix. Season tickets are in demand because the cost is attractive and reasonable. Our seats in sec 113 run $31 each, yet the face value for tomorrow’s “gold” game is $135 each.

Small wonder that when single tickets went on sale, the “value” games were the first ones to go, while the “gold” games seem to be languishing. How many people are going to pony up “gold” prices on a Wednesday night in December, right before Christmas, to see Briere and the Flyers?

It would be a shame to see the sellout string come to an end; I would like to see that number continue to climb for years to come. But even if the Sabres get a last minute walkup and announce the magic “18,690″ figure, scan the seating bowl and look for those yawning gaps of empty seats… in the corner 200s at the Harbour Club end, or close to the ice around sec 123-100-101. If you see blue, then you know that the same guys who tally attendances at Bisons games are up to their nefarious business.

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