Buffalo Blizzard

Buffalo Blizzard
Operated	1992–2001
Arena	The Aud & HSBC Arena, formerly Marine Midland Arena
Based in	Buffalo, New York
Colors	blue, purple, black, and white
League	NPSL II
Division Championships	1996–97 & 1997–98

The Buffalo Blizzard was an indoor soccer club that existed from 1992 to 2001 in Buffalo, New York.

The team was announced in July of 1992. Originally owned by the Knox brothers who owned the Buffalo Sabres at the time,^[1] and additionally by the Riches who owned the minor league baseball Buffalo Bisons. During their last five years of existence, the team was owned by John Bellanti who had previously owned the Buffalo Stallions of the original Major Indoor Soccer League.^[2]

Over the course of 9 seasons played, the team finished with an overall record of 188-176 for a 51.6% winning percentage during regular season play, however the team struggled in the playoffs with an overall playoff record of just 5-16. The team never won a playoff series, despite making them in 8 of their 9 seasons played. The team's attendance was always in the top five of the league until its last season, and they had their record high attendance year in 1993–1994 season with an average attendance of 8,435 fans. The major stars of the team were the Pikuzinski brothers, Rudy Pikuzinski and Randy Pikuzinski, who rank sixth and ninth on the all-time points list.^[3][4] The team colors were blue, purple, black, and white, and the team mascot was a dog Spyke who rode a four-wheeler.

The team saw their best season record during their 1992-1993 inaugural season under head coach Trevor Dawkins, going 23-17 in the regular season which resulted in a 4th place finish in the American Division. Rudy Pikuzinski was 4th in league scoring with 67 goals, 36 assists and 165 points. Goalkeeper Jamie Swanner was also 4th in the league in points against average (12.27) while recording 22 wins. Rudy Pikuzinski made the First Team All-NPSL Team, while brother Randy Pikuzinski made the Third Team All-NPSL team. In the 1993 playoffs, the Blizzard as a 3-seed would face the Cleveland Crunch as a 2-seed in a best-of-3 series. The Blizzard won game 1 at home at the Memorial Auditorium by a score of 20-13, led by Paul Dougherty who scored 5 goals. The Blizzard however would go on to lose both games in Cleveland (12-6 and 13-6 respectively) and were eliminated in the quarterfinals.

In the 1993-1994 season, the team would finish the regular season at 19-21, and 3rd in the American Division. For the second time, the Blizzard found themselves playing the Cleveland Crunch in the quarterfinals, and it finished similarly to the year prior, with Cleveland winning the series 2 games to 1.

Despite a better record in the 1994-1995 season, the team finished an even 20-20. Within the standings, the team finished 4th in the American Conference. Paul Dougherty finished 6th in the league in scoring with 81 goals, 31 assists and 171 points. That was good enough to make the Second Team All-NPSL Team. For the third season in a row, the team would face the 1-seed Cleveland Crunch in the quarterfinals, and for the third time, the team met a similar fate. After losing game 1 of the best-of-3 series, the Blizzard pulled out an incredible 21-19 overtime comeback win on the road in game 2. In the overtime period, Cleveland Crunch superstar forward Hector Marinaro mistakenly deflected a bouncing ball coming back off the boards into his own goal. Rudy Pikuzinski was credited for the goal, being the last Blizzard player who played the ball off the boards. However, in game 3, the Cleveland Crunch came back and won 19-15 to win the series.

The 1995-1996 season ended in similar fashion for the team, finishing 21-19 in the regular season and earning the 4th seed in the American Division. Forward Marcelo Carrera, who was acquired from the Canton Invaders earned Second Team All-NPSL and Mauro Biello was named to the Second Team All-NPSL Rookie Team. For the fourth and what would become the final time, the Blizzard again faced the Cleveland Crunch in the quarterfinals. After dropping game 1 25-15, the Blizzard rebounded in game 2 by a score of 20-17 to even the series, but the Crunch closed the series out yet again, winning game 3 17-11.

For the 1996-1997, new divisional and conference alignment placed the Blizzard amongst in the North Division of the National Conference. Instead of the typical division rivals being the Cleveland Crunch, Baltimore Spirit and Harrisburg Heat, the team was placed with the Edmonton Drillers, Detroit Rockers and Toronto Shooting Stars. For the first time in their franchise history, the Blizzard would clinch a division title, finishing with a 21-19 record and winning a point differential tiebreaker with Edmonton who had the same record. Defenseman René Rivas was named to the Second Team All-NPSL Rookie Team. Because the Blizzard won their division, they earned a conference quarterfinal bye and would end up facing the National Conference 4-seed Kansas City Attack. Despite the potential home-field advantage, the Blizzard were swept in 2 games, losing 18-12 and then 13-11.

The 1997-1998 team clinched their second North Division title, finishing with a 21-19 regular season record. Strangely though they also finished with a negative goal differential (-9). With Toronto no longer in the league, the Montreal Impact were the division's replacement. Rudy Pikuzinski finished the season tied for 7th in scoring with 53 goals, 38 assists and 139 points and was named to the Third Team All-NPSL team. Earning the conference quarterfinal bye again, this time they would face the Wichita Wings who were the National Conference 3-seed. Despite two high-scoring battles Wichita would go on to win 19-16 and 15-14 for the sweep.

The 1998-1999 season had more team re-alignment with the Montreal Impact moving to the American Conference. With only 3 teams in the North Division, the team finished with a 22-18 record and finished 2nd in the division. Doug Miller finished 2nd in league scoring with 82 goals, 23 assists and 194 points. He also earned First Team All-NPSL Team honors. In the playoffs, they met the St. Louis Ambush in the Conference Semifinals. The Ambush were the conference 2-seed, while the Blizzard were the 3-seed, meaning the Blizzard did not own home-field advantage this time around. The Blizzard won game 1 by a score of 16-13 but would lose their final two games (12-10 and 12-11 respectively) to be eliminated without a series win for the 7th straight season.

For the 1999-2000 season, the Blizzard moved back to the American Conference and was placed in the Central Division with past rivals Cleveland Crunch and Montral Impact. The switch was not a smooth one however, as the team had their worst season as a franchise, going 19-25 and having a conference worst -122 point differential. One bright spot was new goalkeeper Kaj Stefansen who earned Second Team All-NPSL Rookie team. The team failed to make the playoffs for the first and only time in team history.

The 2000-2001 team rebounded, now in the American Conference that saw just one combined division. For the first time in several seasons, the Cleveland Crunch saw a team decline, finishing last of the 5 teams. The Blizzard finished with a 22-18 regular season record and earned a 2-seed for the conference for the playoffs. They would face the 3-seed Baltimore Blast The team couldn't capitalize on their home-field advantage yet again. After losing 9-8, they dropped the second game 18-13 giving the Baltimore Blast the series sweep. This would end up being the final season of participation for the Blizzard. The NPSL ceased operation in 2001 and several of its remaining teams formed the Major Indoor Soccer League, but the Blizzard declined to participate and folded at that time. Interest in the team waned as the population of Buffalo was shrinking and the sport of indoor soccer was in decline behind the growth of outdoor soccer and Major League Soccer. The city's crowded sports landscape was also another challenge, as the team faced competition in ticket sales and sponsorships with the Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo Bandits. Team owner John Bellanti acknowledged that the team had lost money for nine straight seasons and officially folded the club in August of 2001.

1992–1994: Trevor Dawkins
1994–1996: Jim May
1996–1997: George Fernandez
1996–1997: Gary Hindley
1997–1998: Carlos Salguero
1998–1999: Jim May
1999–2001: Paul Kitson

• Rudy Pikuzinski 1992–2000
• Randy Pikuzinski 1992–2001
• Gino DiFlorio 1994–1997
• Doug Miller 1996–2001
• Paul Dougherty 1992–1996
• Kris Kelderman 1992–1995
• Mark Simpson 1996–1997
• Tony Meola 1994–1995
• Rob Marinaro 1994–1996
• Ralph Black 1992–1993
• Mauro Biello 1995–1997
• Ernie Buriano 1993–1995
• Pat Occhiuto 1991–1994
• Marcelo Carrera 1996
• Pat Harrington 1994–1997
• Jamie Swanner 1992–1994
• Chris Szanto 1992–1993
• Carlos Zavala 1999–2001
• Danny Barber 1998–2001
• Richie Williams 1992–1993
• Carlos Salguero 1992
• Marco Rizi 1995–1998
• Grant Needham 1996–1997
• Rudy Doliscat 1995–1996
• Jean Harbor 1995
• John Maessner 1995
• Mike Britton 1992–1995, 1996, 1999–2000
• Mike Gosselin 1995–1996
• Andrew "Yogi" McKay 1994–1998
• Oscar Pisano 1995
• Dino Lopez 1995–1996
• René Rivas 1996–1997
• Steve Kinsey 1996–1997
• David Banks 1997–1999
• Fuseini Dauda 1996–1997
• Chuck Codd 1996–1997
• Lenin Steenkamp 1997
• Chris Fox 1996–1998
• Brian Ashton 1996–1997
• Jimmy Glenn 1997–1998
• * Rick Titus 1997–1998
• Mike Kirmse 1997–1999
• Bill Andracki 1997–2000
• Bernie Lilavois 1998–1999
• Tim Hardy 1998–2000
• Stuart Dobson 1998–1999, 2000–2001
• Rob Irvine 1998–1999
• Byron Mitchell 1999–2000
• Mali Walton 1999–2001
• Chris Handsor 2000–2001
• Travis Roy 2000–2001
• Eduardo Sebrango 2000–2001
• Dewan Bader 2000–2001
• Matt Caution 2000–2001
• Chris Clarke 2000–2001
• Matt Tanzini 2000–2001
• Edgar Bartolomeu 2000–2001
• Kevin Kalish 2000–2001
• Darryl Gomez 2000–2001
• Darko Kolic 2000–2001
• Carmine Isacco 2000–2001

• 1992/93: 7,068
• 1993/94: 8,435
• 1994/95: 7,283
• 1995/96: 6,364
• 1996/97: 7,974
• 1997/98: 7,834
• 1998/99: 7,068
• 1999/00: 6,587
• 2000/01: 4,635