The National Hockey League begins its sixth season as a broadcast partner with Versus, which has kept Buffalo as one of its favorite cities.

The Sabres will appear nine times on Versus in the 2010-11 season. Only Original Six cities Boston, Chicago, Detroit and New York (Rangers) plus star-laden Washington and Pittsburgh have more games scheduled, 11, on Versus.

The Sabres also are scheduled for three possible appearances on NBC and five appearances on CBC; three of them against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada. One of those games is the Hall of Fame telecast Nov. 6, two days before the induction ceremonies.

The NHL regular season starts in 43 days, on Oct. 7, with three of the five scheduled games forming a tripleheader on Versus. The first of those games will be the Minnesota Wild against the Carolina Hurricanes at noon from Helsinki, Finland.

Other highlights include the Winter Classic between the Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Jan. 1 at 1 p.m. at Heinz Field.

After the Winter Classic, the NBC NHL "Game of the Week" drops the puck Jan. 23. The NHL and NBC will again collaborate on flexible scheduling for NBC's regular-season dates. At least 13 days prior to the scheduled date, a game will be selected to broadcast on NBC. All NBC games will be broadcast on Sundays and presented in High Definition.

The three days on which the Sabres are tentatively scheduled to play on NBC are the opening date against the New York Islanders, Feb. 20 against the Washington Capitals and March 6 against the Minnesota Wild.

The nine Versus dates are: Oct. 26, at Philadelphia; Dec. 7, at Boston; Jan. 1, vs. Philadelphia; Jan. 18, vs. Montreal; Feb. 8, at Tampa Bay; Feb. 15, at Montreal; March 1, at N.Y. Rangers; March 15, vs. Carolina; and March 30, vs. N.Y. Rangers.

The other CBC appearances against Toronto are Feb. 5 in HSBC Arena and March 12 in the Air Canada Centre. The Sabres will also play on CBC on Nov. 27 at Montreal, Dec. 4 at Ottawa.

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