The Vancouver Canucks are no longer trapped in Buffalo.
The city of Buffalo faced blizzard conditions over the weekend, made worse by what meteorologists call "lake effect snow," as cold air moves across the Great Lakes to cause narrow bands of heavy snow.
The snow was heavy enough to postpone the Buffalo Bills playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers to Monday, but the Canucks game against the Buffalo Sabres went on as planned on Saturday, with the Canucks eking out a 1-0 win.
What didn't go as planned was the Canucks' travel after the game. They had planned to fly out of Buffalo after the game with the intention of getting into Columbus, OH well ahead of their game scheduled for 1 p.m. local time, 10 a.m. PST against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The snowstorm grounded all aircraft, however, as all flights inbound or outbound were cancelled, meaning the Canucks were stuck overnight in Buffalo.
The Canucks were evidently still unable to fly out of Buffalo on Sunday morning. While a travel ban for passenger and commercial vehicles was still in effect on Sunday morning for most of Erie County, which covers the city of Buffalo, the Canucks were still able to get out of the city and cross the border into Canada, where they intend to fly out of Toronto, ON.
A plane with the flight number ACA7037, one of two numbers typically used by the Canucks for their chartered flights, was scheduled to fly from Toronto to Columbus at 2 p.m. local time, though the estimated departure time has been delayed to 6:10 p.m.
That means the Canucks should still arrive in Columbus by Sunday evening, with hopefully enough time to get a good night's rest before Monday's oddly-timed game.
At the very least, the Canucks don't have to spend any more time in Buffalo.
