By Nicole Plucinski

With each new school year, comes new opportunities.  One exciting new feature that’s set to begin as a new tradition this year is something called the Buffalo Cup.

Hilbert’s athletic director, John Czarnecki, came up with this idea to promote an extra layer of competition between the three Buffalo schools, Hilbert, D’Youville and Medaille.  “All three of these schools are considered the “Buffalo” schools in the AMCC Conference, and since there is already a friendly rivalry between the schools, this idea was created to up the ante for the various athletic competitions the three schools compete against each other in,” Czarnecki said.

Czarnecki had been in contact with D”youville and Medaille’s athletic directors to see if they were on board with promoting the existing rivalries with this added incentive, which was successful.  The name “Buffalo Cup” stems from Hilbert, Medaille and D’Youville being the only three Buffalo schools in Conference, so keeping it close to home with the name was only fitting.

How the Buffalo Cup works is through a points system.  A point is received for winning a conference game.  This point system will continue year round throughout the Fall, Winter and Spring athletic seasons, counting only for the athletic teams all three schools have in common.

Czarnecki created this in hopes to promote the rivalry in an exciting way as a new tradition for many years to come.  The winners of the Buffalo Cup, which is a trophy that will be allowed to be displayed at the winner’s school for the entire following school year, will be awarded at the conclusion of the Spring Athletic Season.

The winners of the cup will not only have their names engraved on a Buffalo Cup trophy that will be displayed at the winners’ school, but they will also earn their bragging rights until the next winner of the cup is announced for the following season.