Joe Leber to receive 2024 Duffett Award

Press Release

The Buffalo Sabres announced Joe Leber was named the recipient of the 2024 J. Michael Duffett Memorial Award, presented each year to the coach whose contributions to amateur hockey in Western New York “best exemplify the knowledge, teaching, love of the game and gentle humanity of Mike.”

Leber is the 38th recipient of the J. Michael Duffett Memorial Award and he will accept the award at tonight’s Sabres game against the Ottawa Senators.

Leber has been involved in the Western New York hockey community as a coach for 29 years and he began his coaching career in 1995-96 as an assistant coach with the North Buffalo Thunder Cats AA. Currently, he serves as the head coach for the Power City Bruins AA, Pee-Wee Major Buffalo Bisons AA and Buffalo Regals AAA 2017’s SCTA Developmental Team. 

About the J. Michael Duffett Award

Mike Duffett was a student of the game and a coach with the Buffalo Bisons and the Amherst Hockey Association. A standout player at Nichols School and Clarkson University, Duffett was working in the Sabres’ hockey department under Scotty Bowman and Roger Neilson at the time of his death following a battle with cancer.

The Sabres established the J. Michael Duffett Award in 1984 in his memory.