celebrating after winning the 2017
Isobel Cup The Beauts held their first summer free agent camp on May 23 and 24, 2015. In July 2015, the Beauts signed free agent and 2-time Team USA Olympic goaltender
Brianne McLaughlin, making her the first player to sign a contract with the franchise. The team made its debut at home on October 11,
2015 in a 4–1 loss versus the
Boston Pride. During a 5–3 home loss against the Boston Pride on October 25, 2015, Brianne McLaughlin allowed three goals by
Brianna Decker, resulting in the first hat trick in NWHL history. The Beauts finished the regular season third out of four teams. In the semifinals of the inaugural
Isobel Cup championships, the Beauts faced the
Connecticut Whale. The Whale had a perfect record against the Beauts in the regular season, but the Beauts upset the Whale by winning the last two games in the best-of-three series. They advanced to the championship series, but dropped two games in succession and were swept by the Boston Pride. On October 7, 2016, Beauts forward Harrison Browne came out as a transgender man and thus became the first openly transgender athlete in professional American team sports. That same year the Beauts won the 2016–17 Isobel Cup Championship in an upset win over the defending champion
Boston Pride. This was Buffalo's first professional hockey championship since the
Buffalo Bisons of the
American Hockey League won the
1970 Calder Cup. The Beauts signed three superstars from the CWHL's
Brampton Thunder on August 31, 2017, adding
Jess Jones,
Sarah Edney, and
Rebecca Vint for the
2017–18 season. On December 21, 2017,
Pegula Sports and Entertainment (PSE), owners of the
Buffalo Bills,
Buffalo Sabres and Harborcenter, announced it had purchased the Beauts. This made the Beauts the first team in the NWHL not owned by the league and the first professional women's hockey team in North America to be owned by the same organization of its market's NHL team. On June 27, 2018, the Beauts signed Team Canada goaltender
Shannon Szabados. Szabados had previously only played professional hockey on men's leagues such as the
Southern Professional Hockey League and is the first woman to record a shutout in men's league. On December 7, 2018, the Beauts suddenly relieved
Ric Seiling as head coach, replacing him with former Buffalo Sabre and Harborcenter Academy of Hockey coach
Cody McCormick on an interim basis. On May 8, 2019, following the announcement of a professional women's hockey player
strike, Pegula Sports and Entertainment (PSE) relinquished ownership of the team back to the NWHL. Under Pegula, the Beauts were considered a well-run operation, with the team sharing resources and training facilities with the Sabres and
Rochester Americans. Szabados cited the amenities provided to the Beauts' players through the partnership as one of the goals of the strike for the rest of professional women's hockey. While the Beauts played at the Harborcenter, in the NWHL's largest arena by capacity, they consistently led the NWHL in attendance for the first few seasons until they were surpassed by the
Minnesota Whitecaps in 2018–19. The league indicated that it wanted to keep the team playing at the Harborcenter, which is owned by PSE, but the severance also required the team to negotiate an arena lease. On June 25, 2019, PSE sent a
cease and desist letter to the NWHL for using the Beauts' name and brand. As part of the original agreement, PSE obtained the
trademarks associated with the team and formed a separate entity called Buffalo Beauts Hockey to operate the team. While PSE verbally agreed to relinquished ownership and operations of the team, the NWHL apparently did not sign the transfer paperwork before the deadline, leading to PSE's cease and desist letter. As PSE still owned the Beauts' branding as of July 2 while the NWHL continued to use the Beauts' name, but the team eventually retained the name. The league then moved the Beauts' home games to the
Northtown Center in nearby Amherst prior to the 2019–20 season. Due to the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic, the
2020–21 NWHL season was scheduled as a single-site bubble tournament to be played over two weeks at
Herb Brooks Arena in
Lake Placid, New York, from January 23 to February 5, 2021. However, the bubble season came to a premature end following several positive cases of
COVID-19. After the
Metropolitan Riveters were forced to withdraw on January 28, Buffalo was in last place. The final games of the regular season were rescheduled with the top three teams playing a round-robin for seeding in the Isobel Cup playoffs, while the Beauts would face the Boston Pride in a three-game play-in series for the fourth seed. Prior to the third game on February 1, Connecticut also withdrew from Lake Placid over health and safety concerns, causing the Beauts/Pride series to be for the third and fourth seeds with the Beauts losing the game 1–7. By February 3, the league completely postponed the Isobel Cup playoffs and ended the Lake Placid event. On March 8, the league announced the new schedule for the playoffs to take place on March 26 and 27 at
Warrior Ice Arena in
Brighton, Massachusetts. Due to the postponement, Connecticut was given the third seed and the Beauts were eliminated from participation in the postseason. On June 28, 2021, the league announced the sale of the Beauts and
Minnesota Whitecaps to a joint partnership of NLTT Ventures, LLC, led by Andy Scurto, and Top Tier Sports, led by Neil Leibman. Scurto was named the team's governor. In the summer of 2023, it was announced that the PHF and its assets had been purchased, and that the league and its teams would be dissolved as part of the foundation of a unified women's league, the
Professional Women's Hockey League. Buffalo was not included among the cities that would host the PWHL teams, leaving the city without professional women's hockey. All of the Beauts' contracts were voided as part of the transition. ==Season-by-season records==