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Ice serve notice to City of Cranbrook, move possible |
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Written by JIM SWANSON, Citizen Sports Editor -- WHL NOTES
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Thursday, 17 July 2008 |
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If the rumour mill in town -- which churns out so much hot air it should be tapped as an energy source -- finally hits it right that the Prince George Cougars organization is looking to move elsewhere, the competition just got tougher.
With a $78-million building about to open in Penticton, and WHL-calibre facilities sitting there in places like Victoria and Winnipeg, not to mention a long-planned new building for Nanaimo down the road, the Kootenay Ice might’ve just moved to the head of the line to book moving trucks.
For the second time in the last few years, the Ice has filed notice with the City of Cranbrook that attendance at the Cranbrook Rec Plex is insufficient to sustain operations. The Ice has claimed an 11 per cent drop in paid attendance, to 2,770 per game, which takes the announced figures that averaged out to 3,206 last season and subtracts complimentary tickets.
“We’re down 11 per cent the last two seasons and that’s after a 49-win season and a 42-win season,” general manager Jeff Chynoweth told Jeff Bromley of the Kootenay News Advertiser.
“If you’re down that much and you’re winning, what does that say when we have an off-year? Everyone knows that junior hockey is a cyclical business and we’re all going to have off-years at one time or another. Fortunately, we haven’t had that yet during our 10 years in Cranbrook. We think we have 2,500-2,600 of the best fans in the entire CHL. Unfortunately it’s not enough to make a go of it.”
The Ice also invoked the attendance clause in its lease in 2004. When the figure drops below 2,800, one year’s notice is required to start the moving process. It is worth noting the Ice and the city are in the middle of lease negotiations on a new deal.
Kootenay isn’t the only franchise on ground shakier than the Nechako flood plain. The Portland Winter Hawks were forced to go through a league audit that left major questions about the long-term viability in the southern-most WHL city, and the Moose Jaw Warriors have been told they have to have a new building to replace the Civic Centre, the old “Crushed Can,” or the team will have to move. That’s the edict of WHL commissioner Ron Robison.
All of which places the problems in Prince George, in particular the sliding attendance figures at CN Centre games, in about fourth spot for immediate league concerns.
Prior to the Edmonton Ice relocating to Cranbrook, do you remember the last team to shift venues? The Kelowna Rockets, who moved from Tacoma one year before the Cougars left Victoria for Prince George.
NO MORE MAGNUSSON -- Swedish defenceman Patrik Magnusson, who was a rookie 19-year-old with the Cougars last season, will not be back. According to the blog of Gregg Drinnan (gdrinnan.blogspot.com), Magnusson, the six-foot-eight behemoth who had eight goals, 11 assists, 102 penalty minutes and was minus-20 on a non-playoff team, has signed a one-year contract to play for Almtuna in the Sweden Allsvenskan loop.
REGINA SEARCH -- The top two names on the list to replace Curtis Hunt, who resigned as coach of the Pats last week to take a job with the Ottawa Senators, are former Kelowna coach Marc Habscheid and ex-Pats star Dale Derkatch. For those who don’t know Derkatch, the five-foot-five centre was one of the most exciting players in league history, and is now coaching at Notre Dame. Both men have told the Regina Leader-Post they are interested... While Regina GM Brent Parker is looking for a coach, he is also going through the health scare of his life. Parker was diagnosed with soft-tissue cancer in his upper back and shoulder earlier this spring, but treatments seem to be going well. Parker has had two surgeries since the diagnosis in April... A year ago, the Cougars acquired Evan Pighin (along with Alex Poulter) from Red Deer, and Pighin declined the chance to move to P.G. The Cougars dropped his rights, and Pighin left the Salmon Arm Silverbacks and landed in Chilliwack. Well, he has now committed to playing in the BCHL for the Victoria Grizzlies, host team for this year’s RBC Royal Bank Cup, but forgot to tell the Bruins. Chilliwack is saying they will block him from playing for Victoria by suggesting they will not grant Pighin’s release... Former Swift Current coach/GM Brad McEwan has landed as head scout of the Medicine Hat Tigers... Kelowna forward Jamie Benn has signed a three-year entry-level deal with the Dallas Stars, who chose the former Victoria Grizzly in the fifth round of the 2007 draft.
LOVING EVERETT -- Hats are off to Quesnel product Mitch Love, who is spending much of his summer conducting hockey camps in Everett, where he played for the Silvertips. Love is truly one of hockey’s good guys, a real favourite with the kids... Chilliwack has signed Mitch Topping, the team’s first-round draft choice. The Red Deer forward was taken eighth overall this past spring... A big congratulations to friend Joey Kenward, who has graduated to the big leagues. Kenward once sat in the corner at Nanaimo Clippers games and called the action into a tape recorder so he could send tapes around to find a job as a play-by-play guy, and that path took him from the job as host of Kelowna Rockets broadcasts, to play-by-play with Swift Current, then to a gig with the Vancouver Giants. Now, he’ll call road games for the Canucks when John Shorthouse is not available. Kenward’s arrival is because of his hard work and preparation -- he never struggles with the pronunciation of player names, like too many WHL yappers do on a nightly basis. Best of all for the WHL, Kenward will continue to be an ambassador for junior hockey... Condolences to Kelowna play-by-play man Regan Bartel, whose mom Lil passed away from brain cancer earlier this month. Bartel is another NHL-ready broadcaster currently working in junior hockey.
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