Roberts Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 The Kootenay Ice of the WHL are relocating to Winnipeg beginning in the 2019-2020 season. They will keep the name "Ice" and therefor be known as the Winnipeg Ice. https://www.tsn.ca/whl-s-kootenay-ice-to-relocate-to-winnipeg-1.1248926 This photo is from the Western Hockey League finals in 2011 in Kootenay, it was taken during overtime just as Kootenay scored the winning goal to get up 2-1 in their series against the Portland Winterhawks. As you can see, Kootenay's attendance was underwhelming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Western Red Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 Brutal, what else are they doing up there that watching the games future stars isn't appealing? Arena a dump? Out of the way? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckylager Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 @Western Red If I had to guess- it would be a combo of overpriced tickets, overpriced food and bev, and a crappy arena that only has one concession, a lack of toilets and old $&!#ty seats that hurt your butt. That's what was happening at the old Memorial Arena in Vic when the Cougars relocated to PG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Money Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 I'm surprised they think Winnipeg can support an NHL, AHL, and CHL team. The Moose probably do OK because of their ties to the Jets. But are there enough pure hockey fans to make it work? Vancouver has NHL and CHL, but the AHL team in the Valley was a flop. Winnipeg and the surrounding area have less than a third of the population of the Lower Mainland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRAZY_4_NAZZY Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 7 minutes ago, D-Money said: I'm surprised they think Winnipeg can support an NHL, AHL, and CHL team. The Moose probably do OK because of their ties to the Jets. But are there enough pure hockey fans to make it work? Vancouver has NHL and CHL, but the AHL team in the Valley was a flop. Winnipeg and the surrounding area have less than a third of the population of the Lower Mainland. That was largely due to the fact that the Abbotsford Heat was the affiliate to the Calgary Flames, kind of stupid to put a rival's affiliate in hostile territory. Also it was placed in an awful area where it was largely out the way for fans to go to in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McBackup Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 1 hour ago, Western Red said: Brutal, what else are they doing up there that watching the games future stars isn't appealing? Arena a dump? Out of the way? Cranbrook is a pretty small town, and while the team represents the whole Kootenay region, its a pretty long haul through the mountains in the winter from a lot of those other towns to go see a junior hockey team when you can just go to your local rec centre and see a Junior B team play or watch on TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd. Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 This could be one of the biggest flops in CHL history Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostsof1915 Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 To use the Coquitlam Express as an example. Adults $14, Children under 6 free, 7-17 are $6. A family of 4 can go for $40.00 You can't see a movie for that price. Junior A is very good value, especially when you see how many move on to college. When I hear that the owners of Prince George say they have to make it to the 3rd round of the playoffs to make money. You know something is wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpt Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 With only 19,000 people living in Cranbrook, I’m not surprised they can’t draw attendance. I mean Abbotsford has 150,000 people and they couldn’t get more than 3000 out to an AHL game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaku Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 3 hours ago, Western Red said: Brutal, what else are they doing up there that watching the games future stars isn't appealing? Arena a dump? Out of the way? Cranbrook as a city is a hole. I used to live about an hour from there and it was literally one of the very few reasons to ever go there. The arena is extremely accessible in a highly residential area with tons of parking. The people just didn't care and very few still do. Cranbrook sucks. Edit: the arena is part of a pretty nice sports complex. So it wasn't the arena that was an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monty Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 2 hours ago, D-Money said: I'm surprised they think Winnipeg can support an NHL, AHL, and CHL team. The Moose probably do OK because of their ties to the Jets. But are there enough pure hockey fans to make it work? Vancouver has NHL and CHL, but the AHL team in the Valley was a flop. Winnipeg and the surrounding area have less than a third of the population of the Lower Mainland. Last season, the Moose were exactly league average in attendance. So they do alright. As for the new Winnipeg Ice? I believe they will be based out of the University of Manitoba; which just on the students alone will be able to attract a decent sized crowd. I know I’ll be going. Far cheaper and closer for those who don’t live downtown (see: everyone). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberts Posted January 30, 2019 Author Share Posted January 30, 2019 I'm sure on nights in which the Jets and Moose are not playing, Winnipeg Ice will attract fine attendance. They cannot do much worse than Kootenay did anyways. I do feel bad for long time Kootenay Ice fans who did support the team, I can only imagine losing your longtime hockey team is an extremely hard thing to go through for the passionate fans. You lose a team you support and you also lose an enjoyable activity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanuck Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 Lots of grumbling about how the community simply wouldn't support anything to do with the current ownership group there. They pulled a fast one on the fans when they bought the team & said their intent was to keep the team there long-term when it was discovered they were exploring new relocation opportunities almost immediately after taking ownership. Seriously, who would support a group of owners like that? This was inevitable with these new owners combined with a small market. Despite what people say I have doubts that Wpg can support 3 tiers of profit-based hockey in the long-term. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laxgoalie Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 9 hours ago, Monty said: Last season, the Moose were exactly league average in attendance. So they do alright. As for the new Winnipeg Ice? I believe they will be based out of the University of Manitoba; which just on the students alone will be able to attract a decent sized crowd. I know I’ll be going. Far cheaper and closer for those who don’t live downtown (see: everyone). Ooof Max Bell Centre is pretty old. It's in a great location, but I am not a fan of the arena itself. I know its not the best location but it might be better to put them at the MTS Iceplex on the Canadian Tire rink. Roughly the same amount of seating, but about 30-40 years newer. I guess the only issue would be bussing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nucker 67 Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 Low attendance is the reason? Do they really think Winnipeggers are going to come out in droves to watch the WHL when it's -50 (with the wind chill) outside? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laxgoalie Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 2 hours ago, NUCKER67 said: Low attendance is the reason? Do they really think Winnipeggers are going to come out in droves to watch the WHL when it's -50 (with the wind chill) outside? We will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c00kies Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 12 hours ago, Monty said: Last season, the Moose were exactly league average in attendance. So they do alright. As for the new Winnipeg Ice? I believe they will be based out of the University of Manitoba; which just on the students alone will be able to attract a decent sized crowd. I know I’ll be going. Far cheaper and closer for those who don’t live downtown (see: everyone). Yeah, I could see it being alright here too for those same reasons. I used to love Moose games when the Jets weren't here, especially since they were the Canucks affiliate. They are still good, but the atmosphere is obviously not the same (more like an average AHL game). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monty Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 Just now, c00kies said: Yeah, I could see it being alright here too for those same reasons. I used to love Moose games when the Jets weren't here, especially since they were the Canucks affiliate. They are still good, but the atmosphere is obviously not the same (more like an average AHL game). Yeah. I live outside of Winnipeg, so I don't make the trek to the city too often, especially with a toddler and one on the way. But when I do, it will be to go to a Jets game instead. But for non-Jets games, I would much rather prefer to go to a WHL game than AHL. Now, that's just me, because I pay a lot of attention to prospects. So I would rather go to those games anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McBackup Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 15 hours ago, mpt said: With only 19,000 people living in Cranbrook, I’m not surprised they can’t draw attendance. I mean Abbotsford has 150,000 people and they couldn’t get more than 3000 out to an AHL game. That’s not really surprising when the AHL team in question is the farm club of the local NHL team’s historically biggest rival. There are lots of options to go see a hockey game in the lower mainland so I understand not wanting to shell out dough to see Flames prospects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpt Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 11 hours ago, Bitter Melon said: That’s not really surprising when the AHL team in question is the farm club of the local NHL team’s historically biggest rival. There are lots of options to go see a hockey game in the lower mainland so I understand not wanting to shell out dough to see Flames prospects. Yet Chicago Wolves attendance was high for Vancouver prospects and Hamilton Bulldogs (Montreal) have great attendance in Leaf Nation. Would you rather go see the Islanders or Panthers prospects? Of course not. This market isn’t hockey fans, just Canuck fans and only when they are winning. Its just an excuse to say the reason why no one showed up is because it was the Flames. Really, no one will show up unless its the Canucks and that won’t even sell out because they can’t even sell out Roger’s Arena and in the last few years in Abbotsford when the Canucks affiliate came to down, they didn’t even sell out then. Just an excuse. Rogers Arena cant even sell out now and there is like 3 million people in the lower mainland and you can’t convince 18K to show up, again this market isn’t hockey fans, just Canuck fans and only when they are winning. I respect Oiler, Leaf, Hab and Flames fans, even when they suck, they still show up and support the team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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