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[UTICA COMETS] 2020-21 Season


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The island begs for a commuter train corridor from at least Parksville down to Victoria.  Been living in the East for almost 20 years now where rail is used regularly by everyone.  Always found it tragic that small US cities can support an AHL team and the larger lower Island population base can’t even maintain an ECHL team

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2 minutes ago, bbllpp said:

The island begs for a commuter train corridor from at least Parksville down to Victoria.  Been living in the East for almost 20 years now where rail is used regularly by everyone.  Always found it tragic that small US cities can support an AHL team and the larger lower Island population base can’t even maintain an ECHL team

I’ve wanted AHL hockey on the island for so long. To me it makes sense. Half a million people on the island to support the team and gives the prospects a bit of distance from the rabid Vancouver market.

 

Thats why I love Utica so much. I feel if we moved our comets to say Abbotsford our fan base will just swarm those poor kids...but I’m probably wrong. Toronto and Montreal have their farm teams playing right next door and their fans seem to show patience with their prospects...although attendance at those games isn’t what you think as they aren’t the big ticket item in town, the nhl teams are.

 

The city of Utica itself has been so important in developing our young guns. They have the best fans in the league! And I think that kind of support and atmosphere also helps those kids get ready for the big show. If they relocated to Victoria I think a similar rabid fan following would happen. Islanders would come out in droves to support the team and show tones of passion.

 

I have tried over the years to get into Victoria Royals hockey, it’s great entertainment and fun to watch. But it just doesn’t have the pro structure to the game I enjoy. And to be totally honest I loved the Salmon Kings better there than the royals. That was fun scrappy hockey to watch!

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35 minutes ago, UticaHockey said:

Lots of news hitting the rumor mill yesterday about the possibility of the NJ Devils replacing Vancouver in Utica.   Normally I would take this with a grain of salt but there seems to be enough smoke here to think a fire exists.

 

It was reported that Robert Esche applied for trademarks on the name Utica Devils to include merchandise that a team would normally sell. The domain name for a website was also recently registered although unlike the trademark it is not known who registered it.

 

Also yesterday news reports out of Binghamton revealed ongoing issues between the NHL management in New Jersey and the AHL management in Binghamton.  The Devils have a similar AHL structure as the Canucks.  NJ owns the AHL franchise but partner with a local ownership group in Binghamton to run the team.  But unlike Rob Esche who opted in for the COVID shortened AHL season with almost no revenue so the Canucks (and Blues) would have a place for their prospects to play Binghamton opted out. For this season the Binghamton Devils are playing out of a practice facility in NJ.

 

The Binghamton news reported that the contract with the Devils runs through the 2021-22 season but who knows what opt out clauses may exist. We do know that the Canucks have an opt out option in Utica this year.  When they signed a six year extension two years ago it was reported that they could opt out after year two and four.

 

While it is inevitable that the Canucks will eventually move their AHL team out west and the Devils make more sense logistically I have mixed emotions. This would be our second go around as the Utica Devils and the first didn't end well.  Their reputation in the other AHL cities since hasn't been much better.  Plus they always force their Devils team name on their AHL city which would totally disregard our Comets history dating back to the 1950s that Esche had done a great job of honoring.

 

If it were up to me the Comets and Canucks would remain partners for years to come but that is not likely.

It’s been a good ride sir if this is the case. Gonna miss all the crazy comets fans this year. I’ve watched all the games since inception on AHL live so I know all your fans like they were my own. You got lots of regulars in the crowd that you see game in and game out. Your passion for hockey is awesome! Your town is officially on my bucket list to go travel to and see one day lol. 
 

Utica home of Slapshot, home of the Comets. That’s holy ground to me lol

 

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38 minutes ago, Attila Umbrus said:

I’ve wanted AHL hockey on the island for so long. To me it makes sense. Half a million people on the island to support the team and gives the prospects a bit of distance from the rabid Vancouver market.

 

Thats why I love Utica so much. I feel if we moved our comets to say Abbotsford our fan base will just swarm those poor kids...but I’m probably wrong. Toronto and Montreal have their farm teams playing right next door and their fans seem to show patience with their prospects...although attendance at those games isn’t what you think as they aren’t the big ticket item in town, the nhl teams are.

 

The city of Utica itself has been so important in developing our young guns. They have the best fans in the league! And I think that kind of support and atmosphere also helps those kids get ready for the big show. If they relocated to Victoria I think a similar rabid fan following would happen. Islanders would come out in droves to support the team and show tones of passion.

 

I have tried over the years to get into Victoria Royals hockey, it’s great entertainment and fun to watch. But it just doesn’t have the pro structure to the game I enjoy. And to be totally honest I loved the Salmon Kings better there than the royals. That was fun scrappy hockey to watch!

I live in Montreal and have been to a few Rockets games and a couple of Utica games in Laval.  So much more affordable than the Habs including the concessions.  Just as fast and as entertaining, just not high end skill of the NHL.  The kids can’t tell the difference and had a blast, especially the Slurpies and Popcorn

 

Great arena, 10,000 seats that are basically all equivalent to reds at the Bell Centre.  Most expensive seat is around 40 bucks.  Sad thing is you think the games would be packed but every game I’ve been to were less than half full.

 

Rabid Habs fans care about the Habs and that’s about it.  The two world junior’s here recently were tragic in terms of attendance.

 

Langford with commuter rail as I said would make the games accessible to pretty much 80% of the island population and as you’ve said they’d belong to the island and be the kid Canucks which would go a long way to fill seats

 

I think the biggest issue for the island would be the extra operational cost of the travel.

 

My buddies and I used to walk to the old memorial Arena and watch the Cougars pretty much every Friday/Saturday night when we were teens.  Was really disappointed when they moved to Prince-George, even more disappointed when they kept the name.  The Victoria Cougars have history and it was a bit of a slap in the face after the kick in the nuts from losing the team in the first place 

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And it's official that Binghamton has been notified by New Jersey that the team will be relocated.

https://wbng.com/2021/04/17/nj-devils-inform-binghamton-ownership-ahl-team-will-be-relocated/

 

With Esche registering the Utica Devils trademark around the same time, it's definitely suggestive, but if New Jersey is so demanding then I'm not as sure why Esche and the Utica ownership would be so interested in partnering with them. Obviously if the Canucks have told them they eventually want come out West, then Esche would want to have a plan to keep hockey in Utica, but we don't know if that's the case.

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55 minutes ago, nickp91 said:

Abbotsford has always been tossed around for Canucks AHL team

Abbotsford wouldn't be able to sustain ticket sales against the Canucks, just like last time.  Different circumstances of course, but I don't think they want that again.

 

Any team here would jack up the team's transportation costs.  It'd be impossible to bus around if it were on the Island.  Logistically it makes better sense to place them somewhere in Southern Washington or Oregon.  Dare I say... Vancouver, WA???

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1 hour ago, Nucksownyou said:

Our farm team likely gets moved to California. Even Seattle is putting their AHL team in California.

Yeah - Canucks missed the boat on that one.  Palm Springs may sell out with all the Seattle winter transplants,  but 10000 is a big ask.  I think it definitely would have were it Vancouver's team. Tourist office reckons there are about 50,000 winter residents each year from BC/Calgary (not this winter though, I am one of very few) and that doesn't count those that head south for just 2 or 3 weeks

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I can see the Canucks putting a team in Sacromento for the AHL. Sacromento is the capital of California and has an NBA team but no AHL team. Fresno could also be a landing spot in California. So there's still a few reasonable landing spots for a Canucks AHL California team. Also, the Aquilini's do have ties to California as Francesco Aquilini went to UCLA and he's considered a distinguished alumni by them.

 

If the team is worried about the border still being an issue for the 2021/2022 season, I wouldn't rule out Vancouver or Abbotsford getting the team. I've always felt like if the Abbotsford AHL team was a Canucks affiliate and not a Flames affiliate they'd like still be around. Having the team play out of the Pacific Coliseum while using the Canucks training facilities could be a real win if they want to stay local (also, I don't feel like that arena gets used much anymore ever since the Giants left to go play in Langley). If they stay in BC, Kelowna and Victoria could also be interesting landing spots.

 

I also wouldn't be shocked if they went and put a team in Portland as there AHL team if they want to be down in the States but can't find a good California home. Benning and Green have deep ties to Portland (having been apart of the Portland Winterhawks organization in different roles) and are important figures in the Portland hockey scene. Portland is also a short plane ride from Vancouver so, much like California, it's not a terrible travel situation when a player gets recalled.

 

All this said, I do believe Vancouver is leaving Utica. Seems like the New Jersey Devils will take over the Utica operation which is good for the city of Utica because they seem to have great hockey fans. And this is also good for Vancouver and its prospects. The fact that Vancouver is the last West Coast team to move its team into the same time zone as itself is crazy and long overdue. It'll help our prospects to be closer to the main team. The travel stories that recalls have had to go through seem like a nightmare and it shouldn't continue, especially if there's an option to opt out and move closer to "home".

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4 hours ago, Googlie said:

Yeah - Canucks missed the boat on that one.  Palm Springs may sell out with all the Seattle winter transplants,  but 10000 is a big ask.  I think it definitely would have were it Vancouver's team. Tourist office reckons there are about 50,000 winter residents each year from BC/Calgary (not this winter though, I am one of very few) and that doesn't count those that head south for just 2 or 3 weeks

Not sure how old you may be, but way back when, the LA Kings were founded and owned by a Canadian ex-pat named Jack Kent Cooke.  He expected to sell out every game at the Inglewood Forum because there were a few hundred thousand Canadians living in LA/surrounding area, but when he could only draw 5,000 to 6,000 fans, he went onto say something like - "I know now why all these Canadians moved to LA...they all hate winter and hockey."  So, the 50,000 to 60,000 Canadians/Cascadians making Palm Springs their winter home may not = instant success.

 

BTW, you have one of the nicest airports I've been to, Googlie. 

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4 hours ago, Quantum said:

I can see the Canucks putting a team in Sacromento for the AHL. Sacromento is the capital of California and has an NBA team but no AHL team. Fresno could also be a landing spot in California. So there's still a few reasonable landing spots for a Canucks AHL California team. Also, the Aquilini's do have ties to California as Francesco Aquilini went to UCLA and he's considered a distinguished alumni by them.

Oakland, San Francisco and Sacramento seem like viable options to me for a California based farm team.  Only thing would be, without a local operator in any of those cities, CSE would have to build a franchise from scratch, requiring significant capital and HR investment. 

 

I would suspect if the Canucks were to move their farm team to the west coast, they would start with having the team play out of Rogers Arena for the first season or two so they can utilize Canucks resources and then move the team elsewhere.  This might be the impetus for Aquilini to build a 12,000-15,000 seat arena in north Surrey that's been loosely discussed (last time I heard of anything was 2-3 years ago, so take what I write about this with a grain of salt). 

 

Spitballing here, but who knows...if the 2030 Winter Olympics bid occurs and Vancouver wins it, another arena in Surrey to complement Rogers Arena and Thunderbird Arena for Men's and Women's Hockey might be well worth doing. 

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Just now, bigbadcanucks said:

Oakland, San Francisco and Sacramento seem like viable options to me for a California based farm team.  Only thing would be, without a local operator in any of those cities, CSE would have to build a franchise from scratch, requiring significant capital and HR investment. 

 

I would suspect if the Canucks were to move their farm team to the west coast, they would start with having the team play out of Rogers Arena for the first season or two so they can utilize Canucks resources and then move the team elsewhere.  This might be the impetus for Aquilini to build a 12,000-15,000 seat arena in north Surrey that's been loosely discussed (last time I heard of anything was 2-3 years ago, so take what I write about this with a grain of salt). 

 

Spitballing here, but who knows...if the 2030 Winter Olympics bid occurs and Vancouver wins it, another arena in metro Vancouver (in Surrey) to complement Rogers Arena and Thunderbird Arena for Men's and Women's Hockey might be well worth doing. 

Ooops...you'd think after nearly 10 years on CDC I would know how to work the edit feature. 

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