The old saying goes, where theres smoke, theres fire.
If thats the case regarding a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League return to St. Johns, then current teams in the Q better brush up on their Newfoundland dialect and culture. Word around QMJHL rinks has the league leading Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and the oft maligned Acadie-Bathurst Titan among the leading candidates to call St. Johns home as soon as next season.
It is a certainty that one of the best hockey facilities in Eastern Canada, Mile One Centre in St. Johns, Newfoundland, will be losing its main tenant at the end of this hockey season. The American Hockey Leagues St. Johns IceCaps will move to Laval, Quebec in September to be closer to the parent Montreal Canadiens. IceCaps CEO Danny Williams and COO Glenn Stanford are actively pursuing teams and leagues to fill the void and are on record as saying the QMJHL along with the AHL and ECHL are all on their radar. The QMJHL makes the most sense and is likely the most realistic option.
The Titan are perennial relocation candidates given their league worst attendance. Officially, Titan attendance is 1600 per game, however visiting players, coaches, and media report the real number as low as 300 on a given night, including ushers and concessions staff. A Titan move would allow the league to keep its current structure of three divisions of six teams, with St. Johns slotting into the current Maritimes Division (likely to be renamed Atlantic). By the way - The Titan have a very exciting young roster that could contend for a league title next season. 17 year old forward Antoine Morand will be a superstar for the next 2-3 years in the QMJHL. Also on the roster is Ganders Jordan Maher who would be a candidate for Captain.
The Armada rumour is intriguing as this is the original Fog Devils franchise from 2005 that has since moved to Montreal and now Blainville-Boisbriand. The Armadas facility is among the nicest in the QMJHL, but is also 15 minutes from the new rink in Laval where the current St. Johns AHL team will begin play in 2017-2018. QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau is on record as saying all current 18 teams will be back next season and expansion and relocation are not on the radar. But, really, what else would he say?
While the Titan are potentially bleeding money, thats not the case for the Armada which is 60-70% owned by Quebecor, a telecommunications giant, who also have ownership stakes in the Quebec Remparts and the Videotron Centre in Quebec City. The league wants Quebecor to divest ownership from one of the teams and selling the Armada to Danny Williams & Co. would be one way to do that. The remaining shares in the Armada are held by former NHLers Daniel Briere, JS Giguere, Ian Lapierriere, and current Head Coach and GM Joel Bouchard. You can be sure that Quebecor are also keeping an eye on the eventual NHL team coming to their building. There are a lot of moving parts here and nothing is certain except St. Johns are keeping a close watch on opportunities.
St. Johns has been a fixture in the AHL for a total of 20 years. The St. Johns Maple Leafs called the Oldest City in North America home for 14 seasons from 1991-1992 to 2004-2005 and the St. Johns Ice Caps for another six years from 2009-2017. While the city has been wonderful to the AHL, and vice versa, the changing climate of professional hockey leagues, cost considerations, and the obvious travel logistics mean it is all but a certainty that this will be the final professional team (AHL or otherwise) to call The Rock home.
Each of the three NHL teams to affiliate with St. Johns (Toronto, Winnipeg, Montreal) have all moved their primary developmental team close to home. Many other teams in the NHL have a) already done this, or b) have an eye to doing this in the near future, ensuring certain and considerable change to the top hockey league available to fans in North Americas easternmost city.
Newfoundlanders by their nature are stubborn, steadfast, and resistant to change. St. Johns likes to tout itself as a professional hockey town and fans and pundits cite the failure of the St. Johns Fog Devils (2005-2008) as to why the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League wont work in Newfoundland. I tend to disagree with the latter.
Having spent the majority of my life in St. Johns, I know its not a professional hockey town any more than Halifax, Moncton, Saint John, Sydney, or Charlottetown were professional hockey towns. Each of those cities lost their AHL franchise many, many years ago. They have all embraced and have had success (albeit varying degrees) with major junior hockey. St. Johns can do the same given the right atmosphere and circumstances.
But it didnt work then, why will it work now?
For those of you who arent familiar with the Shakespearean tragedy of the St. Johns Fog Devils, let me give you the Coles Notes version:
After the Leafs left town, there was a void in the entertainment market, not to mention an albatross of a brand new downtown arena with no major tenant. Two local groups bid on a QMJHL expansion franchise: The deep pocketed Dobbin family versus the owner of the building, the City of St. Johns. It was an ugly back and forth and its rumoured that the Dobbins made some financial contributions to ensure that their bid was the winner. After an ugly battle, the City and the Dobbins had to then try and work together. Lets say it wasnt a harmonious marriage as the tenant just back doored the landlord. The team actually almost ceased operations before their first draft as the two sides could not reach a deal on building rental, revenues, etc.
The team name. Remember what I said earlier about being stubborn and resistant to change? Add in traditionalists. Those traits plus the Fog Devils moniker put the team behind the 8-ball to start. Gimmicky team names generally dont fly with traditionalists. If a new team isnt still the IceCaps look for something more traditional to Newfoundland sports like Capitals, Caps, Shamrocks, Rock, etc.
Personnel. St. Johns hired Real Paiement as its first ever coach and GM. Paiement certainly had league experience as a coach but was a rookie GM with an expansion team. Paiement saw his first ever European draft pick not report, setting the franchise back almost immediately. He pandered to the local fan base by signing too many local players (including his son) to drum up interest. Many of these players were not major junior calibre. Paiements career is (maybe unfairly) defined by coaching Canadas worst ever entry at the World Junior Championship (8th place in 1998) and as the Head Coach of the mens team at the University of Ottawa when the entire program was handed a one year suspension for sexual misconduct.
The Front Office. At the time, with Williams focus on provincial politics and Stanford having left the province, the previous brain trust of the wildly successful St. Johns Maple Leafs was unavailable. The Fog Devils management team consisted of the owners Craig, Derm, and Brad Dobbin. Lots of money, yes, but absolutely zero experience in running a hockey team, let alone familiarity with the nuances of major junior. Compared to the dream team 2.0 that Danny Williams and Glenn Stanford currently have in place for the Ice Caps (annual AHL front office award winners), the difference is night and day.
Looking back on this almost ten years later, the team was destined to fail from the very beginning. No wonder it didnt work. It wouldnt work in ANY market.
But what about the travel?
Teams have to fly into St. Johns. Full Stop. That hasnt changed since the Barrie Flyers played the St. Johns Caps in the Allan Cup in 1975. Williams and Stanford know that they have to pony up for this. Its not as big of a stumbling block as everyone wants to make it out to be. QMJHL teams travel lighter than pro teams so this would likely be a smaller budget item than theyre currently dealing with!
Will they need to sell out to be profitable?
To ensure a satisfied fan base, in any market, producing a winning on-ice product is a key ingredient. Any potential reincarnation of the QMJHL in St. Johns needs to employ people who are familiar with the league and have had a track record of success. That means management, coaches, scouts, media/PR, etc. Fans need to be educated to the cycles of major junior hockey. No team in the CHL (except maybe the OHLs London Knights) are perennial contenders.
Take this years Halifax Mooseheads for example: They recognize they arent favourites to win a championship this year, but they have built a buzz around a promising young team that will make a title run in each of the next 2-3 years. It makes for some long nights at the rink, but it also makes for some real exciting ones too and their average crowd of 6,243 agree. By the way, that number is just 45 seats shy of Mile Ones capacity.
I am a firm believer that the QMJHL can flourish in St. Johns. Heres hoping they soon need to rename the Maritimes Division to the Atlantic Division.
For Eastlink TV Sports,
Kris Abbott
Follow me on Twitter @EastlinkKris
Source:
http://my.eastlink.ca/eastlinktv/hom...risabbott.aspx