SJSE needs aggressive game plan if it wants a leash on Bulldogs

(Source: http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=251974&sc=86)
Robin Short
The Telegram

There's only one way for St. John's Sports and Entertainment to go after the Montreal Canadiens' farm team if it's serious about the AHL - go hard and go aggressively.

So far, SJSE's approach to hockey at Mile One Centre has been, 'We're open for business ... c'mon in.' It's passive and perhaps even a tad arrogant.

SJSE says it wants hockey, but hasn't been kicking many, if any, tires.

In other words, it hasn't been pushing itself, an approach that hasn't yet worked.

But now the Montreal Canadiens may fall into St. John's lap. By a stroke of luck, there's a chance - slim, good or 50-50, we're not yet sure - the American Hockey League could land in St. John's again with the Hamilton Bulldogs changing digs.

It depends, of course, on what happens in Hamilton. Should the NHL arrive in the Steel City, the Bulldogs will be booted from Copps Coliseum, meaning the AHL team's owner, Michael Andlauer, is weighing his options now rather than wait for an eviction notice.

SJSE needs to jump on Andlauer now. The board running Mile One needs to fly the Bulldogs' owner to St. John's (first class), put him up in the best room at the Delta and wine and dine him for two days and two nights.

SJSE needs to sell itself and the city, and it needs to make an impression.

This, after all, is the Canadiens' franchise. Four thousand season tickets, minimum.

SJSE needs to be firm in its chase for the team. It cannot be content with a few Herder games each year.

Throw those models we've all heard about out the window. Go make it happen.

Now.

Bulldog articles

Is it February again? With this Hamilton Bulldog relocation rumour popping up in the media, it feels like February.

This story is taking on the same form as the Titan fiasco that kept us entertained through the long, cold, hockey-less inter months.

With that in mind I’m sure no one will hold it against me if I approach this story with extreme trepidation. I will not buy into this hype again like I did just a few short months ago.

Too many things have to happen before there could ever be a chance of the Bulldogs relocating to St. John’s, not the least of which is an easing of the hard-line travel subsidy stance taken by council.

Leases aside, it would also be nice if SJSE’s “me first” attitude towards lease negotiations were updated to find solutions that actually work for BOTH parties.

Anyways, like the Titan story, I’ll dig out whatever information I can find on the interweeb on the Bulldogs plans to move (or stay).

For starters, here are some Hamilton Spectator articles:

Dogs bullish on their plans for future
http://www.thespec.com/article/560962

Are the Bulldogs' days numbered?
http://www.thespec.com/article/563957

Bulldogs: we deserve respect
http://www.thespec.com/article/564407

Personally, I believe the rumours of the move are a tactic by Michael Andlauer to keep his team and their interests in the spot light.

One last tidbit to leave you with…

St. John’s and Naples, FL have surfaced as potential relocation destinations. Add to that list Cornwall, ON and Quebec City, QC who are rumoured to be in pursuit of their own AHL franchise.

Ryding High in Beantown

Bruins coach Claude Julien has proven once again he knows how to get the most out of Michael Ryder

May 05, 2009
Steve Milton
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/article/560273

Explain Michael Ryder. If you can.

Last year for the Montreal Canadiens, just 14 goals and lots of healthy scratches. Benched in the playoffs, with no goals in the four games he did play. The year before 30 goals, but an odorous minus-25.

This year for the Boston Bruins, 27 goals and a plus-28. And in the playoffs? No one outside of perhaps Nikolai Khabibulin has done more this spring to rebuild a personal pedestal that had been toppled and smashed: Five goals in six games, a personal crusade in the four-game sweep of the Canadiens and, symbolically, when Cam Ward shut the Bruins down to steal Game 2 Sunday, his best and most important save had to be against Ryder.

"Don't ever underestimate the relationship between a coach and a player," TSN analyst Peter Laviolette, a Cup-winning coach, said in an on-line forum recently.

Translation; the explanation for Michael Ryder is Claude Julien.

The Bruin head coach denies this rigorously, of course. Julien has said many times -- dating as far back as the fall of 2002 when the pair were in Hamilton for their first fall together as pros -- all he could ever provide for Ryder, and then only at the beginning, is a stage. The singing, dancing and dramatic irony had to be up to him.

Julien says there is no difference between his relationship with Ryder and his dealings with other players. That may be true in conduct and in conversation, but history adds a silent depth to the relationship that manifests itself in one of the key assets in sport: trust.

From personal experience, the coach knows what the player can do and is willing to wait for it to happen. Understand that Ryder didn't play many formal games in his early years (in his first bantam season, he played only nine, five of them in one weekend tournament), and it can take him time to adjust to a new situation.

The player knows the coach trusts him, and that he will be given the benefit of the doubt in the early going. That is where Ryder will struggle, if he is going to struggle at all, and pressuring him inordinately can make it worse.

Julien had Ryder for all three of his junior seasons at Hull, where he averaged 42 goals per year. When the Canadiens split the 2002-03 Bulldogs with the Oilers, Julien had already been around Hamilton for a couple of years as Edmonton's minor-league head coach, and Ryder arrived as part of the Habs' complement. The year before, Ryder had started his pro career in the ECHL before barely clinging on with the Habs' AHL team in Quebec, where he scored 11 goals.

But Ryder felt comfortable and encouraged with Julien and with Geoff Ward, who took over the team when Julien got the Canadiens' job halfway through the season (and who is now Julien's chief assistant in Boston). Ryder had a magnificent Calder Cup run, with 11 goals in 23 playoff games.

Bob Gainey let two other right-wingers, Randy McKay and Marius Czerkawski, go to create some room for Ryder. But there is no doubt Julien was whispering encouragement in his GM's ear.

Ryder, who had never played an NHL game in three pros seasons, made the Canadiens in the fall of 2003, again with Julien as coach. He led all rookies with 25 goals and, after the lockout, he became the first Newfoundlander ever to score 30 goals in the NHL.

But the Canadiens were rarely over-impressed with Ryder in his early years, nor in the stretch after Julien was fired as coach partway through the 2005-06 season. They had drafted Ryder with their second-last pick in 1998, 216th overall, and that was two GMs (Rejean Houle) before Gainey. Many in the organization worried, even when he was scoring, about his skating, his backchecking, his commitment to the defensive end of the ice.

It is not without relevance the Canadiens had a guy who notched 25 goals once and 30 goals twice, yet had him on a one-year contract every season.

And, when the minus-25 came, and the 14 goals the following year, the contracts stopped. Boston GM Peter Chiarelli, surely on the advice of his head coach, signed Ryder to a three-year $12-million deal on free-agency season's opening day. Guy Carbonneau even cracked he should give some of the money to Julien.

Ryder began this season by trying too hard to show the Bruins had made the right decision, scoring only two goals in his first 17 games. Doubts clouded the front office, but Julien wasn't frantic and kept encouraging Ryder to remain calm, maintain his defensive responsibilities and keep working. The team was winning and he knew the winger would begin finding the net.

Ryder repaid his coach by scoring 25 times in his final 65 games, and turning in a career-high -- by, oh, about a mile -- of plus 28.

While David Krejci gets much of the credit for Ryder's return to form, you could argue the sophomore centre benefits immensely from Ryder on his flank. Passes to him turn into assists, which improves a young player's confidence. Once he began clicking, Ryder attracted more attention, giving the shifty pivot more room. And, the more goals a line gets, the more ice time it gets.

Julien knows Ryder, like many top shooters, is a streaky player and that streaks cannot start when a player is on the bench, or lacks the confidence to transform one or two goals into an ensuing flood of them.

For his part, Ryder realizes he has to shoot often and play with a loose but determined attitude. His coach won't let him forget it either.

"When I try to force things sometimes and think too much," he told the Boston Herald over the weekend, "it doesn't go well."

There hasn't been very much of that this year.

smilton@thespec.com

St. John's a 'viable option' for AHL Bulldogs

by ROBIN SHORT
The Telegram

(Source: http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=250886&sc=83)

Upset his team has been left dangling in the wind as Hamilton hockey fans wait to see if the National Hockey League is headed to southern Ontario via Phoenix, Michael Andlauer is seeking shelter for his Bulldogs.

And that refuge may well be in St. John's.

"I like St. John's," said the majority owner of the American Hockey League's Hamilton Bulldogs since 2004.

"It's the first place we've looked at as a viable option."

With all the talk of Jim Balsillie's $212-million offer to purchase the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes and relocate the NHL club to Hamilton, lost in the shuffle are the Bulldogs, a major tenant at Hamilton's Copps Coliseum for 13 seasons.

It's not that Andlauer is looking to stand in the way of the NHL coming to Hamilton.

In fact, the Burlington, Ont., resident is, like most in the area, excited at the prospect. But under the terms of an existing lease with the board that runs the arena, Andlauer and the Bulldogs face eviction should the NHL arrive.

"As custodian of their AHL team, I owe it to the Montreal Canadiens to ensure stability of their farm club," Andlauer said Tuesday.

"I don't want to have to go to Montreal at some point, in a pinch, saying, 'I don't have a place for your players.'"

Andlauer has an 11-year affiliation agreement with the Canadiens to house their AHL prospects.

The Bulldogs are entering Year 8 in the fall, which happens to coincide with his lease agreement with Copps.

The Bulldogs are entering their final year of a five-year lease at Copps, although Andlauer does have a three-year option to renew if he chooses.

From a logistical standpoint, Andlauer does not see the NHL arriving in Hamilton in time for the 2009-10 hockey season, if at all.

Too much work has to be done between now and September, namely suite and corporate sales, season ticket sales, etc.

So it's, "very highly likely" the Bulldogs will be in Hamilton next season. It's what happens after 2010 that causes Andlauer concern.

The NHL, most pundits agree, will eventually come to southern Ontario, with Hamilton and the 17,000-seats Copps the most likely destination. Whether it's the Coyotes or another team or an expansion franchise remains to be seen.

"And I don't want to be left out on the street," Andlauer said. "If there's a three-year agreement somewhere else where I have stability, why not?

"I don't want to be in the same boat next year, and the year after that."

Andlauer says he likes St. John's for its fans, the building, and the fact there are daily flights to and from Montreal. The Canadiens would have to give a stamp of approval on St. John's, but Andlauer says he and Montreal management have a very solid relationship.

"I think they would trust my judgment," he said. "I am very mindful of their track record and emphasis on developing players and the importance placed on hockey operations."

Earlier this year, St. John's Sports and Entertainment, which runs Mile One Centre, thought it had a deal worked out with Leo-Guy Morrissette which would see the owner of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan relocate his Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team from New Brunswick to St. John's.

It turns our Morrissette was using St. John's as leverage for a better deal in Bathurst, and he eventually 'sold' the team to his son and daughter, leaving egg on the face of SJSE and city officials who had announced a deal was done.

Andlauer is quick to point out this is no game. He is not using St. John's, he said, as a pawn to secure a better lease at Copps.

This is for real.

"I have a very good lease," he said. "And, really, I'm not interested in moving. Frankly, I'm not out to negotiate a better lease somewhere else. This is not about money.

"I just don't want to be in a predicament where I'm not able to provide a home for the Montreal Canadiens farm team. I'm not playing one city off another."

Andlauer can't help but feel somewhat slighted by Hamilton in its pursuit of the NHL, or more to the point, its cold shoulder of the Bulldogs through the process.

The Bulldogs draw over 200,000 fans to AHL games each year, he said. The team has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities.

"The city doesn't want to recognize that? To potentially be left out on the street, I think we've earned a little more consideration than that.

"The mayor (Fred Eisenberg) was on TSN saying he wants to bring hockey to Hamilton. I think there's been hockey here for 13 years.

"All things considered, St. John's is not as practical as Hamilton, but it's a viable option. And I'd much rather be in another facility where I feel welcome vs being treated like a second-class citizen."

In a Hamilton Spectator news story Monday, it indicated Andlauer would not be interested owning the team if it was not located in Hamilton.

It was a statement he denied Tuesday.

Andlauer is also considering Florida as a potential home for the club, though he acknowledged he and the Canadiens would prefer the farm team remain in Canada.

rshort@thetelegram.com

Bulldogs Factbox
The Edmonton Oilers moved their American Hockey League affiliate from Sydney, N.S. (Cape Breton Oilers) to Hamilton where the Bulldogs played their first season in 1996-1997After playing the 2002-2003 season as a split affiliate of Edmonton and Montreal (technically still the Oilers' affiliate), the Canadiens became the Bulldogs' lone National Hockey League parent club in 2003-2004The Bulldogs have qualified for the Calder Cup playoffs in 10 of their 13 seasons (failed to qualify in 2000-2001, 2005-2006, 2007-2008)The Bulldogs have advanced to the Calder Cup finals three times in their 13 seasons (lost 4-1 to the Hershey Bears in 1997, lost 4-3 to the Houston Aeros in 2003, won 4-1 versus the Hershey Bears in 2007)There are 72 Hamilton Bulldogs graduates on the active roster of NHL teams (nhl.com). Among the notables graduates are Dan Cleary, Mikhail Grabovski, Ron Hainsey, Jaroslav Halak, Chris Higgins, Shawn Horcoff, Christobal Huet, Mike Komisarek, Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn, Georges Laraque, Tomas Plekanec, Carey Price, Mike Ribiero, Michael Ryder, Jarret Stoll and Tim ThomasInformation courtesy the Hamilton Bulldogs

St. John's Canadiens?

I was at the gas station, paying a small ransom to keep my car on the road when I glanced a familiar logo out the corner of my eye.

No, it wasn’t the Fog Devil logo… I still see those on beer trucks all over town.

It was the Hamilton Bulldogs logo. There it was, grumpy faced, bone in mouth and sitting on the front page of the The Telegram, right above the words…

St. John’s Bulldogs?

Naturally my attention was instantly captured. I even got out of the line up to have a closer look.

Recently I’ve confessed to friends that I miss hockey so much I’d welcome the AHL back with open arms. I mean, I’m really, really missing hockey. I miss hockey like an amputee misses a limb. Seriously, not being able to head down to the stadium and watch a game live feels like a part of me is missing. I’m missing hockey so much that I’m willing to settle for the product I hate...

The American Hockey League.

So I picked up paper, paid for my gas (and the paper), and couldn’t wait to find a place to pull over so I could flip to section C, the sports section, and see what this St. John’s Bulldogs thing was all about.

It seems that in midst of the media battle being waged between Jim Balsillie and Gary Bettman over Balsillie’s right (or lack there of) to purchase and move the Phoenix Coyotes to Hamilton, the fate of another Hamilton based hockey club, the Bulldogs, hangs in the balance. It’s a fate that has been largely overlooked by everyone.

Everyone, that is, except Telegram Sports Editor Robin Short.

Robin’s slant on this story is one of a win-win scenario for both Canadian and St. John’s hockey fans. Canada gets a 7th hockey franchise and St. John’s gets it’s 3rd in the past 20 years.

There are still many questions waiting to be answered, and we won’t have those answers until a bankruptcy court decides who actually gets to control the ‘Yote’s.

One thing we do know… Bulldogs owner Michael Andlauer is pissed! If he were a dog, he’d be rabid… frothing at the mouth rabid like Cujo!

Andlauer’s is, by AHL standards, a model franchise. It’s also a source of pride for the people of Hamilton and has been for 13 years.

However, the way in which his club has been cast aside and treated as an after thought while the ‘show’ - the National Hockey League, considers if it may (or may not), possibly (or impossibly) move back to Canada – has Andlauer considering his options which include possibly uprooting the Bulldogs and relocating them here. Possibly in time for the 2010-11 AHL season.

Before you get to excited, there are other cities in the mix. One such competing city would be Naples on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

The idea is intriguing, but can it work?

My thoughts on the AHL are well documented and remain unchanged but for the sake of making an argument, I must touch on those again.

It’s been said in the past that the AHL won’t work in St. John’s unless it’s either the Habs or Maple Leafs farm club. The Bulldogs are the Montreal Canadian’s affiliate so that hurdle is cleared.

It has been said that the ticket prices would be too high for people to afford, but Mr. Short indicates that estimates put season ticket sales near (possibly over) the 4,000 mark should the Bulldogs come here. Let’s consider this hurdle cleared as well.

What about the geography and travel subsidy issue? The City of St. John’s remains steadfast in its prehistoric thinking that it will never use tax dollars to bring hockey back to the capital city. However, with the move of the Quad City Flames to Abbotsford, BC, a move that was only made possible by that city’s council agreeing to pay for all incoming and outgoing travel costs incurred by visiting teams, a high standard has been set.

I still don’t believe there is the political will amongst anyone councilor currently sitting, to stand up, risk their political career, and argue that a travel subsidy is the way to go.

So 2 hurdles have been cleared, but the 3rd one has been set quite high thanks toAbbotsford, and could be tough for anyone on council to clear.

I still miss hockey and I still wish for the return of the Quebec league, but I don’t want to sit around and wait forever. I kills me seeing all the excitement of the NHL playoffs (I don’t watch the regular season), and knowing the excitement the fans in those rinks are experiencing while my own neighborhood rink collects dust and cob webs.

St. John’s is a hockey town without hockey. We need hockey to come back. We need a team to rally around.

If Balsillie gets his way (and I hope he does just so he sticks it to that idiot Bettman) and moves the Coyotes to Hamilton, it will truly be a win for Canadian hockey fans.

And if that move means the Bulldog’s come here, it could be the win-win scenario for St. John’s hockey fans that Robin Short wrote about.

I just hope the powers that be don’t demonstrate their lack of originality and creativity by naming the team St. John’s Canadians as Mr. Shorts suggests to close out his article.

Then again, it could be worse… they could actually name the team St. John’s Bulldogs!

(Robin Shorts Telegram article can be found here)

What happpened to the toughest guys playing the toughest game?

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/blogs/2009/04/what_happpened_to_the_toughest.html

by P.J. Stock

Does anyone remember the game of hockey that we all grew up loving? Can anyone think back to the 1970s or 80s, early 90s and recall what a hockey player used to look like?

I could always tell a hockey player apart from everyone else because of three recognizable facial attributes:

1. Bad hair, normally a mullet or "moolay," as some would call it.
2. No teeth.
3. Scars.

Sure, they weren't the prettiest of athletes out there, but they were thought of as the toughest.

Simply stated, they were the toughest guys playing the toughest game.

I think that's why I fell in love with hockey. I wanted to play it. I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted to be recognized as a player with that reputation. I wanted to be like the people I idolized. Everyone has someone they admired growing up and often, they tried to emulate their actions, look and characteristics.

I wanted to sport a mullet (not really, I actually went for the bowl cut), I wanted to be toothless (again, not really, I like food and chewing it) and finally the scars (um, never mind, 0-for-3). Nonetheless, I wanted to be a hockey player.

My hero or idol growing up was obviously Wayne Gretzky. If you can name me a Canadian kid growing up playing hockey in this great country whose idol wasn't number 99, I'll show you a liar. The problem was with Gretz being everybody's hero, when it came to ball hockey and who got to be who, only one guy could be 99. This is where you needed your secondary pick.

Living in Montreal and following the Habs, my choice was always Mats Naslund or Chris Chelios. Most of the time, I ended up being Chelios because of his rugged style of play. Wasn't big but played big. Didn't have much size, but made up for it in smarts. I had a T-shirt that I wore every now and then which carried the slogan: “It's not the size of the dog in the fight that matters; it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”

I think that can be the slogan for hockey players at times. There have been many tough guys that carried the physical role of their team on their back despite being a little small in stature (Tie Domi, John Wensink, Chris Nilan, for example).

Small guys, big guys, young players, old players. All were tough people playing a really tough game. That was then. This is now.

The game has changed. The players have changed and so has the perception from the fans watching the game. I think it's a direct reflection of our changing society. We live in a world of always worrying to be so PC (politically correct, folks). The game has changed because our society's influence on it has almost forced some of its changes. No more so than in interpretation of the game's physicality.

What used to be a battle along the boards, a fight for the puck, a mano-a-mano confrontation is now called like a basketball game. Two minutes for illegal use of the hands or two minutes for being too strong or too tough. I believe the game needed changes to get out of the trap era, but why interfere with what so many people have fallen in love with? The toughness of players playing the toughest game out there.

As the playoffs approach, the games have more meaning. Players play all year long for these big games.

As a kid growing up loving the physical battles between teams, hits like the one Dallas’ Steve Ott put on Florida’s Gregory Campbell last week were remembered all year. It was cheered in the team's home building and adored on shows like Coach’s Corner. It was praised in newspapers across our great nation. Today, well, this hit and the players making these types of hits are looked upon as dirty, despicable and disgraceful. What happened?

Fighting is a no-no now, hitting someone who is watching their pass is a crime and body checking someone in the head … purgatory.

I loved the mullet-sporting, toothless, scarred gladiator. I loved the game the way it used to be and I’m worried about the direction the game is going in.

Long Road Back

Source: http://www.thetelegram.com//index.cfm?sid=240402&sc=83

Luke Adam faces lengthy rehab process after having spleen removed

JOHN BROWNE
The Telegram

Luke Adam's hockey season didn't end the way he'd envisioned, but under the circumstances, he'll be happy if he's able to start next season.

Adam's season came to an abrupt end in early February when he suffered a ruptured spleen while playing with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's Junior de Montreal in a game against Baie-Comeau Drakkar.

Born in St. John's, the Kilbride resident has been home since the operation and is rehabbing with his sights set on returning to the ice for the start of next season.

Prior to the injury, the 6-2, 200-pound Adam had scored 22 goals and registered 49 points in 47 games.

"I was having a great season. Everything was going really well," said Adam. "I thought I was improving a lot as a player.

"It's a setback," he says, "but there's always some adversity you have to face along the way. This (injury) is another obstacle in my path, but I'm lucky enough that I can return to hockey again and hopefully I'll be ready to go by next season."

The Buffalo Sabres draft pick was injured after an innocuous hit in the first period.

"It wasn't a bad hit," recalls Adam. "It was more like a bump. I felt like I'd lost my wind."

But after the period, Adam said he felt, "an agonizing pain and I found it hard to breathe. It was like I'd broken my ribs.

"The team doctor and trainer thought I'd pulled an abdominal muscle, but then they said it could be my spleen. They suggested I should go to hospital."

The hospital was about five minutes away, "so I walked there with my dad who was at the game with my mom," he said.

Just after reaching the hospital's emergency department, Adam went into shock. Doctors stabilized him and after a series of tests, performed immediate surgery to remove his spleen.

"As it turned out," said Adam, "I'd been playing with mono for a month. I didn't know it and it wasn't picked up by our doctor in Montreal. When you have mononucleosis, your spleen enlarges and you are not supposed to do any physical activity. If I'd known I had mono, I wouldn't have been playing.

"I told the doctor and trainer that I hadn't been feeling well for about three weeks, but they said it was the flu. I should have had a blood test but they didn't send me for one."

Adam realizes now he was in very serious trouble and feels fortunate to be able to resume his hockey career.

"It was serious enough that I don't want to think about it," said the 18-year-old graduate of the St. John's AAA Midget Maple Leafs, who went on to play for the St. John's Fog Devils as a seventh overall pick in the 2006 Quebec league midget draft.

Adam will have to be extra careful in terms of his heath from now on.

"I'll have to be very cautious of a fever. If I have a fever I'll have to go to emergency right away for antibiotics. That's the way it will be for the rest of my life."

All things considered, however, he feels he's a very fortunate young man and right now the only thing on his mind is returning to action.

"I've only been out of the game two months, but I miss it. I'm looking forward to getting back and I'm sure I'll return with passion."

Adam, who says he doesn't have any specific timetable for complete recovery, has been doing some cardiovascular work recently and he hopes to get back to the gym on a regular routine within the next month, and maybe get on the ice again so after that. He hasn't been doing any weight training and he hasn't been skating since his operation.

Overall, he said his rehabilitation is going well.

"I feel a lot better. I'm back to normal, pretty much.

"I've been in contact with the Buffalo (Sabres) trainer and he told me to take my time and not to rush it and we'll approach everything smartly," said Adam.

Meanwhile, Adam's Junior de Montreal team is down 0-2 to Drummondville in the second round of the QMJHL playoffs heading into last night's game.

jbrowne@thetelegram.com

Q Fight Facts and Figures

In my most recent article, Fighting Makes Cents, one anonymous reader posted this comment:

"Q attendence is down ever since the crackdown the league has imposed god thats a shocker"

For me, it was a comment that warranted some investigation since there could be something worth writing about.

This is average QMJHL attendance for the past 5 years (numbers taken from the QMJHL website).

08-09 - 3532
07-08 - 3583
06-07 - 3602
05-06 - 3619
04-05 - 3343 (* 16 teams)

The trend has been declining attendance for the 4 seasons after the initial spike when the Q expanded with St. John's and St. John. From the start of the 05-06 season, to the end of the 08-09 season, the approximate drop in attendance each successive year has been roughly 1%.

Following the Johnathan Roy incident the league (caving to political pressure) imposed some pretty strict rules to crack down on fighting. Those rules took effect for the 08-09 season. I don't know if I'd call the loss of 51 fans per game that dramatic, and I don't think there's enough evidence to link it directly to the Q's fighting crack down. In fact, during the period of 05-08, the exact drop in attendance has been, .99% while for the 08-09 season the actual drop is .98%.

Perhaps we are splitting hairs but it is an point interesting to note.

And for the same years I checked the fight totals (numbers taken from hockeyfights.com):

08-09 - 618 / 1.01 per game
07-08 - 1133 / 1.80 pg
06-07 - 1137 / 1.80 pg
05-06 - 1248 / 1.99 pg
04-05 - 1374 / 2.45 pg (* 16 teams)

The trend here is that fights per game (and total fights) is on the decline.... has been for a few seasons. There's also a direct correlation to the attendance numbers. Roughly 1% decline in fights from 05-08, same as attendance. Obviously the harsh crack down on fighting in the Q is having it's effect with a 45% drop in fighting this year, but if the correlation is as closely tied as I believe, we would could assume we'd see a 45% drop in attendance. We don't.

Ultimately, I don't think a 5 year sample is enough to make a connection between the numbers. It might be worth while digging up the numbers for another 5 years and look at a full 10 year sample.

I'm not saying the anonymous poster is wrong, but I am saying we'd have to observe more than one season. If fighting is the huge draw that it is, then I would make the statement now that we'll see it's effect in the 09-10 season.

Fighting makes cents

I love hockey fights!

I’ve made that no secret on this blog.

In the past I’ve taken on opponents of fighting, profiled fighters such as Tim Spencer, and brought the Fighting Newfoundlanders unique voice to fight commentary.

I love the rough stuff: the hits in open ice or along the boards, the pushing and shoving in the scrums, face-washing, players chirping, issuing challenges, and especially the fights!

I love it all!

It’s why I slide my money under the little hole at the ticket window to go watch this sport live. TV doesn’t capture everything that happens during a hockey game and I don’t want to miss anything that’s going on, during the play or behind it. For 60 minutes the drama is everywhere. It’s on the ice or on the benches, in the penalty box, even in the tunnel leading to the dressing room.

So it pains me when, year after year, the “topic” comes up. You know the “topic” I mean – should fighting be banned in hockey as it is in other sports?

It’s becoming an annual ritual for the elitists, the literati, the seal hunt protesters, art lovers, hippies and NDP voters, to look down their noses and condemn as barbaric, the game which we love.

I’ve heard the arguments from both sides. We all have.

"It’s only a matter of time before more people are killed or permanently crippled", say the opponents. You don’t see fighting in baseball or football.

Those in favour of fighting cite the need to protect star players who are the main attraction. It’s the star players who pay the leagues bills.

What good does it serve the NHL if the Crosby’s, Ovechkin’s, Lemieux’s, and Gretzky’s can get hit, and hit, and hit again, shift after shift, night after night? How long would their bodies withstand the punishment? How much shorter would their careers be if there were no way to keep the Ruutuu’s, Avery’s, Hollweg’s and Tootoo’s in check?

But one argument in favour of keeping fighting in hockey, the real reason I believe there will always be fighting in hockey, is a simple one…

Money.

The National Hockey League is a “gate-driven” league. That means it derives most of its revenue from people buying tickets to go watch the games live. The same can be said of any hockey league.

In 2007, 1.1 billion dollars of the NHL’s 2.3 billion dollars in total revenue, was collected at the ticket window. 31% of ticket revenue is generated by the NHL’s 6 Canadian teams.

A further 1 billion dollars is accounted for by merchandise sales - fans buying hats, jerseys, t-shirts, posters, etc.

That leaves just under half a billion dollars generated from television broadcast deals.

Not exactly a windfall.

Unlike the National Football League, whose 21.4 billion dollars of television broadcast revenue allows each NFL team to earn a profit before a single down of football is played, the NHL needs to keep its ticket buying fans happy for it to survive.

And happiness for the hockey fan is seeing the odd tilt. A good fight gets everyone in the rink up out of their seat and generates energy and excitement. Often, a good fight will get the loudest cheer of the night.

The elite would have you believe that they would actually go to more games if there were no fighting. I don’t buy that. Sure they might end up going to 1 or 2 games during a season (1 or 2 more than they do now), but the extra revenue they would bring in would be lost 3 times over by traditional fans taking their disposable entertainment dollars and looking elsewhere.

No, an outright ban on fighting wouldn’t be good for the game, but with today’s pugilists being bigger, stronger and more skilled in their craft, there are ways to protect players and perhaps appease fighting’s critics. Perhaps the “code” could be rewritten so that once a player’s helmet comes off, the fight stops or once the helmet is off no take-down can be attempted.

But if the artsies really want fighting banned from the sport, the best thing they could do to make that happen is to put down their paint brushes, stop hugging trees, and turn on their TV’s and watch a hockey game. If they watch in numbers great enough to increase hockey ratings and therefore television broadcast revenue, they might have a chance at seeing their pacifist agenda bear fruit.

But right now banning fighting just wouldn’t make ‘cents’.

Does the Q need Newfoundland?

Does the QMJHL want Newfoundland back? Not if you listen to comments made by some high ranking and influential members of the league.

“We've tried it in Newfoundland once,” says Prince Edward Island Rocket president Serge Savard Jr.

Certainly doesn’t give one a very warm-fuzzy feeling.

"Newfoundland, in my opinion, had their chance," said Wayne Long, president of the Fog Devils expansion cousins, the Saint John Sea Dogs.

Long goes on to describe any attempt to move a Q team back to St. John’s as “ludicrous”.

What is “ludicrous” is a league whose governors would be so willing to give up on this market so soon.

The idea of trying a market once and then giving up wouldn’t seem so ludicrous to me if it was the standard that was applied to all markets, but history shows it isn’t.

Our own Fog Devils who were sold and relocated to the Montreal suburb of Verdun just a year ago would become that markets fifth chance at junior hockey.

Obviously a league born in la belle province would want it’s footprint in that provinces largest city, but what about other markets?

Laval, Longueuil, Sherbrooke and St-Jérôme have all had a second chance

Likewise, the Quebec Remparts and Drummondville Voltigeurs both represent a second chance to get junior hockey right in those markets.

Drummondville has had its ups and downs this time around, while Quebec City hosts the leagues flagship franchise, boasting attendance numbers that are the envy of every other team.

But both cities share one thing in common - both experienced a lengthy hockey drought before junior hockey returned. For the Volts it was nine hockey-less winters and in Quebec, a staggering TWELVE seasons of no junior hockey!!!

Many hockey fans in St. John’s speculate that the Fog Devils might have survived if we’d gone without hockey for a few years instead of having the Devils arrive hot on the heels of the St. John’s Maple Leafs departure.

According to Long, the willingness to give this market another chance might not be there. For that to happen, the league’s 18 franchises must agree, by two-thirds majority, to any relocation to St. John’s.

“We never thought the votes were there to allow a move to Newfoundland,” says Long.

“I was certainly convinced that the 12 votes weren't there.”

Voltigeurs general manager Dominic Ricard says, “The last three years, they (the Fog Devils) proved it's tough to live there and make business with a hockey team there.”

Ricard is correct. Living here is tough. The winters are tough, and making hockey work in Newfoundland is going to be tough - geography burdens any franchise that would locate here with crippling travel costs, not just for the home team, but all visiting teams as well.

And then there’s the mafia that hold Mile One Centre hostage.

“We don't want to have to deal with St. John's,” Ricard said.

The City of St. John’s and its puppet, St. John’s Sports and Entertainment, know we want hockey back. They even say they want hockey back, just they don’t want to pay for it.

They want a Q franchise owner to assume all the financial risk including travel subsidies, while they would reap all the reward via the economic spin-off revenues they would collect in taxes. For that reason it could be a long time before the Q sets up shop here again.

St. John’s deserves a second chance at junior hockey because we know this is a hockey town. St. John’s deserves to be given the same treatment as so many other markets before us.

The Q doesn’t have to give us one. They’ve got the rights to our hockey prodigies now so why should they care?

But in the interests of fairness we deserve just one more shot. If the league fails again, I’ll close up this blog and agree that we aren’t the hockey town we think we are. Problem is, I don’t agree with that notion.

St. John’s is a great hockey town but for hockey to work there has to be the political will to change the prehistoric thinking on Gower Street.

St. John’s city council must accept that a hockey subsidy is the only way a franchise can survive in this market and for our long, rich, hockey tradition to continue.