RIO RANCHO, NM – A new year was ushered in this past week. And with it, the mid-way point for most minor leagues including the Central Hockey League. A league many in New Mexico followed because of the New Mexico Scorpions.
Who, you ask?
You remember. The Scorpions. The Scorps. Well, maybe you don’t remember. Certainly no one cares. Try and get an NHL score on the local television outlets. Not happening. New Mexico is now a wasteland for professional hockey. A junior team resides in Rio Rancho, owned and coached by Peter Ambroziak, a former Scorpions standout.
If not for the Center Ice package offered on DirecTV or Dish Network, there would be precious little hockey in this one horse town.
Oh sure, there are rumors. It has been heard that everything from the AHL to the ECHL to any of a number of junior leagues will dip their big toe in the tepid waters of Rio Rancho.
Why?
As a co-owner of Pro Hockey News said this past week, “It’s (the match) is a social event. No one is there to see the game.”
Not sure truer words have been spoken about New Mexico hockey fans. There is no mass movement or underground movement for that matter, to bring hockey back to New Mexico. And even if it did come back who will come out to the games? The Scorpions failed, how many times? That’s right, twice!
Obviously someone thinks they have built a better mouse trap with which to lure people into an arena. But will they be fans or spectators? The smart money is on the latter and only fleeting spectators as they have been for so many years. Waiting for the next bright, shiny object to be dangled.
Hockey fans (not Scorpions fans) are left with televised games or are forced to travel to surrounding states and spend their discretionary dollars in Texas, Colorado or Arizona. Those are tax dollars leaving the state, however few they may be. Also in the mix is Las Vegas with the Wranglers of the ECHL. By the way, the Wranglers put on a great show in their arena, proven by the 5000 or so fans who attend in a town where entertainment is aplenty.
Hockey engenders a rabid sense of loyalty, fans. The Scorpions (remember them) never really generated more than a few dozen fans. For years the stands in Tingley Coliseum were populated by those entering on free tickets. An enticement to come back on a paying ticket; but once free, there is little incentive to buy what was considered to have little value by both ends of the transaction.
The usual refrain in the metro area was “The Scorpions are still playing?” This has been replaced with deafening silence. The instrument has not been created that can measure the level of indifference this metro area has for hockey.
For fans of the game this makes New Mexico less appealing and certainly not so enchanting any longer.
And still Rio Rancho remains a city with a city center with no city around it. There is the new HP Call Center, but where are the retail and commercial spaces? Nothing to support a hockey franchise. A fact that killed the Scorpions.
At least the KHL in Russia has streaming video.
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