ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland and Labrador – Fans of the St. John’s IceCaps will have every opportunity to follow the team at home and on the road during the 2011-12 hockey season.
The IceCaps, the AHL affiliate of the Winnipeg Jets, recently signed a three-year broadcast partnership with Steele Communications, a St. John’s company that operates radio stations across the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
All 78 of the IceCaps’ regular season games, as well as all of the team’s playoff and preseason games, will be broadcast on This Is Newfoundland Labrador 930 AM, while also streaming on websites of 15 Steele Communications stations.
Veteran play-by-play announcer Brian Rogers will call all the games for the IceCaps. Rogers was also the voice of the St. John’s Maple Leafs for more than a decade during the team’s run in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The IceCaps also expect to broadcast a number of home games on the local Rogers Television station. The number of games that will be available on the St. John’s television station is not yet finalized, but it is expected to be between 15 and 20.
In addition to the radio and television broadcasts, each IceCaps contest will also be accessible online, via the Steele Communications stations or from streaming video on AHL Live, an online subscription service.
Schedule announced
The IceCaps will begin the 2011-12 AHL regular season on Friday, Oct. 7 with a road game against the Providence Bruins. The IceCaps then visit the Manchester Monarchs one night later before playing their home opener on Friday, Oct. 14 against the Hamilton Bulldogs at Mile One Centre.
The Bulldogs are the ideal candidate for the IceCaps home opener for a number of reasons. Topping that list is the fact Hamilton is the top farm club for the Montreal Canadiens, an original-six NHL team with a strong following in St. John’s and across Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Bulldogs are also a geographical rival of the IceCaps, despite playing in the Western Conference.
The majority of the IceCaps games this season will be played on weekends. Of the team’s 38 home games, eight will be played on a Friday, 12 will be contested on a Saturday and six will take place on a Sunday. St. John’s will not play any home games on Monday or Thursday nights.
On the road, the IceCaps will play 29 of 38 games on either Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
Training camp dates and locations
The IceCaps will begin their inaugural training camp on Tuesday, Sept. 27 in St. John’s. They will then travel four hours west on Sept. 28 and train in a pair of Central Newfoundland towns for three days, a journey that includes practices, off-ice workouts and a pair of exhibition games.
The IceCaps will stay and practice in Gander, but will open their preseason with a tilt against the Norfolk Admirals, the AHL affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning, on Sept. 29 in nearby Grand Falls-Windsor.
One night later the same teams meet again at the Gander Community Centre. Fans in St. John’s will then see the team in game action for the first time when the two teams play their third preseason game on Sunday, Oct. 2 at Mile One Centre.
IceCaps officials say the training camp road trip will help the players get to know one another before the regular season starts and will help market the team to the small towns and communities outside the provincial capital of St. John’s.
Contact Darcy.MacRae@prohockeynews.com
