IHL seeking stability in a rough environment

BLOOMINGTON, Ill – March has arrived, blown in like a lion, in fact. Rumors are flying like Dorothy’s house in a Kansas cyclone. Illinois and Michigan could be at the epicenter of changes that shake professional hockey in the mid-west. What may be happening are two different storms on two

different fronts.
The Great Lake State In Michigan, the troubles of the Flint Generals are well documented. It is not impossible that the team could find a savior, but this market is incredibly damaged right now. The fans, players, front office, and business community patience is sapped. This market has not been well maintained and appears broken for pro hockey right now. Perhaps the time has come for Flint to lie fallow for a few years.
Port Huron, where pro-hockey has been written-off too many times to count, is having yet another great year on the ice. Despite heroic efforts of an excellent front office, there are still way too many empty seats each night. Still, no one can predict whether the Ice Hawks will be back next year. They have defied the odds too many times.
The push seems to be toward amateur hockey if the minor professional teams go under. Port Huron and Flint could both conceivably draw similar crowds with much lower overhead with amateur teams. Economics are the driving factor, here, and Junior hockey would certainly be more affordable for the fans and ownership, both.  If the professionals are able to stick around in Flint and Port Huron, the key seems to be management of the local arena. Both hockey ownership groups want to manage or own the barns in which they play.  Port Huron may be the only professional team in any sport that reports actual attendance instead of tickets sold. This is due to their lease agreement, where they pay by the fan. As such, Port Huron’s low numbers seem even lower. In Flint, the entire arena has been a sore spot with the fan base, with security, parking and even the interior temperature of the arena being issues. It appears progress is being made toward Flint ownership managing the area. Port Huron indicates they’ll be back for another season and Flint, despite a front office of just two, seems to be reorganizing their ownership group and have begun selling season tickets for the 2009-10 campaign. The Land of Lincoln In Illinois, there is a completely different undercurrent. The motivating factors are much more political. The Hounds are getting a new lease, welcomed with open arms, from the same place that basically kicked them to the curb two years ago. In Quad City and Bloomington, the two ownership groups never wanted to go to the new IHL when the UHLfolded. Neither group made the move, with Quad City jumping to the AHL and Bloomington ownership selling their stake in the team. It would appear that Bloomington and Quad Cities could be moving along similar yet independent paths toward their desired destination two years ago – the ECHL. First, the Calgary Flames are moving their AHL affiliate out of Moline. The move makes sense for Calgary. AHL hockey was initially greeted with gross apathy in the Quad Cities. Fans seem to still pine for the old Mallards. The AHL team has performed poorly on the ice, which hasn’t helped the situation. With the setup, the Flames will have with their AHL team in Abbotsford, B.C., just two years after relocating to Moline.
In Chicago, the UHL Hounds could not find a suitable venue to ice a team and move to the new IHL two years ago. The Hounds have only skated a single season. Ownership, however, has paid dues and stayed active within the league and it appears that the Hounds will return in the fall of 2009.
The story in Bloomington is a little stranger. A year ago, the Prairie Thunder were scrambling to get enough sticks to practice. Now under new ownership, a mid-season roster shake-up now has the team playing its best hockey in its three year existence. Fans are starting to come back and the team is the second biggest draw in the IHL. However, the arena owners, the City of Bloomington, and the arena management are saying the team is defaulting on the terms of their agreement. The result may see the IHL team without an arena for next season.
The Flames and the Hounds are both wait and see developments while the Prairie Thunder are hockey’s best bet to end up on a courtroom battle. For what it is worth, the Prairie Thunder are ‘business, as usual’ and are forging ahead with plan for next season. They have already announced they are bringing back Jerrod Skalde as their head coach next season. In like a lion, out like a lamb, perhaps this March, which has blown in with so many questions, will blow out with just as many answers. 
What would become of the IHL if they lost two teams – Flint and Bloomington? With the Hounds return and the news that the IHL is talking with prospective owners in Madison, WI, they’d be able to maintain a six-team league. The lynchpin seems to be in Chicago. IHL President Paul Pickard met with Sears Center management recently to assuage fears about the stability of the league.
These situations are, of course, fluid but the March winds are upon us and, as it typical, those are the winds of change.
Contact the author at shaun.bill@prohockeynews.com.