NIAGARA FALLS, ONT. – Terry Whittaker knows hockey, specifically Canadian hockey. Ever since he was eleven years old, his life’s passion has centered around chasing down vulcanized rubber. It is a passion that has led him to the next chapter of his life: ownership and management of the expansion Niagara Falls Nationals of the Federal Hockey League.
Niagara Falls will be one of three new FHL franchises when the league begins its second season in the fall. With the contraction of the Rome and Green Mountain teams, the Nationals will be part of an eight-team league as well as joining the reigning champion Akwesasne Warriors as the second franchise on Canadian soil.
“Where other leagues are folding, the FHL (is) expanding. The ownership of all the teams is 
very good,” Whittaker said. “What I like about the ownership from the other teams is that they put the league first and their own interests second which is very important.”
Whittaker, a 62-year-old native of Burlington, Ontario, brings with him 35 years of coaching experience at various levels of the game. He moved up to the front office side of the game when he purchased and managed the Bancroft Hawks, a Tier II junior A team. Most recently, he ran the Steel Wing Hockey Camp, a hockey school based in Hamilton before giving it up in order to focus on building the Nationals.
Whittaker’s devotion to the game and its roots in Canada were evident from the day he signed on to run a franchise. Given the task of finding a location for the team, he had his eyes on putting it in his home country in an area where he could draw upon the vast regional talent looking for a shot at the pros while enjoying the comforts of home. “In Canada, there are only two professional leagues, the NHL and the AHL. If you’re a young Canadian kid wanting to move up, you either have to go to Europe or travel somewhere in the U.S.,” he said. “I thought there was a need for a Canadian player to stay at home with his family.”
Niagara Falls is a perfect place for Whittaker to set up shop. Located in a “hockey belt” between Toronto (a mere hour and a half away) and Buffalo (across the river), the area is littered with all levels of successful junior and high level professional hockey. There is a pool of highly skilled players too old to play junior hockey but would fit perfectly into the mission statement of the FHL as a developmental league. It is a place where players could be near their families while honing their skills as well as having access to educational and business training for their post-career lives.
If the recruiting philosophy of looking local sounds familiar, it should. A year ago, Basem Awwad used it to great advantage in building the Akwesasne team that won the FHL championship. The Warriors offered professional credibility with a comparatively lighter travel schedule than higher level leagues which allowed more flexibility for players with families in the area. Players like former NHLer Pierre Dagenais found Akwesasne and the FHL to be the perfect mix of family access and ice time while entertaining offers from higher level North American leagues and Europe.
The international flavor of Niagara Falls, thanks largely to its popularity as a tourist destination because of the famed waterfalls, lent itself to Whittaker when he sought to name the franchise. His choice of “Nationals” is symbolic of the pride that Canadians have in their country, a pride in the “Canadian experience” that Whittaker wanted to share.
Presently, Whittaker is in negotiations with the city for a lease agreement to play out of the brand new Gale Centre in Niagara Falls. Recently completed at a cost of $38 million, the facility boasts four ice surfaces that will eventually replace other aging, city-owned arenas. Since its doors opened last June, the Gale Centre hosts numerous community hockey associations, ringette and skating clubs as well as the junior B Canucks and junior C Riverhawks teams. The facility also has a pro shop, concessions, tenant offices and storage and ample parking to accommodate the 2,030 seating capacity and additional standing room areas.
Landing home ice is just one of the off-season tasks keeping Whittaker busy. When he needed help running the front office, Whittaker turned to an old and familiar business partner – his brother David. David will be handling the marketing portion of the business and be the indispensable right-hand man that Terry needs to count on.
This is not the first time that Terry and David have teamed up to run a franchise. The brothers owned and operated the Bancroft Hawks in the Ontario Junior A Provincial Hockey League (OJPHL), taking over the Hawks in 2006. The Hawks had called Bancroft home for eight seasons before the Whittakers took over without a championship. Compared to other OJPHL franchises, the Hawks were relatively isolated in a small population center which created financial issues as operating budgets grew due to travel and player housing costs.
“It was very challenging in Bancroft,” Terry Whittaker said. “Because the population of the city was so small, we had to be very creative in our promotion of the team.”
The Whittakers were able to increase attendance in comparison to previous seasons. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, the Bancroft area just could not support the Hawks and after the 2006-2007 season, the Whittakers sold it to a group that moved the franchise to Toronto. Despite the appearance of failure, Terry Whittaker said the experience was worthwhile.
“It was a real eye opener. It was a really good education,” he said.
As a junior team owner, Terry Whittaker was a hands-off owner, giving his coach most of the management responsibilities as far as hockey operations were concerned. Whittaker learned through that experience that he needs to be much more hands-on and involved. As a single-A pro owner, he plans to have his hands in all aspects of the franchise in hopes of bringing the hockey operations and business sides of the business to a better understanding of each other.
“I’ve learned to be a hands-on owner rather than to sit back and to pay the bills and let somebody else run my hockey team,” he said. “Also, dealing with player issues, making trades, acquiring players, I thought I did a very good job at that and I’m going to carry that on. Plus (with) my coaching experience, I know what I want.”
Presently, Whittaker is actively seeking a head coach to compliment his management style and vision for the team. Interviews for the coaching position began last week. Whittaker is optimistic about the coaching talent pool and expects to make an announcement in the very near future.
“We have at least three candidates who are actually over qualified,” he said. “It’s a nice problem to have but then it is going to be kind of difficult (to choose one) because all three could do the job and do it well.”
One of the biggest questions facing Whittaker is how will the Canadian fans who love their junior hockey take to the single-A pro product that the Nationals put on the ice. Whittaker said that he expects his team to be comparable to a high-level junior squad with bigger, faster and harder-hitting players who will provide plenty of entertainment for the fans.
“We are going to play a wide-open, offensive style of hockey. We won’t be sitting back in the trap. We’ll be playing (a) wide-open, fast skating, hard-hitting Canadian style of hockey,” he said. “I want to play the kind of hockey that the (Edmonton) Oilers used to play when Wayne Gretzky was there. We’ll have what I see is a hard-hitting team, a team that’s physical but we won’t be a bunch of goons.”
Whittaker is hoping that the quality of the product will speak for itself, drawing in fans for the whole hockey entertainment package. He will be catering to families, making the product affordable enough to bring the entire family.
“We’re not a fly-by-night team. We’re there for the long run. This isn’t beer league hockey. This is professional hockey,” Whittaker said. “It’s very good entertainment. The quality of the players is very good. I want them (the fans) to know when they come to our game (that) they’re going to be entertained.”
To that end, the team is already beginning to build its roster with players who will be starting their second seasons in the FHL. Whittaker purchased the rights to six former Rome Frenzy players through a trade last month. Included in the deal were Tibor Varga, he of the booming slap shot, and the agile Vincent Nucci. Both players were in the top five in regular season points and goals a year ago (Varga set the league assist record with 45).
The league also held an expansion draft that allowed the Nationals to pick up five more experienced players. Among the selections was all-FHL and MVP goaltender Kevin Druce. Druce posted a 2.51 goals against average in the regular season, leading the New York Aviators (now the Brooklyn Aviators) to the FHL finals.
“We think we’ll be very competitive going in,” Whittaker said.
And if the team’s competitive nature matches its owner’s passion and love for the game and his country, Niagara Falls is going to have plenty to be proud of when the Nationals hit the ice.
Contact the author at wendy.hull@prohockeynews.com
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