RIO RANCHO, NM – The off season has not been kind to minor league hockey fans this season. In June, the Central Hockey League reported that the Rocky Mountain Rage of Broomfield, Colorado would suspend operations for the 2009-2010 CHL season. The decision was rumored for months and PHN sources had warned of the franchise’s troubles as early as January.
On July 2, the CHL announced that the New Mexico Scorpions and the Oklahoma City Blazers would suspend operations for the coming season as well.
Wait. The Oklahoma City Blazers!? The team that perennially sat among the top attendance draws in minor league hockey. That Blazer team?
New Mexico was not a surprise and had been rumored for nearly as long as the Rage. The Scorpions were in a bind for most the last half of the season .
The Blazers should not be a surprise either, really. Rumors have swirled around Oklahoma City for months, bordering on a year. The National Basketball Association permitted the move of their Seattle franchise to the city’s Ford Center, home of the Blazers. Almost immediately the Blazers became second class citizens in the arena they built, figuratively speaking.
After 17 years of consistent success at the gate, success on the ice and development of a loyal and rabid fan base, the Blazers almost certainly felt they had been kicked to the proverbial curb.
The Thunder of the NBA was suddenly the darling franchise in a city fiercely loyal to the Blazers. All this was in stark contrast to New Mexico and Rocky Mountain where the teams were greeted with deafening apathy.
Oklahoma City may be moving up the food chain. PHN sources have said for months that the city was a prime location for an American Hockey League franchise. Given the geographical proximity to Texas Stars near Austin, the San Antonio Rampage, and the Aeros in Houston, a rivalry would seem natural. Add in the short hops to Peoria, Iowa and Chicago, and Oklahoma City seems to make sense. Reduced travel costs are appealing.
Fueling the rumors is the fact that the Edmonton Oilers have a dormant AHL franchise. Is Oklahoma City the destination for an AHL franchise in a city where the NBA is dropping roots?
For Rocky Mountain, the decision to cease operations may well have been self-inflicted. The Rage was too close to the Colorado Eagles in Loveland and the Avalanche in Denver. It seemed difficult to find an uncommitted fan base where the Eagles have had perennial success and the NHL was a short drive away. If you have discretionary dollars to spend where will you go? CHL? NHL?
Whereas the Blazers fans deserve a team, the “fans” in New Mexico hardly deserve attention in the matter of the Scorpions. Sure there are the diehards. As fiercely loyal as any Blazers fan. But they were all too few. The rest were unwilling to make a 30-minute drive to a hockey game. We are all so entitled these days that we want our live sports entertainment delivered to our homes in 30 minutes or less.
And that brings this discussion to the real loser in this scenario, the Arizona SunDogs. The franchise rests in the Prescott Valley north of Phoenix and is the western most franchise in the CHL. Their closest and meanest rival, New Mexico, is now gone. Their closest trip is a quick jaunt to Amarillo! It is a seven hour journey from Phoenix to Albuquerque in a car breaking the speed limit along the way on I-40 and I-15. Now add a bus to the equation and another four hours to Amarillo or six hours to Loveland.
The solution for Arizona and their new owners may well be the 3-game series against one opponent over a weekend. An unbalanced schedule will make matters worse for the SunDogs in a league where travel now becomes an issue for the outliers on each side of the geographic footprint. How often will the MudBugs be traveling to Prescott Valley? And how will they travel?
One PHN source has suggested that the solution for the SunDogs would be to fly to a central location and then rent a bus from there. All that on a “AA” budget.
So the Rage closes down and their fans have the Eagles and Avs as options. The Scorpions close down and the few fans they had no one cares about. The Blazers cease operations and the fans lose and the Wichita Thunder and Tulsa Oilers are without their primary rival.
And the Arizona SunDogs are left to wonder what just happened and did anyone get the number of that bus that just hit them.
Contact lou.lafrado@prohockeynews.com.
Note: The front offices of the Oklahoma City Blazers and Arizona SunDogs have been contacted for comment with no reply at press time.
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