ST JOHN’S, NL – If the sale of season tickets is any indication, the new American Hockey League (AHL) franchise in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador is off to an incredible start.
The team will begin play at Mile One Center in St. John’s this fall and first made season tickets available on June 11. Just three days later, more than 4,000 season ticket packages had been sold. With tickets going this fast, it has the whole city believing Mile One Center will be filled to capacity on a nightly basis during the 2011-12 season.
“You can feel the buzz throughout the city. Fans can’t wait for the season to start,” Adam Pike, who purchased a pair of season tickets the first day they became available, said. “I think I was lucky to get my season tickets when I did. I knew a lot of people wanted to buy them, so I didn’t hesitate so much as a day. As soon as I woke Saturday, I got online and started ordering tickets.”
There are other indicators of the excitement surrounding the arrival of the team. When the official announcement of the club’s move to St. John’s from Winnipeg (where the club was known as the Manitoba Moose) was made, close to 1,000 people attended the media conference at Mile Once Center. Fans waved signs that read ‘Welcome Back AHL’ and chanted ‘Danny, Danny, Danny’ in honour of Danny Williams, the former premier of Newfoundland and Labrador who will serve as the new AHL club’s president and chief executive officer.
“We got it. We got the AHL back … I couldn’t be happier,” Williams told the crowd on at Mile One on June 10.
The relocation of the Manitoba Moose to St. John’s was made possible when True North Sports and Entertainment, owners of the AHL Moose, purchased the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers and moved the club to Winnipeg. Williams and Stanford acted quickly to have the Moose transferred to St. John’s and are now aggressively putting together a staff and securing office space in the city.
This type of buzz about a hockey team hasn’t been seen in these parts since the days of the St. John’s Maple Leafs, according to Carl Lake, a seasoned sports journalist and editor of The Sports Page. The Baby Leafs, as they were called, were the AHL affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs for 14 seasons before leaving town in 2005. Lake covered the team from day one and says the club fostered an appreciation for AHL hockey in St. John’s.
He says hockey fans obviously remember the high quality of play and the joy of watching future NHL players just a season or two before they reach the show.
“Electrifying is the only way to describe it,” Lake said about the excitement surrounding the arrival of the team. “Hey, we had an AHL team for 14 years, so people are starving for this hockey.”
Joining Williams at the official announcement on June 10 were Craig Heisinger of True North Sports and Entertainment; Dennis O’Keefe, Mayor of St. John’s; and Glenn Stanford, the chief operating officer of the St. John’s AHL franchise.
Stanford is a familiar name in St. John’s, having served as president of the Baby Leafs for 14 years. His most recent job was as president of the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs, a post that only adds to his reputation in St. John’s.
“The fans believe in Danny Williams and Glen Stanford,” said Lake. “The fans want good hockey and they are going to get it.”
Judging by Heisinger’s comments in a recent media release, he appears eager to begin a working relationship with Williams, Stanford and the City of St. John’s.
“We are excited to partner with Glenn Stanford and Danny Williams in the opportunity to once again return the American Hockey League to St. John’s, NL with our new affiliation,” Heisinger, the Director of Hockey Operations and Assistant General Manager of Winnipeg’s NHL franchise, said on www.ahlisback.ca. “The city and its hockey fans have already proven St. John’s is a perfect environment to develop successful professional hockey players. Through our years operating the Manitoba Moose, we at True North have established a tradition of winning in the AHL while sending players to the National Hockey League level. We know that will be carried forward with the new St. John’s organization.”
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