Rant: minor league hockey

[pioneer98]

I think the big difference with hockey is where the young talent is spread out. In baseball, the vast majority of age 18-23 talent is in the minor leagues. Yes, some is in college, some have made it to MLB. But most of those guys are somewhere in a minor league system.

In hockey? For that age range, you've got a lot of guys already playing in the NHL, others in the AHL, some still in juniors in Canada, some in the SEL, some in the KHL, some in US college hockey. By the time you get to the ECHL's of the hockey world, you're scrounging for talent.

I agree. But really, Canadian juniors are by far the biggest source of talent for the NHL. The best players in those leagues get drafted by the NHL and usually go straight to the AHL - they rarely ever get sent to the ECHL or someplace like that. Hockey is more like basketball where you don't really need a huge development pipeline. The AHL, juniors and college is probably enough of a pipeline for hockey.

The USHL is trying to compete with the Canadian junior leagues. Their talent level has really improved and they compete for some of the same prospects now. USHL players can be high school or college age. The college age kids generally go to a local college in the town they are playing. The USHL tries to get their kids scholarships to D-1 NCAA programs. A few of them might get drafted by the NHL, too, especially after they've had a year or two of NCAA hockey. Most USHL teams have sent a lot more players to the NHL than our supposedly "double-A" team has over the years.

[Popeye_Card]

I think the big difference with hockey is where the young talent is spread out. In baseball, the vast majority of age 18-23 talent is in the minor leagues. Yes, some is in college, some have made it to MLB. But most of those guys are somewhere in a minor league system.

In hockey? For that age range, you've got a lot of guys already playing in the NHL, others in the AHL, some still in juniors in Canada, some in the SEL, some in the KHL, some in US college hockey. By the time you get to the ECHL's of the hockey world, you're scrounging for talent.

I agree. But really, Canadian juniors are by far the biggest source of talent for the NHL. The best players in those leagues get drafted by the NHL and usually go straight to the AHL - they rarely ever get sent to the ECHL or someplace like that. Hockey is more like basketball where you don't really need a huge development pipeline. The AHL, juniors and college is probably enough of a pipeline for hockey.

The USHL is trying to compete with the Canadian junior leagues. Their talent level has really improved and they compete for some of the same prospects now. USHL players can be high school or college age. The college age kids generally go to a local college in the town they are playing. The USHL tries to get their kids scholarships to D-1 NCAA programs. A few of them might get drafted by the NHL, too, especially after they've had a year or two of NCAA hockey. Most USHL teams have sent a lot more players to the NHL than our supposedly "double-A" team has over the years.

Oh I agree. USHL would be my preference for a local team to have. Especially if they continue to beef it up as a real US alternative to the Canadian juniors. The US is pumping out more and more talent.

[pioneer98]

The league took control of the QC team, and is acting as the owner for now. They were supposed to open the season last Friday on the road, but they rescheduled that game since the team was in chaos. They are playing their first game tonight now @ Tulsa. The first home game is tomorrow night.

They are saying there was an owner that was in the process of buying the team this offseason, but "it didn't work out". My guess is he either bailed, or they vetted him and realized he wasn't qualified. But it was too late to just let the team fold, since it would leave them with an odd number of teams and schedules had already been set.

Their spin on this now is that the league buying the team will give them a lot more time to find and fully vet a new owner. There is something to be said for this. In the past few seasons, it was always a rush when they switched owners, and clearly they didn't end up with people who knew what they were doing. They are at least saying the right things. Time will tell if it works out that way.

[pioneer98]

Best case scenario would be that some new owner takes over before the end of the season and really ramps things up for next season. Worst case scenario is that the team & the entire league folds after this year, and the remaining few viable teams merge with the ECHL. But this is exactly why I'm here ranting - having the team in limbo like this forever sucks. I either want it to get into a stable situation or simply fold so our arena can move on to getting something else in here. We have a fabulous arena. They just made upgrades to it where they put in a bunch of flat screens and the beer system that fills cups from the bottom. I could write a rave about the arena.

http://qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=613486

[sparks]

Mallards hockey was incredible entertainment when they first hit the ice in "95". I was at their opening night when goalie Kevin Butt did a swan dive on top of a scrum of players at the other end of the ice. To top it off they passed out hockey pucks at the gate and quite a few ended up on the ice during the melee.

I believe the marketing that took place in the early years was awesome. They sold the team to the community as individual players (some of them living here year round) and the community was hooked. If I recall their were a lot of front office changes that coincided with the league issues that you talked about that started the down turn. When the Flames came in I thought that would improve things but the front office and players just didn't connect with the fan base. I really couldn't blame the players because this was (hopefully) just a stopping point for them. You could tell there was a lot of talent on the ice but it didn't seem like the players were giving it their all.

To be honest the last couple of years I have only gone to a hand full of games each season due to other commitments and I just seem to have lost the desire to go. If things were to improve I could see myself going more often but they will have to do something to prove themselves to me.

I really hope they turn it around. "The Mark" is, like you said, a great facility to watch games and it is easy to get to and very family friendly. I don't want to see the franchise go away like the Thunder (which is a similar story with a worse ending).

[pioneer98]

In the old days, they also had the new arena novelty going for them. Hockey itself was also a new to the area. Now, the arena is almost 20 years old, and so is the team. So it's just not the same. I don't think they'll ever go back to the old days, but there is no reason why they can't do a lot better than they have been.

They have had a new person running the front office literally every single season for the last 6 seasons!!! Even if you are very good, how do you build lasting relationships within the community if you are only here like 9 months before you leave? Plus, now that it has been such a revolving door, no one is going to believe you're for real.

The other common theme is that the people who failed were all from out of town. The Flames hired a guy who had worked at Albany's AHL team, and had no connections to the area. His East Coast shtik didn't work here. Two years ago, they brought in some guys with prior CHL experience in other places. They also made some bad mistakes. Then the guy they hired at the beginning of last year had experience with the Florida Panthers. What worked for an NHL team in Miami didn't work here (hard to imagine, I know). He was let go before the season even ended.

The owner the Mallards the 1st season after the Flames left (Chris Lencheski) was the best marketer they've had in a long time. If he had been able to stick around, I think he could have succeeded. Problem was, he got sued from someone connected to his other business interests, and had to freeze his funds and sell the team. The next season when a new owner took over, new people were put in charge. The front office people who had made some inroads the previous season were either let go, or got frustrated with some of the (bad) decisions that were made, and quit.

The person they have running the front office right now is a local who actually has some history of success here and in other places. He was one of those people who had made inroads that season, but quit the following season. I think they finally have the right guy. I hope any new owner coming here has the sense to keep this person in charge for a couple seasons to see what he can do. Heck, with a bare-bones operation and only a few days to sell tickets, they managed to sell 5,300 tickets for opening night last weekend. That's not bad, all things considered. With more time and an actual front office staff, they could do a lot better.

[pioneer98]

Last night the QC Mallards had their largest crowd in 10 years, to the day. It was a sellout of 9,347, and they got to see a great game. Two players had natural hat tricks, there were 4 fights and they won 7-1.

The front office really did a great job to fill the building last night. But this is why this is so frustrating. You are telling me we can have a crowd like this last night, but there aren't enough fans here to make a go of it, long-term??? It just makes no sense to me. They also had 4,000 on Friday night, which is pretty decent for this level. Basically, it just kind of proves that if you have a competent staff and work hard at it, you can make it work. The team right now is still owned by the league, but they already signed a lease for next season and said they'll continue to own it then, if needed. Hopefully they keep it going in the right direction and find a decent owner.

[pioneer98]

So, this is what minor league hockey is all about. The QC team won and clinched a playoff berth tonight. The coach did a helluva job this year, pulling the team together from nothing at the beginning of the season. We got to hang out at the post-game party and applaud the players as they entered the room and shake their hands. A lot of fun and a pretty good turnout for a Tuesday night.

[pioneer98]

Well, QC got bounced from the playoffs. Lost a best of seven 4 games to 1, but 2 losses were in OT and one was 1-0. QC had a really nice run at the end of the regular season, going 10-2 in the final 12 games to go from out of the playoffs to the #6 seed. They also had a nice bump in attendance at the end. They may have turned the franchise around. They say season ticket sales are up nicely for next season already. We'll see.

If you are in the St. Charles, MO area, I'd recommend checking out a Chill game next season at the Family Arena. They are joining the CHL with QC. It's good hockey, and should be a fairly cheap night out, relatively speaking. Plus, the Family Arena is very nice, and they are making improvements to it to launch this new team.

I've seen all kinds of hockey from high school to the NHL...you won't mistake CHL hockey for the NHL or even AHL, but it is still pretty good. Junior hockey can be nearly as fast, but juniors are not as physical. Junior players are just smaller. The size and speed of CHL players might be a bit below the AHL, but there is just as much hitting and more fights. Talent-wise, a lot of players are the better NCAA players who went undrafted by the NHL and are trying to work their way up the ranks. The best players are fringe AHL players, some of which do earn a call-up. There are also very good veterans who could be in the AHL, but prefer to be some of the best and highest paid players in this lower pro league. The parity is so good though that these guys can't get too comfortable. Parity was lacking in some of the other low leagues we've had here, but not this one.

CHL players are more accessible and down to Earth than AHL players. We had AHL here. The players were nice and would sign autographs and things, but it was clear that they felt they were "too good" to be in lowly QC (get the same vibe from some of the top prospects in the Midwest League sometimes, too). With the CHL, the vast majority of the players are just happy to get paid to play a sport they love. If you are a 10 year veteran in this league, there is no doubt you are playing for the love of the sport, because they don't get paid squat and have to deal with 10 hour bus trips. The connection with fans is just different. So, that is my plug for CHL hockey.

[pioneer98]

You guys see how the St. Louis Blues screwed over Peoria? What a farce. This is what I mean when I say the NHL doesn't do these minor league towns justice.

A few years ago, the Quad Cities' AHL team moved to Abbottsford, BC, a far suburb of Vancouver. This was the Calgary Flames' farm team. Just to get the team to move there, the city of Abbottsford had to agree to subsidize the team's travel costs, because they are so far away from all the other AHL teams. The city has lost millions of dollars subsidizing the team. The arena lost $3.25 million just in 2011 alone.

Abbottsford desperately wants the Canucks' farm team to relocate there, because they'd be a much bigger draw. So, here is what is going to happen. Calgary is going to move their farm team yet again (rumors are to upstate New York). The Canucks just bought the Rivermen from the Blues. They are going to swap affiliations with the Chicago Wolves. The baby Blues will be playing in Chicago next year, and the Canucks will get the affiliation and franchise they wanted and move the Rivermen to Abbottsford. So this will be the 2nd team that Abbottsford has poached from the Midwest.

Peoria has had a pro team for 31 straight years, and looks like next year there is a real chance they could be dark. I think they will get another team, likely at a lower level, but it won't happen by next season (probably the season after). Its also possible the Canucks could keep the team in Peoria 1 more year if Calgary can't get their team moved out of Abbottsford in time to make way for the move.