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Manitoba Moose moving to St. John's (upd: confirmed)

Street Hawk

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Feb 18, 2003
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To me, being close to your NHL club is overrated for an AHL team.

If you mismanaged your salary cap and thus carry 20 players only, then yes, you want to be close to the farm team, but you can't always bank on both teams being at home when a callup is required.

Most teams carry 22-23 players on their rosters. If you know someone is hurt, then you make the call to the farm. Should not have to wait to the last minute to bring someone up. You always carry 7 Dmen. If one is hurting or sick, then you dress your #7 guy and if one of your top 6 is hurt, then you call up a player. If the guy was sick, then you don't need to make the call unless one of your 6 dmen get hurt in the game.
 
bodybreak

bodybreak

Whiteshell Wild
Jul 11, 2006
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Let's just hope no one gets called up when the Winnipeg club is in Vancouver... Newfoundland is closer to Ireland than it is to BC... :help: :laugh:
 
MatthewT

MatthewT

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Mar 29, 2008
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While being a Newfoundlander, im still not optimistic that another AHL team will survive here for the long term, but I will say this; The Leafs are loosing more money on the Marlies then they use to on the baby leafs (SJ)
 
Chet Manley

Chet Manley

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Apr 15, 2007
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Has anyone looked into why the AHL wouldn't work in Grand Forks, ND. They have a beautiful rink, a metro pop of 100k, and are only 240Km away from Winnipeg. Fan interest in the farm team could draw people up from ND to see the big club.
 

Ozzie Bear

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Apr 30, 2010
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Oil_in_Blood said:
Has anyone looked into why the AHL wouldn't work in Grand Forks, ND. They have a beautiful rink, a metro pop of 100k, and are only 240Km away from Winnipeg. Fan interest in the farm team could draw people up from ND to see the big club.
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I'd like it, but MN Wild views ND as their 'territory' & UND (GF) attracts fans from Fargo.
 
Tommy Hawk

Tommy Hawk

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May 27, 2006
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Norman said:
Thanks!

So St. John's to Winnipeg would be the fourth-highest. That's not so bad.
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But it is not about distance necessarily, it is about available transportation. LA and San Jose area have flight all the time to many locations and there are numerous 2 hour alternatives in each of those farm cities in order to catch a flight. What major airport is a 2 hour drive from St. John's or even from Winnipeg? Winnipeg does not have many flights going into their airport.
 
cheswick

cheswick

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Mar 17, 2010
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Ozzie Bear said:
I'd like it, but MN Wild views ND as their 'territory' & UND (GF) attracts fans from Fargo.
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Despite it's nothern climate all the numerous times I've been to Grand Forks it seems that baseball is the king there. I see tonnes of Twins shirts on people but have never seen a Wild shirt. Was there this weekend and the sporting apparal store I went to was filled with Twins and Cubs stuff. They had one wild jersey. (Maybe in the winter the selection will be different?). UND draws but I don't see such a small population supporting both AHL and college hockey. I think College hockey would win.
 
tbcwpg

tbcwpg

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Jan 25, 2011
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cheswick said:
Despite it's nothern climate all the numerous times I've been to Grand Forks it seems that baseball is the king there. I see tonnes of Twins shirts on people but have never seen a Wild shirt. Was there this weekend and the sporting apparal store I went to was filled with Twins and Cubs stuff. They had one wild jersey. (Maybe in the winter the selection will be different?). UND draws but I don't see such a small population supporting both AHL and college hockey. I think College hockey would win.
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Yeah there's a lot of Twins stuff there but for hockey, the Fighting Sioux win out every time. I see Sioux stuff everywhere, more than the Twins.
 
AllByDesign

AllByDesign

Who's this ABD guy??
Mar 17, 2010
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Location, Location!
Oil_in_Blood said:
Has anyone looked into why the AHL wouldn't work in Grand Forks, ND. They have a beautiful rink, a metro pop of 100k, and are only 240Km away from Winnipeg. Fan interest in the farm team could draw people up from ND to see the big club.
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I think it would be a great locale. I know I would travel to see the Moose there. Hockey is massive in ND. Other than issues caused by the Wild, or UND not permitting another team in the Ralph, I don't see why it wouldn't work.
 
Duke Silver

Duke Silver

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Jun 4, 2008
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Tommy Hawk said:
But it is not about distance necessarily, it is about available transportation. LA and San Jose area have flight all the time to many locations and there are numerous 2 hour alternatives in each of those farm cities in order to catch a flight. What major airport is a 2 hour drive from St. John's or even from Winnipeg? Winnipeg does not have many flights going into their airport.
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St. John's International Airport is more than capable to meet the travel needs of a team. It's a major hub for many cross-Atlantic flights and offers many direct flights to Montreal and Toronto. If we're talking St. John's-to-Winnipeg flights it's simply one quick stopover in either of those two cities, then you're off again.

If anything, St. John's' airport is an asset to the team as bussing from the airport to the downtown hotels where the teams will stay and the arena is 10 minutes away. None of this landing and bussing for an hour or two business that some AHL teams endure.
 
MatthewT

MatthewT

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Mar 29, 2008
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cbcwpg said:
Question. Do people in St. John's want an AHL team? Just haven't seen comments from a lot of people from there either way.
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Im only in SJ for about 8 months of the year (university), but I don't really care either way. I would only go to a couple games anyway.
 

Trevor3

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Nov 16, 2010
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cbcwpg said:
Question. Do people in St. John's want an AHL team? Just haven't seen comments from a lot of people from there either way.
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People are excited about it. The possibility of getting the AHL back was the front page headline in The Telegram, the "No Subsidy" story is the top story again today and it looks like there is at least 1 other article in the paper about it. Yesterday or the day before, CBC did one of those ask the people deals where they go downtown and interview random people on the street, everyone they showed was in favour of a team, thought it would be great and expressed interest in buying tickets.

People in St. John's want a team. They've wanted their team back since the Leafs left in 05 and the fact there were 3 separate groups trying to bring a hockey team to St. John's, 1 QMJHL, 1 ECHL and 1 AHL, is evidence that there is demand.

St. John's is a growing city with a metro population approaching 200,000, an unemployment rate at just 6% and is home to a number of oil and gas companies atlantic canadian offices. There is a lot of money in St. John's right now and a demand for real hockey.
 
roccerfeller

roccerfeller

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Sep 27, 2009
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Brodie said:
Thunder Bay's gain in the long term
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I dont understand why?

St John is bigger than Thunder Bay (192k vs 123k), and I bet it has more corporate support (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_headquartered_in_St._John's), plus its a provincial capitol.

And while I enjoy visiting Thunder Bay, a) they do not have an arena as good as Mile 1 and b) party scene is incomparable to St Johns, which will be good for players. And the weather is nicer! ... not to mention St Johns has oil going for it (anyone notice what oil did for Calgary and Edmonton?)

I don't see how Thunder Bay will get this AHL team...I think they could support one for sure, just not at the moment. A new arena would go a long way. Not to mention I heard from a very credible source they will not be heading to Thunder Bay.

also, @peter where did you hear the team is moving? I heard from the horse's mouth, its going east to Newfoundland
 
Brodie

Brodie

HACK THE BONE! HACK THE BONE!
Mar 19, 2009
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I can't imagine the AHL approving a move if there's no promise from the team to pay for travel and I'd be a tad surprised if TNSE stepped up and paid for it themselves. Thunder Bay is building a new arena, so they should have the upper hand in the long run if the team ends up somewhere other than St John's for the upcoming season.
 
LadyJet26

LadyJet26

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Sep 6, 2004
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Tommy Hawk said:
But it is not about distance necessarily, it is about available transportation. LA and San Jose area have flight all the time to many locations and there are numerous 2 hour alternatives in each of those farm cities in order to catch a flight. What major airport is a 2 hour drive from St. John's or even from Winnipeg? Winnipeg does not have many flights going into their airport.
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They'll be adding more once the 2nd terminal is finished being built. And like someone else has said, TSNE flies the Moose via charter
 
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