Tier III Junior Nationals 2014

[3rd Guy High]

Bruins win National Championship 4-1. Really wasn't even as close as that score would indicate..Chris Amsden played out of his mind to keep them Bruins at 4, and you could also tell in the third period the Bruins knew there was no shot of a comeback.

Lol. Now imagine if there were even two premier teams at this tournament.

 

[doncherrysgrill]

It's funny that the Jersey Hitmen (without their #1 goalie, and after playing a game the day before) lost by just one goal to the USNTDP and the Bruins dominated at Nationals. I've said it before that the top USPHL-Premier teams are as good as anybody in the NAHL and could probably compete in the USHL. Don't think they'd be top teams by any stretch but you can't tell me the Bruins and Hitmen aren't as good as Fargo or Youngstown were this year.

It really just sucks that these Tier III teams on the East Coast with all the talent they have can't draw crowds. I was hearing that teams at Nationals like Helena and North Iowa routinely draw 1000 fans a night. I get that there's just SO MUCH hockey here, and we have professional hockey unlike some of those other markets, but I can't believe that there's just no market here for this at all.

 

[3rd Guy High]

It's funny that the Jersey Hitmen (without their #1 goalie, and after playing a game the day before) lost by just one goal to the USNTDP and the Bruins dominated at Nationals. I've said it before that the top USPHL-Premier teams are as good as anybody in the NAHL and could probably compete in the USHL. Don't think they'd be top teams by any stretch but you can't tell me the Bruins and Hitmen aren't as good as Fargo or Youngstown were this year.

It really just sucks that these Tier III teams on the East Coast with all the talent they have can't draw crowds. I was hearing that teams at Nationals like Helena and North Iowa routinely draw 1000 fans a night. I get that there's just SO MUCH hockey here, and we have professional hockey unlike some of those other markets, but I can't believe that there's just no market here for this at all.

Personally, I believe the market is untapped. Games aren't really advertised. The only people that would even think to go to a junior hockey game are those that play it/have played it and very very hardcore fans.

Look at the Jr Flyers this year. They drew in somewhere around 100-200 fans some nights with only some tweets from the NHL team. PAL Jr islanders doesn't get any support, I bet if they did they would draw a crowd. It remains to be seen what the Rangers do.

Would it take some creative marketing? Probably, but who knows. It could be worth the effort.

 

[doncherrysgrill]

Personally, I believe the market is untapped. Games aren't really advertised. The only people that would even think to go to a junior hockey game are those that play it/have played it and very very hardcore fans.

Look at the Jr Flyers this year. They drew in somewhere around 100-200 fans some nights with only some tweets from the NHL team. PAL Jr islanders doesn't get any support, I bet if they did they would draw a crowd. It remains to be seen what the Rangers do.

Would it take some creative marketing? Probably, but who knows. It could be worth the effort.

I mean that's a good point about the lack of advertising. If I hadn't played I would probably have no idea..it's not like you hear anything about it. I'm thinking/hoping the Twin Rinks on Long Island may do some advertising to bring fans in for Bobcats games, but it would be great if a Premier team could do something like that.

 

[JB51Hockey]

Portland was going to play a game in Lewiston towards the end of the season as kind of a teaser for the 14-15 season because the Premier team was rumored to play out of Androscoggin but some pipe broke during the week and the games got moved back to their normal rink. The most they did to advertise the game was send out a tweet. Probably 20-30 people would have showed up. And I agree, the games aren't advertised at all. Every team could draw a couple hundred if they actually tried. But they don't. Most don't even charge admission.