An NHL Team in Halifax?

davetherave wrote:Wait...wait...they BOTH get a team, thanks to Balsillie's largesse and the co-operation of the provincial and federal governments, who slash fat from their budgets to put the money where it matters...NHL hockey teams for the great people of our nation.

The Hamilton RIMJims--with JimBal playing center and taking the first face-off--meet the Halifax Fishsticks for the Stanley Cup.

Imagine...

to make that happen, Rim Jim might have to get NHL 09 on his Xbox 360 or PS3, or I could play that out for him if he wants to buy me a PS3, no Xbox for me thank you very much.

davetherave wrote:Wait...wait...they BOTH get a team, thanks to Balsillie's largesse and the co-operation of the provincial and federal governments, who slash fat from their budgets to put the money where it matters...NHL hockey teams for the great people of our nation.

The Hamilton RIMJims--with JimBal playing center and taking the first face-off--meet the Halifax Fishsticks for the Stanley Cup.

Imagine...

Except that Hamilton and Halifax would be in the same conference would they not?

Cap'n Clutch wrote:How about the Halifax Rollup the RIMs at the BlackPearl?

HA HA!

Hmmm Halifax....

The Halifax Pale Ale's playing at the Alexander Keith Center.

Sweet.

davetherave wrote:

dennycrane wrote:I agree that Eastern Canada has a rich history of hockey, but frankly, none of it is at the professional level.

The American Hockey League is not 'professional level'?

Maybe I should say a 'level that people actually care about'.

davetherave wrote:Wait...wait...they BOTH get a team, thanks to Balsillie's largesse and the co-operation of the provincial and federal governments, who slash fat from their budgets to put the money where it matters...NHL hockey teams for the great people of our nation.

The Hamilton RIMJims--with JimBal playing center and taking the first face-off--meet the Halifax Fishsticks for the Stanley Cup.

Imagine...

Would their jersey be a head shot of Jim Balsillie smiling from ear to ear?

shabbs wrote:

davetherave wrote:Wait...wait...they BOTH get a team, thanks to Balsillie's largesse and the co-operation of the provincial and federal governments, who slash fat from their budgets to put the money where it matters...NHL hockey teams for the great people of our nation.

The Hamilton RIMJims--with JimBal playing center and taking the first face-off--meet the Halifax Fishsticks for the Stanley Cup.

Imagine...

Would their jersey be a head shot of Jim Balsillie smiling from ear to ear?

It would be a caricature of Bettman with a red bar running across it diagonally.

dennycrane wrote:

davetherave wrote:

dennycrane wrote:I agree that Eastern Canada has a rich history of hockey, but frankly, none of it is at the professional level.

The American Hockey League is not 'professional level'?

Maybe I should say a 'level that people actually care about'.

BURN!!!

SensFan71 wrote:as for the population issue mojo, there are quite a few communities within 2 hours or less that I know will be supporting the Halifax team as well, Cronie himself said he would make the trip and I believe he has a 4 hour trek down the highway, hockey fans will do it.

I guess the question is, are there enough of those people who will do that for 41 home games and keep the place full enough.

That's the thing about hockey versus football. 8 home games, on average every second week, mostly on weekends, versus 41 (plus pre-season) with lots of mid-week games.

shabbs wrote:

SensFan71 wrote:as for the population issue mojo, there are quite a few communities within 2 hours or less that I know will be supporting the Halifax team as well, Cronie himself said he would make the trip and I believe he has a 4 hour trek down the highway, hockey fans will do it.

I guess the question is, are there enough of those people who will do that for 41 home games and keep the place full enough.

That's exactly the point. People might do that on a special occasion but not in the middle of the week after work. It's just not realistic.

shabbs wrote:

SensFan71 wrote:as for the population issue mojo, there are quite a few communities within 2 hours or less that I know will be supporting the Halifax team as well, Cronie himself said he would make the trip and I believe he has a 4 hour trek down the highway, hockey fans will do it.

I guess the question is, are there enough of those people who will do that for 41 home games and keep the place full enough.

hmmmm touche, guess I never considered it that way, but if there is 400,000 in Halifax say as the population, the Metro Centre probably doesn't hold enough at this point, but say if it maxed out at 18,000 fans, that is only 4.5 of the population that would have to attend the games regularly, you want to tell me that Halifax couldn't pull that off? Atlantic Canadians love their hockey, from the lowest level of pee wee right up to as high as you can go.

I never meant to imply that Halifax could not support an NHL team, only that driving 2+ hours to a game is not something you would expect on a twice weekly basis. And if they can't get 10-12K season ticket holders they have to rely on walk-up sales. So what happens when there's a snow storm on game-night? I'm not actually familiar with the weather patterns in Halifax, but if they are anything like Newfoundland, that's a lot of lost revenue from walk ups. Very risky.

wprager wrote:I never meant to imply that Halifax could not support an NHL team, only that driving 2+ hours to a game is not something you would expect on a twice weekly basis. And if they can't get 10-12K season ticket holders they have to rely on walk-up sales. So what happens when there's a snow storm on game-night? I'm not actually familiar with the weather patterns in Halifax, but if they are anything like Newfoundland, that's a lot of lost revenue from walk ups. Very risky.

I don't believe you will have an issue there, Halifax's weather patterns aren't as severe as Newfoundland's, to put it in some perspective, I live about 2 hours up the TCH from Halifax (meaning they are south of me), more often than not, if Moncton is getting hit with a snow storm, Halifax is getting rain or very mild snow in comparison. of course, we get those big noreasters and they rip up the whole coast, but on a night like that, and I am not sure what the NHL's policy is on this, but cancelling the game in favour of another night might be their only alternative.

SensFan71 wrote:

wprager wrote:I never meant to imply that Halifax could not support an NHL team, only that driving 2+ hours to a game is not something you would expect on a twice weekly basis. And if they can't get 10-12K season ticket holders they have to rely on walk-up sales. So what happens when there's a snow storm on game-night? I'm not actually familiar with the weather patterns in Halifax, but if they are anything like Newfoundland, that's a lot of lost revenue from walk ups. Very risky.

I don't believe you will have an issue there, Halifax's weather patterns aren't as severe as Newfoundland's, to put it in some perspective, I live about 2 hours up the TCH from Halifax (meaning they are south of me), more often than not, if Moncton is getting hit with a snow storm, Halifax is getting rain or very mild snow in comparison. of course, we get those big noreasters and they rip up the whole coast, but on a night like that, and I am not sure what the NHL's policy is on this, but cancelling the game in favour of another night might be their only alternative.

Even rain could keep people away. I don't know about you, but I would not want to drive 2 hours with my kids, risking their lives and mine to attend a game.

wprager wrote:

SensFan71 wrote:

wprager wrote:I never meant to imply that Halifax could not support an NHL team, only that driving 2+ hours to a game is not something you would expect on a twice weekly basis. And if they can't get 10-12K season ticket holders they have to rely on walk-up sales. So what happens when there's a snow storm on game-night? I'm not actually familiar with the weather patterns in Halifax, but if they are anything like Newfoundland, that's a lot of lost revenue from walk ups. Very risky.

I don't believe you will have an issue there, Halifax's weather patterns aren't as severe as Newfoundland's, to put it in some perspective, I live about 2 hours up the TCH from Halifax (meaning they are south of me), more often than not, if Moncton is getting hit with a snow storm, Halifax is getting rain or very mild snow in comparison. of course, we get those big noreasters and they rip up the whole coast, but on a night like that, and I am not sure what the NHL's policy is on this, but cancelling the game in favour of another night might be their only alternative.

Even rain could keep people away. I don't know about you, but I would not want to drive 2 hours with my kids, risking their lives and mine to attend a game.

That is very true, there is lots of wind around here too, rain and wind are a very nasty combination. I wouldn't even trust Public transit during weather like that.

SensFan71 wrote:

wprager wrote:I never meant to imply that Halifax could not support an NHL team, only that driving 2+ hours to a game is not something you would expect on a twice weekly basis. And if they can't get 10-12K season ticket holders they have to rely on walk-up sales. So what happens when there's a snow storm on game-night? I'm not actually familiar with the weather patterns in Halifax, but if they are anything like Newfoundland, that's a lot of lost revenue from walk ups. Very risky.

I don't believe you will have an issue there, Halifax's weather patterns aren't as severe as Newfoundland's, to put it in some perspective, I live about 2 hours up the TCH from Halifax (meaning they are south of me), more often than not, if Moncton is getting hit with a snow storm, Halifax is getting rain or very mild snow in comparison. of course, we get those big noreasters and they rip up the whole coast, but on a night like that, and I am not sure what the NHL's policy is on this, but cancelling the game in favour of another night might be their only alternative.

As long as the team's can get to the rink, the game goes on. I believe there was a game in Buffalo last year on the night of a really bad snowstorm. The game went on but there were barely any fans there. Games only seem to get cancelled when players have heart attacks.

Mojo wrote:

SensFan71 wrote:

wprager wrote:I never meant to imply that Halifax could not support an NHL team, only that driving 2+ hours to a game is not something you would expect on a twice weekly basis. And if they can't get 10-12K season ticket holders they have to rely on walk-up sales. So what happens when there's a snow storm on game-night? I'm not actually familiar with the weather patterns in Halifax, but if they are anything like Newfoundland, that's a lot of lost revenue from walk ups. Very risky.

I don't believe you will have an issue there, Halifax's weather patterns aren't as severe as Newfoundland's, to put it in some perspective, I live about 2 hours up the TCH from Halifax (meaning they are south of me), more often than not, if Moncton is getting hit with a snow storm, Halifax is getting rain or very mild snow in comparison. of course, we get those big noreasters and they rip up the whole coast, but on a night like that, and I am not sure what the NHL's policy is on this, but cancelling the game in favour of another night might be their only alternative.

As long as the team's can get to the rink, the game goes on. I believe there was a game in Buffalo last year on the night of a really bad snowstorm. The game went on but there were barely any fans there. Games only seem to get cancelled when players have heart attacks.

ouch, judging by the winter we just had here, then there would have been a couple of games with near empty stands then, we had a brutal winter.

dennycrane wrote:

davetherave wrote:

dennycrane wrote:I agree that Eastern Canada has a rich history of hockey, but frankly, none of it is at the professional level.

The American Hockey League is not 'professional level'?

Maybe I should say a 'level that people actually care about'.

Denny, you are going to get a LOT of stick from fans of the B-Sens and other AHL teams.