St. Mikes Majors/Mississauga Ice Dogs

[The Bandit]

Next season St. Mikes will be moving to the Hershey Centre, the Ice dogs will be sold/moved. It seems to me that the Ice Dogs are the better team...Why would Melnyk want to get rid of the better team?

 

[GlavaMan]

I guess he feels more attachment to St. Mike's. Might be tough to win over Ice Dog fans if he sells their team. The St. Mike's Arena is too small for junior hockey. He has to move them & wants to keep the St. Mike's tradition alive. Don't know if this is the right way to do it.

 

[blueline]

Yes Melnyk annouced this last year ... He was on the radio and he even had
the hosts scratching their heads ... He was buying the ice dogs so that he can move his major A team there and then sell the Ice Dogs ... How is St Mikes going to sell in Mississauga ..

I go to a lot of junior hockey games and I still say there are too many OHL teams in the GTA. It just does not work in that market. Face it, that is a Leafs market first, anything else is second rate. The Marlies can't draw flies, now they are considering lowering prices. Really? Compared to Hamilton, their ticket prices are way too high. Oh sure they advertise they have seats for 10 bucks, but how many? Not many. When they first came to Toronto, they tried to sell them based on the Marlie name and tradition. How did that work out?

I agree the Majors should be a Toronto team and I believe they may be a hard sell in Missy. But they had to get out of that barn they play in. I used to enjoy going there, seeing all the pictures, the names, the tradition, but after all these years, it gets a little old. As for the Ice Dogs, look for them to surface in the Niagara Region - St. Kitts, Niagara Falls, possibly somewhere in Western NY.

 

[GlavaMan]

As for the Ice Dogs, look for them to surface in the Niagara Region - St. Kitts, Niagara Falls, possibly somewhere in Western NY.

I would like to see them move to the S. Ont. area as there are no teams there now. I remember growing up & they had 3 teams at one time.

Melnyk already has the Major's play 2 'home' games at Scotiabank Place during the season against the 67's. Too bad St. Mike's can't play out of MLG. That would be ideal.

 

[blueline]

Too bad St. Mike's can't play out of MLG. That would be ideal.

Melnyk had a plan to put them in MLG, fix it all up with about 5000 seats but it fell thru. It is a shame they couldn't have done something to keep hockey at MLG. I go by there once in a while and I sure miss it.

 

[GlavaMan]

I remember that but the price was too high to make it feasible. That would have preserved MLG as a hockey shrine. What has happened to it? Just sitting there? I know the fourm in Montreal is now a 'shopping mall' but they built around it & kept alot of the artefacts from the fourm.

 

[blueline]

I remember that but the price was too high to make it feasible. That would have preserved MLG as a hockey shrine. What has happened to it? Just sitting there? I know the fourm in Montreal is now a 'shopping mall' but they built around it & kept alot of the artifacts from the fourm.

Last I heard, they were going to turn it into a Loblaws. What a shame.

 

[blueline]

Hang in there Ice Dogs fans. This thing is not over yet. Niagara Falls City Council said 'No' to the Dogs moving there any time soon. Now it is back to the drawing board to find a home for them. I know it is still a little early, however, it will be interesting to see what happens if the Dogs have no place to go to next season. Melnyk won't be able to keep both teams so it is not out of the question for St. Mike's to stay put and same for the Dogs for the foreseeable future. Should be interesting to see how this unfolds.

Here is an article from the Niagara Falls Review...

Falls council says no to IceDogs

COREY LAROCQUE
Local News - Monday, January 22, 2007 Updated @ 9:01:08 PM

City council has taken a pass on the Mississauga IceDogs.

Politicians in Niagara Falls voted unanimously Monday to reject the proposal from Capital Sports Management, the company that owns the Ontario Hockey League team. Capital Sports pitched the idea two weeks ago of moving the IceDogs to Niagara Falls if the city would build a $35-million, 5,000-seat arena to be the team's new home.

But the proposal was "just not financially feasible to the City of Niagara Falls," according to a prepared statement read by city clerk Dean Iorfida
at the start of Monday's meeting at city hall.

 

[GlavaMan]

Maybe they will become the Kanata Ice Dogs & play out of Scotiabank Place! JK....Jeff Hunt would go nuts & the OHL would not allow it.

 

[blueline]

Let's face it, except for a few die hard fans, no one in the GTA gives a crap about the OHL or AHL. How many sell outs have been at the Ricoh, Hershey, Brampton or even that crap barn at St. Mike's?

As Toronto lives and dies with the Leafs, I've never seen significant interest in other GTA teams except for the hardcore fans. Jeez, more people watch lacrosse at the ACC than all of the OHL/AHL teams in the GTA combined.

Torontonians are not real hockey fans. Just Leaf fans. We should be ashamed of ourselves.

Ya know, last spring they held the Royal Bank Cup in Brampton. That is the equivalent to the Memorial Cup and for tier two junior hockey Canadian Championships. The top junior teams (non-major junior A) from across Canada. I went to a couple of games and was embarrassed by the turnout. Crowds of a few hundred people were common for the tournament.

Just as I been saying for years, if it is not big time, Toronto won't go. St. Mikes, Brampton, Mississauga don't draw well. But you put the Memorial Cup there or World Jr Championships, people will come out of the woodwork.

The AHL ALL-Star game is at Ricoh next week and I barely hear anything about it. I mentioned it in a thread last week and not one person commented on it.