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Post by WhiteTyAffair on Mar 23, 2018 15:29:56 GMT -4
Taking a one-year leave of absence from the MHL.
An important press release.
Woodstock, NB:
After 12 years, the River Valley Hockey Club Inc. (Woodstock Slammers) has applied to take a one year leave of absence from the Maritime Hockey League.
Due to a combination of factors, it is no longer in the best interest of our organiztion to continue operations. This absence will allow for the potential sale of the franchise and/or provide the opportunity for a new individual or group in Woodstock to assume control of team operations.
We thank our loyal fans, our billets, our volunteers, our coaches and support staff for their dedication to the Slammers and the community. We would also like to acknowledge the Town of Woodstock and their entire administration for their tremendous support. The many successes of this franchise have been directly related to our generous sponsors. Finally, we wish to thank our Chairman, Andrew McCain, for his years of commitment both professionally and financially.
Wes Corey
President
Woodstock Slammers
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Post by Screamin'Seagle on Mar 27, 2018 21:49:20 GMT -4
Wow that's really unfortunate for such a successful franchise.. I have also heard rumors about the Crushers here in Pictou that are pointing in a similar direction. I am beginning to wonder how well the league is doing in general?
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Post by scotiahockey on Mar 27, 2018 23:25:14 GMT -4
Wow that's really unfortunate for such a successful franchise.. I have also heard rumors about the Crushers here in Pictou that are pointing in a similar direction. I am beginning to wonder how well the league is doing in general? Can’t imagine the league is doing really well, the league averages 850 fans a game but only 3 teams are above that number... even with the “elimination” of paying players and fees for guys being paid, the expenses would still have to be extremely high. I can’t imagine it’s easy to turn a profit or even break even without some major sponsors... unfortunately I’m not sure how many Jr. A teams have these types of things available too them. I guess ultimately you have to expect to lose money and maybe hope to break even as a Jr. A owner and I’m not going to pretend to know what exactly each teams financial situation is but it is sad to see Woodstock taking a leave of absence, Pictou if they are as well and ultimately the Valley franchise is headed for the same fate, I’m honesty surprised that one hasn’t folded or relocated already.
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Post by Screamin'Seagle on Mar 28, 2018 19:38:08 GMT -4
Wow that's really unfortunate for such a successful franchise.. I have also heard rumors about the Crushers here in Pictou that are pointing in a similar direction. I am beginning to wonder how well the league is doing in general? Can’t imagine the league is doing really well, the league averages 850 fans a game but only 3 teams are above that number... even with the “elimination” of paying players and fees for guys being paid, the expenses would still have to be extremely high. I can’t imagine it’s easy to turn a profit or even break even without some major sponsors... unfortunately I’m not sure how many Jr. A teams have these types of things available too them. I guess ultimately you have to expect to lose money and maybe hope to break even as a Jr. A owner and I’m not going to pretend to know what exactly each teams financial situation is but it is sad to see Woodstock taking a leave of absence, Pictou if they are as well and ultimately the Valley franchise is headed for the same fate, I’m honesty surprised that one hasn’t folded or relocated already. In New Glasgow the fans haven't seemed to follow the team into the new building the same way Truro has. Back in the old stadium days they'd easily fill the building, moving across town into the new Wellness Centre I've only been to a handful of games and rarely are they ever full. On the topic of Truro I was over to two home games during the playoffs versus Yarmouth and the last regular season game also against Yarmouth. In the span of just under two weeks the two teams traveled back and forth between the two towns 8 times in a home and home 7 game series. The games were fairly well attended but when you travel a 3 hour distance that many times that often its hard to image how they make much money. The hockey is pretty good though and for smaller towns where major junior isn't an option its a good league to watch hockey on a thursday night
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Post by SteveUL on Mar 29, 2018 15:20:24 GMT -4
Places like Woodstock are ideal for Junior A. Not sure why it doesn't work anymore.
I know that these teams have to run very close to the edge on breaking even and losing money, and most lose money. But typically it is a group of people that love the Jr A game that hold things together financially with an influx of cash from time to time from a sponsor.
Woodstock has had good success with league leading teams over the years and so they should have a decent community following.
Woodstock's departure will have an effect on Edmundston as their road games just got a little longer ... more travel on the year affects the budget as well.
Not much money to be made in Jr A hockey.
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Post by jimmy on Mar 30, 2018 8:49:12 GMT -4
Places like Woodstock are ideal for Junior A. Not sure why it doesn't work anymore. I know that these teams have to run very close to the edge on breaking even and losing money, and most lose money. But typically it is a group of people that love the Jr A game that hold things together financially with an influx of cash from time to time from a sponsor. Woodstock has had good success with league leading teams over the years and so they should have a decent community following. Woodstock's departure will have an effect on Edmundston as their road games just got a little longer ... more travel on the year affects the budget as well. Not much money to be made in Jr A hockey. Woodstock survived for years thanks to Andrew McCain pumping in considerable sums of money. In the last few years he has stepped back, and the reduced budget has lead to weaker results on the ice ... in turn the community has bailed to some extent on a losing team. Rumours have them relocating to Quispamsis - while it is a nice rink, I can't see it working out in the shadow of the Sea Dogs.
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Post by SteveUL on Mar 30, 2018 9:26:28 GMT -4
Places like Woodstock are ideal for Junior A. Not sure why it doesn't work anymore. I know that these teams have to run very close to the edge on breaking even and losing money, and most lose money. But typically it is a group of people that love the Jr A game that hold things together financially with an influx of cash from time to time from a sponsor. Woodstock has had good success with league leading teams over the years and so they should have a decent community following. Woodstock's departure will have an effect on Edmundston as their road games just got a little longer ... more travel on the year affects the budget as well. Not much money to be made in Jr A hockey. Woodstock survived for years thanks to Andrew McCain pumping in considerable sums of money. In the last few years he has stepped back, and the reduced budget has lead to weaker results on the ice ... in turn the community has bailed to some extent on a losing team. Rumours have them relocating to Quispamsis - while it is a nice rink, I can't see it working out in the shadow of the Sea Dogs. Yup ... look at every other Maritime Q city ... no Jr A in sight.
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Post by lirette on Mar 30, 2018 13:09:33 GMT -4
Woodstock survived for years thanks to Andrew McCain pumping in considerable sums of money. In the last few years he has stepped back, and the reduced budget has lead to weaker results on the ice ... in turn the community has bailed to some extent on a losing team. Rumours have them relocating to Quispamsis - while it is a nice rink, I can't see it working out in the shadow of the Sea Dogs. Yup ... look at every other Maritime Q city ... no Jr A in sight. I wonder if Bouctouche would have any success. Quality rink, far enough from Moncton that they can have their own fanbase not willing to make the drive to Wildcats games, close enough to Miramichi & Northern NB as well as NS that the travel wouldn't be crazy. Population might be too small though..but the Senior hockey is close to being dead, there's only 2 teams left in the league.
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Post by Jack Bauer on Mar 30, 2018 16:32:12 GMT -4
All plays into the people leaving the region and economic issues that have not improved in the last 20 years in most places especially the smaller areas these teams play out of.
The amount of minor hockey players in general has been cut in half or more in some places.
Here in Sydney there was not even enough for the high school to ice a team. 15 years ago there would have been 30-40 kids trying out. And there is an extra grade in the school now. Next season they plan on having a team again but still its not the same product or caliber that it once was. And we dont have Jr A here so for some kids theyd take that route over Jr A.
And Jr A is so far from most levels of hockey that people follow that outside of the community factor there is no player to get excited about or to fill a rink.
I am almost surprised its taken this long to bottom out.
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Post by Screamin'Seagle on Apr 2, 2018 0:46:25 GMT -4
I've heard from a multiple sources that the MHL (jr A) is a league of haves and have not's. One team in particular would provide sticks, gloves, pants, visors, anything a kid needed right down to nutrition and training supplements just for training camps and tryouts! On the other hand I've also heard of some teams who would only pay up for accommodations and travel.
On the topic of relocation I can't speak about PEI or NB but here in NS I'm not sure where else you could possibly move or relocate? Halifax has had their fair share of JR A franchises that have failed and anywhere else that could support a JR A level franchise is taken, with the exception of Sydney which is Obviously owned territoriality by the Screaming Eagles. Unless you went back to the good old days haha I'm sure Antigonish would love a team again.
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Post by SteveUL on Apr 2, 2018 8:18:39 GMT -4
I've heard from a multiple sources that the MHL (jr A) is a league of haves and have not's. One team in particular would provide sticks, gloves, pants, visors, anything a kid needed right down to nutrition and training supplements just for training camps and tryouts! On the other hand I've also heard of some teams who would only pay up for accommodations and travel. On the topic of relocation I can't speak about PEI or NB but here in NS I'm not sure where else you could possibly move or relocate? Halifax has had their fair share of JR A franchises that have failed and anywhere else that could support a JR A level franchise is taken, with the exception of Sydney which is Obviously owned territoriality by the Screaming Eagles. Unless you went back to the good old days haha I'm sure Antigonish would love a team again. Antigonish would have to compete with the University hockey.
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Post by scotiahockey on Apr 2, 2018 11:19:19 GMT -4
I've heard from a multiple sources that the MHL (jr A) is a league of haves and have not's. One team in particular would provide sticks, gloves, pants, visors, anything a kid needed right down to nutrition and training supplements just for training camps and tryouts! On the other hand I've also heard of some teams who would only pay up for accommodations and travel. On the topic of relocation I can't speak about PEI or NB but here in NS I'm not sure where else you could possibly move or relocate? Halifax has had their fair share of JR A franchises that have failed and anywhere else that could support a JR A level franchise is taken, with the exception of Sydney which is Obviously owned territoriality by the Screaming Eagles. Unless you went back to the good old days haha I'm sure Antigonish would love a team again. Antigonish would have to compete with the University hockey. It would definitely be a tough sell in the Nish, the only positive is that guys are likely more interested in going there since there is schooling options available to them.
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Post by Jack Bauer on Apr 2, 2018 12:50:25 GMT -4
I've heard from a multiple sources that the MHL (jr A) is a league of haves and have not's. One team in particular would provide sticks, gloves, pants, visors, anything a kid needed right down to nutrition and training supplements just for training camps and tryouts! On the other hand I've also heard of some teams who would only pay up for accommodations and travel. On the topic of relocation I can't speak about PEI or NB but here in NS I'm not sure where else you could possibly move or relocate? Halifax has had their fair share of JR A franchises that have failed and anywhere else that could support a JR A level franchise is taken, with the exception of Sydney which is Obviously owned territoriality by the Screaming Eagles. Unless you went back to the good old days haha I'm sure Antigonish would love a team again. And with no tax base all the old rinks in those smaller areas are being allowed to deteriorate to nothing making it even harder to survive.
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Post by jimmy on Apr 2, 2018 13:24:24 GMT -4
I've heard from a multiple sources that the MHL (jr A) is a league of haves and have not's. One team in particular would provide sticks, gloves, pants, visors, anything a kid needed right down to nutrition and training supplements just for training camps and tryouts! On the other hand I've also heard of some teams who would only pay up for accommodations and travel. On the topic of relocation I can't speak about PEI or NB but here in NS I'm not sure where else you could possibly move or relocate? Halifax has had their fair share of JR A franchises that have failed and anywhere else that could support a JR A level franchise is taken, with the exception of Sydney which is Obviously owned territoriality by the Screaming Eagles. Unless you went back to the good old days haha I'm sure Antigonish would love a team again. And with no tax base all the old rinks in those smaller areas are being allowed to deteriorate to nothing making it even harder to survive. The state of the rinks has very little to do with any of the struggles in various MHL markets ... Campbellton - rink is about 25 years old, more than adequate Miramichi - Civic Centre is getting close to needing upgrades Woodstock - nice, modern rink St. Stephen - brand new rink Edmundston - brand new rink Summerside - Credit Union Place is comparable to many major junior rinks Amherst - Stadium is old, but they have spent a lot of money on it in recent years Pictou - brand new rink Truro - brand new rink Valley - new rink in Berwick Bridgewater - new rink I think? Yarmouth - more than adequate rink Demographics have something to do with it, no doubt, as well as the economies of small Maritime towns. But it is not a rink issue. At 12 teams, the MHL is probably pushing its upper limit ... 10 teams is probably closer to its historic average if I had to guess. The current struggling markets, with the exception of Pictou, all have or have had in common that they can't ice winning teams in recent seasons. Fans only want to support winners ... As for Pictou - their problem seems to revolve around cost increases since they moved to the new rink - I gather local politics is an issue as their are a handful of municipalities involved ...
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Post by Captain Obvious on Apr 5, 2018 7:19:26 GMT -4
And with no tax base all the old rinks in those smaller areas are being allowed to deteriorate to nothing making it even harder to survive. The state of the rinks has very little to do with any of the struggles in various MHL markets ... Campbellton - rink is about 25 years old, more than adequate Miramichi - Civic Centre is getting close to needing upgrades Woodstock - nice, modern rink St. Stephen - brand new rink Edmundston - brand new rink Summerside - Credit Union Place is comparable to many major junior rinks Amherst - Stadium is old, but they have spent a lot of money on it in recent years Pictou - brand new rink Truro - brand new rink Valley - new rink in Berwick Bridgewater - new rink I think? Yarmouth - more than adequate rink Demographics have something to do with it, no doubt, as well as the economies of small Maritime towns. But it is not a rink issue. At 12 teams, the MHL is probably pushing its upper limit ... 10 teams is probably closer to its historic average if I had to guess. The current struggling markets, with the exception of Pictou, all have or have had in common that they can't ice winning teams in recent seasons. Fans only want to support winners ... As for Pictou - their problem seems to revolve around cost increases since they moved to the new rink - I gather local politics is an issue as their are a handful of municipalities involved ... Yeah, for many years the MHL had 8 or 9 teams from what I recall. Before the Miramichi and campbelton teams were added there was only...Moncton/Dieppe, two in PEI, Antigonish, East Hants, Amherst, Dartmouth. Then Truro Miramichi and Campbelton were added...then Pictou Yarmouth. Woodstock, Valley, St.Stephen, Bridgewater etc
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