Pro hoops franchise will need a full-court press, and then some
Last month — Aug. 11, to be exact — The Telegram reported St. John’s Sports and Entertainment had reached a tentative deal in principal with a group looking to bring pro basketball to St. John’s next season.
An internal memo, which landed on this desk, indicated lawyers on both sides, before signing off, were going over the agreement between SJSE and the National Basketball League of Canada ownership group, headed by Glace Bay, N.S., native Irwin Simon, the CEO and president of Hain Celestial, a billion-dollar New York-based company, and fronted by Toronto promoter John Graham.
This is Sept. 9, two days shy of a month later, and nothing’s yet been signed.
This is a joke.
The Montreal Canadiens were sold off to Geoff Molson in quicker fashion.
The NBL Canada is set to open a new season in November, leaving only a month and a bit to get a team together and peddle tickets here in St. John’s.
Far as I can see, not a lot has been done — no players, no coach, no nothing,
Not certain if this can be pulled off, but the odds are stacked against this St. John’s team seeing the court this season.
And somebody will have some explaining to do for what’s quickly becoming a case of ineptitude on somebody’s part.
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Let’s see if we got this straight: the Avalon East Hockey League actually reaches a point where it’s half-way relevant, where there’s a glimmer of interest in the circuit beyond an extremely small pocket of followers, and what are those who run the teams enticed to do?
Get rid of the executive and, boot out the defending championship team.
The saga involving the East league and the Conception Bay Ceebees is as ridiculous as it is harmful to the future of the league.
In kicking the Ceebees to the curb, the league was basically saying, ‘you’re too good for us.’
That’s certain to attract throngs of fans and sponsors.
But that’s only part of the reason.
The league is convinced the Ceebees are paying players, an Avalon East no-no. It’s also certain the team isn’t on the up and up when it comes to revenuesharing of the Herder Memorial Trophy profits.
You know, one for you, two for me.
Of course, there are even more deep-rooted reasons. Some within the Avalon East league are still upset with the Ceebees and Mount Pearl for leaving the circuit high and dry, and on life support a couple of years ago.
Perhaps it’s time to get over it. The Ceebees swear they’re sweet and innocent. Competitors say you have to watch ’em like a hawk.
I have no idea.
This much I do know: this whole thing has been bungled, and it will come back on the league.
The East league teams essentially groused about how much money the Ceebees had, about the strength of their team.
So they banded together and told C.B.N. to get lost.
What’s left of the Avalon East circuit now is a nice, little neighbourhood operation that no one cares about.
Which is just about the worst thing that could have happened to the old league.
The Ceebees swear they’re sweet and innocent. Competitors say you have to watch ’em like a hawk. I have no idea. This much I do know: this whole thing has been bungled, and it will come back on the league.
It was uttered a couple or 10 years ago the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League — which then had a team in St. John’s, the Fog Devils — was akin to high school hockey. It is, on the list of half-baked, dopey comments, at or near the top.
So I can image what they’d say if the ECHL ever arrived in town. “Dat’s senior hockey.”
Ah, senior hockey and the affinity Newfoundlanders have for it. Elsewhere across Canada, minor pro, major junior or junior A is the only game in town. But I digress.
Odds are better than even there will be hockey at Mile One Centre in 2018-19, and it’s generally figured to be the return of the QMJHL.
But what about the ECHL, the AA brand to the AAA American Hockey League?
Cincinnati, Ohio, Portland, Me., Worcester, Mass., Glens Falls, N.Y., Manchester, N.H. and Norfolk, Va., are one-time AHL cities who lost their teams and are now home, or soon will be home, to ECHL franchises.
I have never seen an ECHL game. But I’m told the hockey is very good, and the players very skillful. But for whatever reason — and there could be a myriad of them, from too slow to too small, to too old to too lax on the defensive game — they’re not in the AHL or NHL.
Personally speaking, after watching the AHL, its defensive systems and the frowning of any hint of individual creativity, I would not mind seeing a game that’s opened up a bit.
The ECHL would be a tough sell in St. John’s, but I wonder if it could be made easier if the team carried an NHL affiliation with Montreal, Toronto, Boston or Detroit?
Nothing like an NHL crest on the shoulder to add some legitimacy.
As for the senior hockey thing, consider this: last year, seven players with ECHL experience — including Tom Kuhnhackl and Mark Streit — played at least one game for the Pittsburgh Penguins. In Nashville, eight players who toiled in the ECHL — Cody Mcleod, Vern Fiddler and P.A. Parenteau among them — saw at least a game last year with the Predators.
In goal, Jonathan Quick, Braden Holtby, Petr Mrazek, Cam Talbot, Martin Jones and Devan Dubnyk, among others, have played in the ECHL.
Maybe it could work here in St. John’s. Maybe not, because, well, for whatever reason we think we’re a major league town.
But don’t refer to it as senior hockey.
IN SHORT
There are well over a dozen 14- and 15-year-old hockey players and some basketballers attending prep schools in Canada. Not that it’s anyone’s business on how others should parent, but it would seem rather silly to be spending wads of dough — anywhere from $20,000 to $40,000 a year — to schools that have no real proven track record of producing bona fide athletes, if that’s the end game (and let’s face it, these hockey players, or very few, aren’t heading off for the education). Saskatchewan’s Athol Murray College of Notre Dame (aka The Hounds) is legitimate. Likewise basketball’s Athlete Institute, outside Toronto (can’t argue with producing two NBA first-rounders). As for the many others, I — and many other observers both inside and outside the game — have yet to see evidence of future pros being groomed. I’d even go so far as to argue there’s barely a case made for developing a high-end major junior player. But, hey, if you’re willing to pay the hefty tuition, they’ll take your money. And the child will get a good education. But easy on the expectations of junior teams and colleges to come clamouring for the kid’s services … One hockey parent told me a particular prep school/hockey academy called him a number of years ago about his boy. The kid was playing all-star hockey, and the parent was budgeting $5,000 for the upcoming season. “So I said to the guy, ‘If I can get him up there for the year at five grand, I’ll listen.’” The conversation ended there. The kid stayed home, and is now playing pro … If and when St. John’s lands a QMJHL or ECHL team, how about hiring Ryane Clowe as the coach? swhe’ll bring a face to the franchise and with at least two years behind the New Jersey Devils bench, has some experience … This is not an indictment on the Galway Hitmen or the softball players, many of whom are very, very good athletes (if Shane Boland isn’t the best two-sport athlete in the province, he’s Top 3), but what kind of joke was the recent Canadian senior men’s softball championship in Saskatchewan that featured 12 teams, and six of those were from the host province? A tournament that did not feature a team from Ontario? And sports fans are expected to take this event seriously? Softball Canada thinks everything is hunky dory? …