Edge getting bodies to fill out those new jerseys
Reports of player signings for St. John’s team
There was no update Wednesday on the possibility of Patrick’s Cove native Carl English joining the St. John’s Edge — other than that talks between the Edge and English are continuing — but word has been filtering out about some players who have reportedly been signed by the National Basketball League of Canada expansion team for its training camp later this month.
While there has been no official announcement from the Edge, the website us basket. com says the St. John’s team has agreements with guards Charles Hinkle and Colton Ray-st. Cyr, as well as forward Gavin Thurman.
All three are products of NCAA Division One programs, but their recent basketball histories shows just how far afield the search for players by NBL Canada teams can go.
The 6-5 Hinkle is the most experienced. Collegiately, he played for Vanderbilt and American University. His professional career has seen him
playing in Japan most recently, but the 29-year-old from Los Alamitos, Calif., has also suited up for teams in Hungary, Israel Turkey and the NBA’S top development league, now known as the G League.
The 23-year-old Thurman played for Missouri State and Newman University in his native Wichita before starting his pro career last season. He had a brief four-game NBL Canada stay with the now defunct Orangeville A’s, then headed
overseas to join Black Star, a team in Luxembourg. In 201516, the 6-8 forward averaged more than 15 points per game with Newman (a Division 2 school) and was a secondteam all-star in the Heartland Conference.
The 23-year-old Ray-st. Cyr, a 6-5 guard from Williamsburg, Va., was a four-year player at Coastal Carolina University, finishing as that team’s fourth-leading score and second-leading rebounder
in 2016-17.
Earlier this week, Edge head coach Jeff Dunlap said he already had agreements with 15 players, with more signings to come. The team should get one or two more additions out of the NBL Canada combine and draft which is being held this weekend in Windsor, Ont., where St. John’s has the first overall pick.
The St. John’s Edge have just under a month before their first-ever NBL Canada game and just over six weeks before their Dec. 1 home-court debut at Mile One Centre, which doesn’t leave much time to clew up all the business that goes with launching an expansion team.
Tops on the list are the matters of roster-building, which is already underway, and selling tickets, which starts Friday at noon at Mile One Centre.
The team is beginning with season- ticket sales, with prices ranging from $200 for tickets in the upper-most rows to $723.80 for front-row seats on the very edge of the court.
All prices include taxes and surcharges.
The Edge will play a 20game regular-season home schedule, meaning (for season tickets) the average price per game ranges from $10 in the upper rows to $36.19 for the courtside seats.
Other posted season ticket prices (average per game in brackets) are $335 ($16.50) in the upper sections and lower ends, $380.40 ($19.02) in the lower centre section and $652 ($32.60) for floor seats, which are those behind those at courtside.
Given that the team will be using horseshoe seating configuation at Mile One (the Zamboni/north end will be curtained off), it’s expected maximum attendance will be around 4,800, not counting those who will be occupying the stadium’s corporate suites.
The team plans to begin selling five- and 10-game packages on Friday, Oct. 27, with single-seat sales to follow.