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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on May 31, 2015 16:11:30 GMT -5
As per Fansided: Habs Name Brampton ECHL Affiliate by Marisa Ingemi 1d agoThe Montreal Canadiens minor league shakeup continues. They have named the Brampton Beast as their new ECHL affiliate. Montreal already switched their American Hockey League affiliate for next season. They now are the parent club of the St Johns IceCaps, who the Winnipeg Jets gave up to bring the Manitoba Moose to the MTS Centre. Their former AHL affiliate, the Hamilton Bulldogs, were relegated to the OHL junior league. The Beast have been in the ECHL for three seasons and spent last year without a parent club. “Montreal is the most iconic franchise in the NHL,” said Beast president and general manager Cary Kaplan to the Times Colonist. “They have also shown a virtually unparalleled commitment to development from within. We are confident that partnering with Montreal and St John’s will be instrumental to our own on-ice success, and will also add another level of credibility to the Beast brand.” The rest
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Post by HFTO on May 31, 2015 16:27:16 GMT -5
20mins from my place .... Not a suitable replacement for the Hamilton Bulldogs but it maybe worth a look if the odd interesting prospect is sent there. Dalton Thrower was in Wheeling this year but for the most part will just be a curiosity because they are associated with the Habs.
HFTO
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Post by blny on May 31, 2015 17:07:58 GMT -5
Will Brampton properly support the Batallion AND the Beast?
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Post by 24in93 on May 31, 2015 18:08:05 GMT -5
The Battalion moved to North Bay. The Beast moved in to the vacant Powerade Center.
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Post by jkr on May 31, 2015 19:32:57 GMT -5
Will Brampton properly support the Batallion AND the Beast? The Batallion were once owned by one of the Trivial Pursuit guys but after 15 years of lacklustre support they moved to North Bay a couple of years ago. I live about 35-40 minutes away & used to go to games. They are a model of stability with Stan Butler being the coach/GM since the beginning. They've turned out a number of NHL players - the best one probably being Matt Duchene. Now that the Beast are affiliated with the Habs I will try to catch some games.
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Post by blny on May 31, 2015 20:27:59 GMT -5
Will Brampton properly support the Batallion AND the Beast? The Batallion were once owned by one of the Trivial Pursuit guys but after 15 years of lacklustre support they moved to North Bay a couple of years ago. I live about 35-40 minutes away & used to go to games. They are a model of stability with Stan Butler being the coach/GM since the beginning. They've turned out a number of NHL players - the best one probably being Matt Duchene. Now that the Beast are affiliated with the Habs I will try to catch some games. Thanks jkr. No idea they'd left. Just remember the hideous uniforms.
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Post by jkr on Jun 1, 2015 7:04:21 GMT -5
The Batallion were once owned by one of the Trivial Pursuit guys but after 15 years of lacklustre support they moved to North Bay a couple of years ago. I live about 35-40 minutes away & used to go to games. They are a model of stability with Stan Butler being the coach/GM since the beginning. They've turned out a number of NHL players - the best one probably being Matt Duchene. Now that the Beast are affiliated with the Habs I will try to catch some games. Thanks jkr. No idea they'd left. Just remember the hideous uniforms. They still wear them.
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Post by blny on Jun 1, 2015 7:43:01 GMT -5
Thanks jkr. No idea they'd left. Just remember the hideous uniforms. They still wear them. I went to their website yesterday to confirm whether or not they changed when moved. Nope. What an assault to the eyes.
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Post by Willie Dog on Jun 1, 2015 11:34:33 GMT -5
They still wear them. I went to their website yesterday to confirm whether or not they changed when moved. Nope. What an assault to the eyes. What a terrible colour... With a name like Battalion and a logo of a drill sargent, you'd think they would have gone with camo instead of puke green.
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Post by HFTO on Jun 1, 2015 16:35:59 GMT -5
The Battalion were a model team with deep pockets but for some reason they didn't draw IMO they lacked in promotion as does the jr team in. Mississauga now on its 4 or 5th owner and third name change. Jr Hockey works better in smaller communities for the most part especially ones further away from the big city and pro teams ....demographics may play a small part but you never get a sense of community with the two jr teams in both these cities and that goes a long way and comes down to heavy promotion and grass roots promotion.
Not sure of the ownership with Beast but once again living in the area I have never heard one promo or have seen a campaign to bring in in fans...I'm sure they exist but it's not very prevelant. With a Hab connection I'll venture for a look see but unless the Habs talent pool gets real deep we won't be seeing to many future Habs coming through the Powerade centre That aside not sure the Beast will be long for Brampton they are a long way from most of the othe ECHL. Teams and I'm not sure the Habs affiliation is good enough to draw people to the rink ....guess we'll see....wish the Bulldogs were still in the area....St Johns can't be of any advantage given how far it is in comparison to Hamilton.
HFTO
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Post by jkr on Jun 2, 2015 6:41:56 GMT -5
The Battalion were a model team with deep pockets but for some reason they didn't draw IMO they lacked in promotion as does the jr team in. Mississauga now on its 4 or 5th owner and third name change. Jr Hockey works better in smaller communities for the most part especially ones further away from the big city and pro teams ....demographics may play a small part but you never get a sense of community with the two jr teams in both these cities and that goes a long way and comes down to heavy promotion and grass roots promotion. Not sure of the ownership with Beast but once again living in the area I have never heard one promo or have seen a campaign to bring in in fans...I'm sure they exist but it's not very prevelant. With a Hab connection I'll venture for a look see but unless the Habs talent pool gets real deep we won't be seeing to many future Habs coming through the Powerade centre That aside not sure the Beast will be long for Brampton they are a long way from most of the othe ECHL. Teams and I'm not sure the Habs affiliation is good enough to draw people to the rink ....guess we'll see....wish the Bulldogs were still in the area....St Johns can't be of any advantage given how far it is in comparison to Hamilton. HFTO If I'm not mistaken, Brampton & Mississauga came into the league at the same time. (Cherry was the 1st owner of the Ice Dogs). I didn't understand that as they played only about 6-7 kilometres apart. They were always going to hurt each other attendance wise. I think your exactly right about the small town feel. These two cities are suburbs and neighbors of Toronto - they aspire to big league events.
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Post by 24in93 on Jun 2, 2015 6:52:18 GMT -5
Neither team was on anyone's radar ever. I lived in Mississauga for close to twenty years and was there through my teens and twenties when both teams arrived. I don't know anybody that ever attended a game and they were rarely spoken about. I recall the Ice Dogs began with a silly no-Euro policy under Cherry and were god awful. That couldn't have helped.
The only OHL game I attended was when Galchenyuk came to Brampton with the Sting. I preferred attending Bulldogs games or Leaf games when I got free tickets. I doubt I'll check out the Beast even if they're affiliated with the Habs.
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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Jun 2, 2015 7:11:55 GMT -5
The Battalion were a model team with deep pockets but for some reason they didn't draw IMO they lacked in promotion as does the jr team in. Mississauga now on its 4 or 5th owner and third name change. Jr Hockey works better in smaller communities for the most part especially ones further away from the big city and pro teams ....demographics may play a small part but you never get a sense of community with the two jr teams in both these cities and that goes a long way and comes down to heavy promotion and grass roots promotion. Not sure of the ownership with Beast but once again living in the area I have never heard one promo or have seen a campaign to bring in in fans...I'm sure they exist but it's not very prevelant. With a Hab connection I'll venture for a look see but unless the Habs talent pool gets real deep we won't be seeing to many future Habs coming through the Powerade centre That aside not sure the Beast will be long for Brampton they are a long way from most of the othe ECHL. Teams and I'm not sure the Habs affiliation is good enough to draw people to the rink ....guess we'll see....wish the Bulldogs were still in the area....St Johns can't be of any advantage given how far it is in comparison to Hamilton. HFTO If I'm not mistaken, Brampton & Mississauga came into the league at the same time. (Cherry was the 1st owner of the Ice Dogs). I didn't understand that as they played only about 6-7 kilometres apart. They were always going to hurt each other attendance wise. I think your exactly right about the small town feel. These two cities are suburbs and neighbors of Toronto - they aspire to big league events. Never been to an ECHL game, so if you guys are thinking about a mini summit of sorts, let me know and I'll see what I can do ... Mrs Dis and I always stay at the same hotel when we're in Brampton ... for breakfast we usually hit Master Steaks on Dixie Rd ... how far is the arena from Hwy 401 ... Cheers.
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Post by jkr on Jun 2, 2015 7:21:03 GMT -5
Maybe they did this because Hamilton & Brampton are less than 60 minutes apart by car & it will be an easy shuffle between those two teams.
I used to go about once or twice a year with my father. It was a nice quick game - a little over two hours. There was a couple of periods when Brampton had really good teams - the Duchene /Hodgson period and the Klesla/Torres period 14-15 years ago. Yes - that Raffi Torres who was a heck of a junior player. Think of the loose cannon he is now but who would score 30-40 goals.
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Post by blny on Jun 2, 2015 7:35:20 GMT -5
IMO, it's really about the product and community involvement. Living in the Halifax area my whole life, I've seen the good and the bad, pro hockey and amateur hockey. The low was definitely the Citadels. It was a terrible product that got worse each season, and the level of involvement in the community was modest. When they left, Harold MacKay saw an opportunity and took advantage. He brought junior hockey east of Quebec. The product was competitive from the start, there was a strong community presence - that still exists today, and the sense that you're seeing kids on the way up. There's that intangible sense of hope, instead of seeing aging career minor leaguers. Ownership has changed hands, and in that time there have been lean years in the talent department, but the community involvement has always been there. The result is the core fans haven't left. The casual ones come and go, but the core group is there. Did it help that there was no other major sporting competition? Yes. However, I don't think the AHL, as it was represented, would have lasted long head to head against the Mooseheads. Could the two work today? Tough to say. The Halifax Rainmen of the NBL draw terribly. They went to the championship finals this year, and I'd wager that actual attendance was less than 1000 a game - in a 10000 seat arena. The NBL is a developmental league with ties to the NBA. In that sense, it could be considered something of a ECHL of basketball. Their mistakes as a franchise are perhaps many, but two definitely are price point and location. They charge CHL prices for a lesser product, and they play in a venue they have no chance in filling. The result is a terrible atmosphere. A smaller arena - of which there are two viable options - and reduced prices might make things better. It's that sort of mentality that a product with a smaller footprint and lesser appeal has to have. "Know your role". The new ECHL team isn't going to steal CHL fans, or NHL fans. They can't hope to. They can hope to be an entertainment alternative, and to do that you first have to incentivize your market. Make it cheap. Show the people a good time for less. Get on the radio. Get on local cable tv. Get out in schools. Have a turkey drop. Ok, don't do that.
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Post by jkr on Jun 2, 2015 8:40:07 GMT -5
If I'm not mistaken, Brampton & Mississauga came into the league at the same time. (Cherry was the 1st owner of the Ice Dogs). I didn't understand that as they played only about 6-7 kilometres apart. They were always going to hurt each other attendance wise. I think your exactly right about the small town feel. These two cities are suburbs and neighbors of Toronto - they aspire to big league events. Never been to an ECHL game, so if you guys are thinking about a mini summit of sorts, let me know and I'll see what I can do ... Mrs Dis and I always stay at the same hotel when we're in Brampton ... for breakfast we usually hit Master Steaks on Dixie Rd ... how far is the arena from Hwy 401 ... Cheers. Not sure how well you know Brampton but the arena is on Kennedy Road & about 2-3 KM south of Steeles Avenue. If you take the 401 to the 410 & get off at Steeles you would then head west on Steeles to Kennedy. Probably about a 15 - 20 minute drive once you get off the 410 - not because of the distance but because of the traffic on Steeles.
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Post by jkr on Jun 2, 2015 8:41:54 GMT -5
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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Jun 2, 2015 11:05:23 GMT -5
Never been to an ECHL game, so if you guys are thinking about a mini summit of sorts, let me know and I'll see what I can do ... Mrs Dis and I always stay at the same hotel when we're in Brampton ... for breakfast we usually hit Master Steaks on Dixie Rd ... how far is the arena from Hwy 401 ... Cheers. Not sure how well you know Brampton but the arena is on Kennedy Road & about 2-3 KM south of Steeles Avenue. If you take the 401 to the 410 & get off at Steeles you would then head west on Steeles to Kennedy. Probably about a 15 - 20 minute drive once you get off the 410 - not because of the distance but because of the traffic on Steeles. Thanks jkr ... I found the construction on Dixie Rd to be a huge pain in the a$$ the last time I was there ... if I knew the area better I'd have probably taken an alternate route ... the arena won't be hard to find; however, it's hard just finding the time ... Cheers.
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