Calgary Sitting Pretty In Saddle
If the Western Hockey League can’t succeed in Calgary with the sweetheart building lease it has, the WHL may never make it in an NHL city, WHL president Ed Chynoweth said Thursday.
The WHL granted an expansion franchise to an ownership group in Calgary for the 1994-95 season.
The new Western Hockey League franchise is headed by Graham James and counts among its owners NHL stars Theoren Fleury and Joe Skaic. Lorne Johnston, Tom Mauro, John Rittinger and a number of minor shareholders are also involved.
James, who won the 1989 Memorial Cup as coach of the Swift Current Broncos, will serve as coach and general manager.
The team will play in the 16,700-seat Olympic Saddledome, the home and soon to be the property of the National Hockey League Calgary Flames.
The WHL team will market itself as an economic alternative. Although the WHL junior hockey - has a history of failure in NHL cities, “The building lease in Calgary is the most cooperative we’ve ever received in an NHL building,” Chynoweth said.
“We have a fighting chance to make it because of the terms,” he added. “We have not succeeded in an NHL city previously. If we can succeed here it could open doors in Edmonton, Vancouver and possibly Winnipeg (for future WHL franchises).”
As owners of the building, which is undergoing an $18 million renovation, the Flames can put up with the competition to pick up a tenant for 36 nights a year, Chynoweth said.
Luxury seats and club seating will reduce the lower seating area of the building to 4,000, “which is ideal for us,” Chynoweth said.
The franchise in Calgary, the WHL’s 17th, was granted four months after the league said expansion was not in the picture.
“What we said on Feb. 28 was the WHL would not be expanding at the present time,” Chynoweth said. “We didn’t rule out expansion in the future.”
When the Victoria franchise was moved to Prince George at the conclusion of the season, one group that had applied for an expansion team in Prince George shifted its interest to Calgary.
The ownership group was also attractive to the league.
Fleury starred at center for the WHL Moose Jaw Warriors for four seasons before becoming a fixture with the Calgary Flames.
Sakic played with Lethbridge and Swift Current of the WHL before starring for the Quebec Nordiques.
“We’re thrilled that former WHL players wanted to be involved in the ownership group,” Chynoweth said. “It’s a proud day for the league when our graduates put this type of commitment back into junior hockey.”
The WHL last expanded into Red Deer, Alberta in 1992.
Notes:
Former Spokane Chiefs coach Butch Goring is the new coach and general manager of the Denver Grizzlies, the New York Islanders’ new affiliate in the International Hockey League. Goring last season was teamed with his old boss in Spokane, Bob Strumm, with the Las Vegas Thunder. “In Las Vegas I was just a coach,” Goring said. “This is a new role for me and the prime reason why I left Las Vegas.”
Former Chiefs tough guy Link Gaetz is playing roller hockey with the Sacramento River Rats of Roller Hockey International … The U.S. will open with Russia on Monday, Dec. 26 in the first round of the World Junior Tournament in Red Deer.
Around the WHL:
The Swift Current Broncos promoted assistant G.M. and player personnel boss Doug Mosher to general manager … Todd McLellan, 26, is the Broncos’ new coach and assistant general manager … Marcel Comeau, the only coach the Tacoma Rockets have had, has signed a three-year extension … The Brandon Wheat Kings rewarded Bob Lowes for his two-year record of 85-50-9 with a two-year contract extension … The Lethbridge Hurricanes extended coach Rob Daum’s contract for another two years.