Phoenix Could Ice Bid For Next Nhl Franchise

Now that the NHL is back in full swing, so is speculation that a majorleague hockey team will be playing in the America West Arena in a relatively short time.

Phoenix Suns president Jerry Colangelo said the NHL is ready for new markets.

“As the NHL continues is improvement under the leadership of (commissioner) Gary Bettman, it’s logical that they expand into some markets in the West, and they’ve made it known to all that Denver and Phoenix are two pretty good markets,” Colangelo said.

The NHL had scheduled six neutral-site games - the most anywhere - at the America West Arena this season, but they were cancelled because of the strike. Four games were played in Phoenix during the 1993-94 season, and reviews of the arena were good.

The NHL has set no expansion timetable, but Bryan Colangelo, director of Phoenix Arena Sports, a Suns subsidiary which operates indoor football and soccer teams, said PAS and the Suns hoped to have a team within three years.

It could be sooner if an existing NHL franchise decides to relocate.

“I think you always look at expansion first, because relocation is difficult,” Jerry Colangelo said. “But now that they have their labor problem behind them, the NHL needs to address a number of things, like the facilities and venues of a few teams in Canada. Because without new buildings or retrofitting old ones, they can’t compete.” When the Minnesota North Stars relocated two years ago and became the Dallas Stars, Phoenix was on the short list until owner Norman Green opted for Texas.

Canadian teams like Quebec, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Ottawa are operating in the red, struggling to meet payrolls or both.

Sticking it to the ref

Has corking equipment moved from bats to sticks?

After Tampa Bay beat Hartford 4-3 Friday night on Peter Klima’s goal, the referee demanded an inspection:

“I asked for Klima’s stick and bing, he broke it,” referee Paul Stewart said.

The Whalers wanted Stewart to check if Klima’s stick was legal.

Grave concern over history

An amateur archaeologist arrested while digging for artifacts near the construction site of a downtown hockey arena has sued a Tampa Bay Lightning affiliate, accusing the company of malicious prosecution.

Mark E. Melvin, 36, was arrested last May and charged with felony trespass on a construction site after security officers guarding the site ordered him to leave.

In his lawsuit filed Friday, Melvin alleges Tampa Bay’s attorney lied to police when he told them the property along the area where Melvin was digging belonged to the Lightning and that an agreement Melvin had with the city was invalid.

The arena site contained several graves of soldiers believed to date to the early 1800s.

Melvin spent about 10 hours in jail before being released on $1,000 bond.

Prosecutors later decided not to pursue charges against him, saying in a letter “the accused is in possession of documents that would lead a reasonable person to believe he had consent to be on the property.”