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Minor League Hockey Shake-up...coming


JackieMoon

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  • 3 weeks later...

Part of me thinks, "Good, nuke the major juniors and pay the kids," but deep down I know the end result here will be "adopt the major junior business model for the AHL."

On 1/25/2013 at 1:53 PM, 'Atom said:

For all the bird de lis haters I think the bird de lis isnt supposed to be a pelican and a fleur de lis I think its just a fleur de lis with a pelicans head. Thats what it looks like to me. Also the flair around the tip of the beak is just flair that fleur de lis have sometimes source I am from NOLA.

PotD: 10/19/07, 08/25/08, 07/22/10, 08/13/10, 04/15/11, 05/19/11, 01/02/12, and 01/05/12.

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The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League has mostly been operating all season.

It's just as well, they barely send guys to the NHL anymore anyway.

 

As I know I've mentioned several times, it's a real weakness of the AHL that teams' best prospects are in major-junior, Europe, or going straight to the NHL, leaving the AHL rosters with mostly future role-players. I would like for that not to be quite the case, but I realize that we have to take care of Canadian hockey, and putting major-junior out of business to further enrich Charlotte, San Diego, and San Bernardino has long-term ramifications for the sport that should worry everyone very much. You can say that Hamilton, Quebec City, and Saskatoon can be happy without the NHL because they have major-junior. Do you tell them they can be happy without major-junior because they can watch beer-league hockey instead?

 

I'd rather see major-junior move toward a revenue-sharing model that pays its players much more than the $4,000 or so they get now while still keeping the leagues intact as a high-level product. In the O in particular, there's real money at stake to get the players in on, and the cities have made sizable investments in the facilities such that they're not out there playing at community ice pads, so you can't pull the rug out from those municipalities, either.

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Reveal, a public radio show I check out once in a while when I leave the radio on, did this week's show about the appalling labor conditions of minor-league baseball. They allege that players are "trainees" and not employees so as to pay them less than half the federal minimum wage.

 

https://beta.prx.org/stories/362706

 

Good backstory on the history of the minimum wage and the numerous exemptions to it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Blackhawks bought the Rockford team from the county and the county/state are going to put some money into renovating the arena again, so it looks like that's another set-in-stone affiliation. Good stability to have in the AHL.

 

I'm pleasantly surprised by the news. The MetroCentre is a nice cozy place for hockey where you can get tenth-row seats for a pittance and have a great view of the ice. I don't know if they'll ever be able to make the arena more than what it is, a good 6,000-seat place that's easy enough to get in, through, and out of, but it sounds like the work they have scheduled is more about structural repairs than cosmetics and amenities. I always figured the endgame was to move the team down 90 into the Hoffman Estates arena, but I didn't want that, because I believe that place to be haunted. Good news for Rockford, hope downtown can get a little better, as always.

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2 hours ago, the admiral said:

The Blackhawks bought the Rockford team from the county and the county/state are going to put some money into renovating the arena again, so it looks like that's another set-in-stone affiliation. Good stability to have in the AHL.

 

I'm pleasantly surprised by the news. The MetroCentre is a nice cozy place for hockey where you can get tenth-row seats for a pittance and have a great view of the ice. I don't know if they'll ever be able to make the arena more than what it is, a good 6,000-seat place that's easy enough to get in, through, and out of, but it sounds like the work they have scheduled is more about structural repairs than cosmetics and amenities. I always figured the endgame was to move the team down 90 into the Hoffman Estates arena, but I didn't want that, because I believe that place to be haunted. Good news for Rockford, hope downtown can get a little better, as always.

The question is, how much longer will they remain the IceHogs?

 

(I think they're gonna be the Rockford Blackhawks within two years, three at most)

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They should have been the Rockford Blackhawks by 2008 once McDonough was firmly in place. The Freezer Pigs were such a goofy adjunct to an organization that took itself pretty seriously, and the rest of northern Illinois/southern Wisconsin has plenty of stuff named after Black Hawk. Winnebago County's "ownership" of the team was always interesting to me, because I figured the Blackhawks pretty much dictated all the operations, so why buy the cow, or the pig, as the case may be. I can't imagine there was some government functionary who tried to veto signing Michael Leighton or something.

 

I would leave the Indian Head and the red sweater to the parent organization, but there's enough to work with.

 

Puck: R LogoPurchase

 

That R is kinda funky, and the 90-degree text needn't be there, but that general concept of a block R with the four feathers is the right idea. I wouldn't mind a collegiate-style arched-wordmark-and-number approach for them, with the team serving a developmental function as college does and Rockford needing all the civic pride it can get.

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Dunno if they'd go for Blackhawks given the whole kerfuffle that Chicago themselves has been through over the name as of late. Could always go for a dinosaur theme with the Rockford Rexes, since Rockford's home to the Burpee Museum, which houses Jane the T.rex. It's probably the most easily-mascotable thing Rockford has, unless anybody thinks we need a hockey team who's logo is either A.) just the face of Alexander Liberman or B.) a statue of Alexander Liberman on skates.

 

Besides, dinosaurs always sell well with the kiddos, right? 😜

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11 hours ago, Ridleylash said:

Dunno if they'd go for Blackhawks given the whole kerfuffle that Chicago themselves has been through over the name as of late.

 

There wasn't really a kerfuffle, the organ-eye-zation basically shook it off, and kudos to them for that. 

 

A Rockford Blackhawks team that goes by "RockHawks" would be nice, kind of in the spirit of the I-Cubs or the old PawSox. Trying to brand a team around a Japanese garden or Cheap Trick is something I have no appetite for (unlike Beef-a-Roo, which I always have an appetite for). 

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On 4/11/2021 at 9:10 AM, the admiral said:

 

There wasn't really a kerfuffle, the organ-eye-zation basically shook it off, and kudos to them for that. 

 

A Rockford Blackhawks team that goes by "RockHawks" would be nice, kind of in the spirit of the I-Cubs or the old PawSox. Trying to brand a team around a Japanese garden or Cheap Trick is something I have no appetite for (unlike Beef-a-Roo, which I always have an appetite for). 

While I don't have any issues with Rockford Blackhawks as an identity (or Chicago, for that matter), I think the more prudent move would be to not add a new (albeit smaller) facet to any potential identity issues. Without getting into the weeds with how the Blackhawks aren't Cleveland baseball or DC football, there are still those who take issue with the identity. I think it's just safer to avoid, in case it becomes a more prominent outcry in the future.

Chicago has done a good job of handling those voices without making things worse for themselves, from a business and PR standpoint. I think an org that has been that savvy would see that longevity, history, and identity origins have served them well so far. Creating the RockHawks would undermine that defense; the degree which it does is hard to pinpoint, it being the AHL.

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On 4/11/2021 at 9:56 AM, Geoff said:

No update on the name right now but the arena is on pace to start construction next month as planned.

Pretty much this. I made friends with a former low-level Tucson Roadrunners employee who managed to get on with the Kraken's business side of the house. He said that he's low enough that he doesn't know what it is, but he has been told that the final name and color scheme has been selected.

Thunder Bay Lynx - International Hockey Association (2 seasons, 2017-18, 2019-20, 2018 Xtreme Cup Champions) | Houston Armadillos - Major League Hockey (2 seasons, 2016-18) | Minnesota Muskies - North American Basketball Association (1 season, 2017-2018) | Louisville Thoroughbreds - United League of Baseball (1 season, 2017, 2017 United Cup Champions) | Las Vegas Thunderbirds - International Basketball League (1 season, 2016-17, 2017 Champions) 

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There was a news article yesterday saying there was a dispute between the Devils and Binghamton ownership, including a note that the Utica Comets President filed a trademark for Utica Devils earlier this month, and then an article today saying the Devils have informed the Binghamton group that they are moving the AHL Devils.

 

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Binghamton Devils Executive Vice President of Operations Tom Mitchell said the New Jersey Devils informed him earlier this week the AHL team will be relocated.

 

Mitchell said he received formal notice Wednesday.

 

"This is devastating news to us, to the community," said Mitchell. "The demands [the New Jersey Devils] were putting on us were absolutely impossible and we just couldn't comply with them. So it looks like we're going to part ways, and just try to move on."

 

Mitchell would not get into the details of the demands made by the Devils.

 

He said he had no indication of the B-Devils leaving prior to this week, and added the Devils did not tell him where they planned on moving the team.

 

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If you decide to be a farm team of the Devils or the Flames, it is always going to end the same way for you. We have enough of an established track record at this point.

On 1/25/2013 at 1:53 PM, 'Atom said:

For all the bird de lis haters I think the bird de lis isnt supposed to be a pelican and a fleur de lis I think its just a fleur de lis with a pelicans head. Thats what it looks like to me. Also the flair around the tip of the beak is just flair that fleur de lis have sometimes source I am from NOLA.

PotD: 10/19/07, 08/25/08, 07/22/10, 08/13/10, 04/15/11, 05/19/11, 01/02/12, and 01/05/12.

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Makes sense for the Canucks if this COVID year taught us anything about having an affiliate so far away

 

As for the Devils, well, hot potatoing their way through the 88/81/Thruway triangle back towards Albany again via Utica, I guess. Give it 2 or 3 years

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Twitter: @RyanMcD29 // College Crosse: Where I write, chat, and infograph lacrosse

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