Eye Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 That's weird. The league completely deleted the story from their site.Anyhoo.From nightly sellouts to dead-last in attendance. That's the Devils way.Lowest Attendance, American Hockey League:2006-07 Lowell Devils2007-08 Lowell Devils2008-09 Lowell Devils2009-10 Lowell Devils2010-11 Albany DevilsSo long as the players develop in the system, who cares...Should the WBS Devils ever come to pass, you might.There are no Devils fans in Lowell or in Albany.There aren't any Devils fans in New Jersey either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JQK Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 There aren't any Devils fans in New Jersey either.OMGEEZY!! U R SO FUNNIEZ!!!!!! LOLZ!!! CAN I B UR FRIEND?!?!?!?! Stay Tuned Sports Podcast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sodboy13 Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 That's weird. The league completely deleted the story from their site.Anyhoo.From nightly sellouts to dead-last in attendance. That's the Devils way.Lowest Attendance, American Hockey League:2006-07 Lowell Devils2007-08 Lowell Devils2008-09 Lowell Devils2009-10 Lowell Devils2010-11 Albany DevilsSo long as the players develop in the system, who cares...Should the WBS Devils ever come to pass, you might.There are no Devils fans in Lowell or in Albany.There aren't any Devils fans in New Jersey either.Now, be fair. You can get up to five thousand of them in a parking lot when they win the Cup! 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slapshot Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 That's weird. The league completely deleted the story from their site.Anyhoo.From nightly sellouts to dead-last in attendance. That's the Devils way.Lowest Attendance, American Hockey League:2006-07 Lowell Devils2007-08 Lowell Devils2008-09 Lowell Devils2009-10 Lowell Devils2010-11 Albany Devils...There are no Devils fans in Lowell or in Albany. There were 2 Devils fans in Lowell.Not that the Devils were the primary team of fandom, but we still followed New Jersey nonetheless.Aside from the poor attendance issues, many things plagued the franchise's existence in Lowell.1. MoneyThe city-owned arena (capacity 6,400) did not make money off the Devils. It's primary purpose was for UMass-Lowell's hockey team, a Division 1 participant in Hockey East. The Devils had a sweetheart deal where the rent was very minimal. The local newspaper, the Lowell Sun, never hid it's editorial position that UMass-Lowell needed to take full control of the building. By kicking out the AHL team (or substantially increasing the rent), they could gain more open dates on Fridays and Saturdays for concerts and other events.In the year since the Devils left, there has not been an increase in concerts or events at the arena, with the exception of a church that uses one of the conference rooms on Sunday mornings. And the occasional movie that is filmed there (come see "Here Comes the Boom" starring Kevin James, Henry Winkler and Salma Hayek, in theatres this fall!)And of course, the 2011 Atlantic-10 Womens Basketball Tournament. Perfect location for a conference whose closest school was in Amherst, Mass (UMass) and then Philadephia (Temple). If anyone caught the event on TV, you might have seen the 100 people in attendance.2. RespectThe Devils were consistently treated as a second-class tenant. The games were broadcast on a station you couldn't even hear in Lowell if you were more than 1 mile from the arena. The Lowell Sun limited its coverage to a small paragraph, sometimes even only on the "sports ticker" section with all the box scores. The arena's "lite-brite" scoreboard was prone to constant malfunction.UMass-Lowell (and the state itself, being a state school) put a lot of money into renovating the 12-year-old facility. LED Ribbon Boards were put in in winter 2010, during the middle of the Devils' final season. But they were never used for the Devils games, only for UMass-Lowell and high school sporting events.In the summer of 2010, a high definition scoreboard with video was installed above center ice, right after the team announced they were moving to Albany.3. MediaAs mentioned previously, the local newspaper didn't hide it's opinion about the team. It got to the point that the only newspaper that advertised on ice (or dasher boards) was out-of-town (either the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune or Nashua Telegraph, don't remember at this point). Sort of like the team's "F-U" to the paper.There was more coverage in The Hockey News than anywhere else.4. Lack of promotionI will say that I did see ads for the team on NESN during Bruins games (come see tomorrow's stars today in Lowell)! They may have been done by Mike Emrick, can't remember. But for the 12 or so years of AHL affiliation, the word about a team in Lowell did not spread very far. All it could have taken was a billboard on Route 128, a heavily-travelled highway 10 miles from Lowell. Boston's North Shore region, which is home to many current and former Bruins, is a hotbed for local hockey teams. Just a little strategic advertising could have increased the potential attendance. I used to work in that area, and it was surprising to see the number of hockey parents who had no idea the team existed.It also would have helped to keep the team on a radio station with some higher wattage than the tin foil & pie plate job that carried the team in its last season.I've spoken with many front office personnel at the games, whether it was ticket agents, marketing people, even the team president. All of them wanted to stay in Lowell. Aside from the attendance, it was a great location since 6 other franchises were within a 90-minute drive. Not only did that allow for good rivalries, it allowed those teams' fans to make the drives as well. The travel costs were minimal.Unfortunately, The Devils played less than 14 different teams in their three or four seasons. We never got to see teams like Houston, Grand Rapids, Chicago, Rochester or San Antonio. The furthest team that played in Lowell was Norfolk. At least Hershey and Wilkes Barre-Scranton came by, as they always brought a lot of fans as well during their annual New England trips. But it's very boring seeing the same divisional teams repeatedly. The last Canadian team that played in Lowell was either Saint John or Hamilton, and that was when they were the Lock Monsters.Those of us who attended the games were devoted to the team. The 1,000 or so season ticket holders were there from the beginning (for both Lock Monsters and Devils), and the team did recognize us.It was the 3,000 other empty seats per game that killed everything, with my reasons shown above.(I know the math comes to 4,000. But 4,000 should have brought the team out of the bottom third in league attendance). Back-to-Back Fatal Forty Champion 2015 & 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OMMF Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 If this is how you are going to schedule games in and out of the divisions, then what is the :censored:ing point of them?Atlantic DivisionPROVIDENCE BRUINS (BOSTON)Manchester Monarchs (Los Angeles) - 5 H, 5 APortland Pirates (Phoenix) - 5 H, 5 ASt. John's (Winnipeg) - 2 H, 2 AWorcester (San Jose) - 6 H, 6 ANortheast DivisionAdirondack Phantoms (Philadelphia) - 1 H, 1 A Albany Devils (New Jersey) - 2 H, 2 ABridgeport Sound Tigers (New York Islanders) - 4 H, 4 AConnecticut Whale (New York Rangers) - 4 H, 4 ASpringfield Falcons (Columbus) - 5 H, 5 AEast DivisionHershey Bears (Washington) - 1 H, 1 ANorfolk Admirals (Tampa) - 2 H, 2 AWilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (Pittsburgh) - 1 H, 1 AI get that in any divisional system, you are going to have geographical anomalies, but perhaps you should have considered those in the realignment scheme. You really shouldn't be playing 3 teams outside of your division twice as often as a team inside your own division. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLUELANDbeliever Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Kinda topic related: Texas Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan was bumped up to the H.C. position for the Dallas Stars leaving the AHL job open. Gwinnett Gladiators (ECHL) head coach Jeff Pyle has been announced as the new head coach of the Texas Stars. Pyle has been the head coach of the Glads since they moved here in '03 from Mobile. http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/home/headlines/Gladiators_Pyle_hired_to_coach_AHL_Texas_125503093.html BigMac's posts make me want to punch babies.Hockey is weird and I love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rams80 Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 So division opponents are going to have what? 12 games against each division foe? there were years when Peoria didn't venture as far East as Charlotte that often in the ing ECHL.Update: Peoria and Charlotte played twice in 9 years in the ECHL total.And they will play 8 times this season. On 8/1/2010 at 4:01 PM, winters in buffalo said: You manage to balance agitation with just enough salient points to keep things interesting. Kind of a low-rent DG_Now. On 1/2/2011 at 9:07 PM, Sodboy13 said: Today, we are all otaku. "The city of Peoria was once the site of the largest distillery in the world and later became the site for mass production of penicillin. So it is safe to assume that present-day Peorians are descended from syphilitic boozehounds."-Stephen Colbert POTD: February 15, 2010, June 20, 2010 The Glorious Bloom State Penguins (NCFAF) 2014: 2-9, 2015: 7-5 (L Pineapple Bowl), 2016: 1-0 (NCFAB) 2014-15: 10-8, 2015-16: 14-5 (SMC Champs, L 1st Round February Frenzy) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 You could always kick the Eagles out of the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, just south of Fort Collins. 7500+ seats would be enough, no?Or just work with them. They run a class act except for Pankewicz's stripping incident.Kicking a team like the Eagles out of town when they have such a tie to the community would be moronic. Especially when that team has a 300+ game sellout streak. Athletic Director: KTU Blue Grassers Football Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMac Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Was just looking at the Logo map on Icethetics... holy crap Abbotsford is a long way from everyone else GDB... Brothers from other Mothers www.pifflespodcast.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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