Post by David on Jun 16, 2023 11:42:56 GMT -8
6.16.23 -
WENATCHEE, WA - The Western Hockey League announced on Friday that the Winnipeg Ice have been sold and relocated to Wenatchee, Washington.
The Ice depart the capital city of Manitoba after four seasons and less than a month after the team fell to the Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL Championship. The team has been acquired by an ownership group led by David and Lisa White, who also runs a California based organization called the Shoot the Puck Foundation. He is also the owner of a British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) called the Wenatchee Wild, and will adopt the Wild name and brand into the new WHL franchise for the 2023-24 WHL Season.
According to the WHL's press release, the sale and relocation of the Ice was approved by the WHL's Board of Governors and is effective immediately. As a result, Wenatchee will become the sixth WHL team based in the United States and will join the U.S. Division in the Western Conference.
This marks the fourth city in the history of the Ice franchise, beginning as an expansion team with Edmonton in 1996. The Ice played two seasons in Edmonton before relocating to Cranbrook, British Columbia in 1998 and became the Kootenay Ice for the next 21 seasons. The Ice relocated to Winnipeg following the 2018-19 season, where it has played the last four seasons before its move to Wenatchee.
The WHL cited failure by the Ice's ownership group, 50 Degrees Below + Sports Entertainment Inc, to construct an arena facility that met the league's standards in Winnipeg.
According to the Winnipeg Sun, the Ice's relocation to Winnipeg from Cranbrook included a condition that 50 Degrees Below would build a new rink within a three year window. The plan was for the Ice to play two seasons at Wayne Fleming Arena at the University of Manitoba as a temporary home until the new 4,500 seat facility was built. However, a combination of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 along with the group's inability to get the construction plan off the ground resulted in whispers that the team would be on the move throughout the past season. Per the Sun, 50 Degrees Below was fined $500,000 to come through on an arena.
As a result, the Ice continued to play at Wayne Fleming Arena with no end in sight. The facility was the lowest capacity arena in the WHL with 1,600 seats. The Ice played their home games during the 2023 WHL Championship at the Canada Life Centre, which at the time was seen by fans as a way to pack more fans in for the Championship series versus the Ice's primary home rink. This fueled some fans into thinking that there was close ties between 50 Degrees Below and True North Sports & Entertainment, owners of the NHL's Winnipeg Jets and AHL's Manitoba Moose. However, there is now some speculation that the WHL were the ones behind the shift in venue due to Wayne Fleming Arena being inadequate for hosting a Championship and for better visual appeal on national TV.
The Ice's relocation marks the end of a second attempt at major junior hockey in Winnipeg. The city had previously been the home to the Winnipeg Warriors, who also lasted four seasons. The Warriors would relocate to Moose Jaw following the 1983-84 season, where they would become the Moose Jaw Warriors.
Meanwhile, the Wild will be the third iteration of junior hockey for the city of Wenatchee.
The first Wild were founded in 2008 and were members of the North American Hockey League (NAHL), a Tier II junior League. The Wild played five seasons before making the jump to the BCHL, a Junior A league that is one step below the Canadian Hockey League. However, the Wild would back out and remain in the NAHL, opting to relocate to Hidalgo, Texas and re-brand as the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees.
The second Wild began upon the departure of the first Wild, as the Fresno Monsters of the NAHL moved to Wenatchee and took the name and logo branding. They would play two more seasons in the NAHL before joining the BCHL beginning in 2015-16. The Wild would play eight seasons in the BCHL until the arrival of the WHL team.
“We are very excited as an organization to join the Western Hockey League,” said David White stated in the Wild's press release. "Our vision has always been to operate with the highest level of standards for our players, and we have a responsibility to develop players to the best of our ability and prepare them for the next level. For our players, our community and our organization, this is an incredible opportunity to provide the greatest overall experience in our great sport. The state of Washington is a great hockey state at all levels. We have a home now with an American division that finally provides us with the long-term sustainability we have been searching for."
Winnipeg's relocation to Wenatchee, the Eastern and Western Conference will be balanced with 11 teams per conference. The WHL has not had balanced conferences since the 2005-06 WHL Season, when there were 10 teams per conference. The league has had imbalanced conferences since 2006-07, with expansion addition of the Chilliwack Bruins in the Western Conference and the switching of the Kootenay Ice from the Western Conference to the East. The addition of the Edmonton Oil Kings in 2006-07 put the balance at 12 in the East, 10 in the West, but the WHL never re-aligned the conferences until the Winnipeg relocation to Wenatchee.
With the addition of the Wild, the U.S. Division will increase from five teams to six, and will be the fifth U.S. based team in the state of Washington. Wenatchee, after years of playing as the lone U.S. representative in the BCHL, immediately has American rivals with the Everett Silvertips, Portland Winterhawks, Seattle (Kent) Thunderbirds, Spokane Chiefs, and Tri-City (Kennewick) Americans.
The Wild play their home games at Town Toyota Center. Opened in 2008, the facility seats a capacity of 4,300 for ice hockey & arena football configurations with a maximum of 5,000 for basketball and concerts.
- DKH
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