Quote:
Originally Posted by Alberta_Beef
So Horak should be helping since he was a Chiliwack Bruin? Alot of people in the area are Canuck fans and not hockey fans.
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That is very true - but I think it is common in most areas. Most 'fans' are just fans of their respective teams across the league. I would bet most Calgary fans don't log into online forums like Calgary Puck. They only watch hockey if Calgary is playing.
For instance, none of my close friends have any clue how the Flames' prospects are doing, and most of them didn't even know the affiliate was the Heat. These are fans that have started watching hockey ever since the Flames came to the city, and they split season tickets. These fans would NEVER go to an AHL game. They have only gone to a few WHL games because they scored free tickets. I would classify these as the 'average' fan.
However, I still think that the Heat can do 'ok' in that market as time goes on. They do have what - 2000 tickets at the arena on average? Something like that, anyways. I think if the Heat go on a run this year, they can improve on that. People support 'winners'. They would start drawing a crowd after a while.
As for Horak (Howse - though in the ECHL now, Bouma and whomever else is from BC or played Junior hockey in BC), I do think that helps get a few fans to at least check out a game or two, and then hopefully they start to enjoy the product on the ice. I think the Heat are definitely more 'likeable' this year - more skill, more success and a much more entertaining product, I think. It is definitely good hockey, and I think it will actually surprise some people at how good it really is.
By the way - are the attendance figures league-wide down from last year still? I believe after the first week, they were down from last year. Are they still lower? I am sure the Heat have higher than last year due to the Chicago and OKC games - skewed average in such a small sample - but I wonder how the rest of the league is doing.