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Old 11-22-2018, 10:43 AM   #21
Matty81
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Winnipeg makes the most sense as much as I don't like saying it.

Nanaimo would be a good spot and would have a team if they had a decent rink. Now that Victoria is thriving, the travel, rivalry and population make sense. At least if Kelowna is any indication, a real good fan base for junior hockey season ticket holders is seniors. I can't see them building an expensive 5-6k rink there though.

Fort McMurray for me would be a perfect market, loads of disposable income and Edmonton type conditions with not much to do in the winter. Their old AJHL rink again is not suitable for the dub and they've had a disaster trying to build a new downtown rink due to a number of factors.

I think Grand Prairie would be third... they didn't even manage an AJHL team until the 90s and got that by building that new rink for the Canada Games, odds of them building a new stadium are probably the longest given their 2.9k seater is still pretty new.

But ultimately in this day and age the deciding factor is finding willing and rich owners who want to plunk their money down and build a nice new rink and establish a strong program in a market.

PG has bad travel but they have a worse program, their recruiting sucks because no one wants to live in the city or play for a team with such a bad reputation for development/success. Good programs can draft NCAA commits late and convince them to come, look at what the Rockets just did with Trevor Wong, or guys like Bowey in the past those were like getting gifted top 3-5 picks.
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