schedule effecting Heats play?

[dobbles]

When talking about the move to B.C., one of the big reasons I felt it was not smart was because of the increased travel it would create. While I was pretty much blasted for having the opinion, I saw this today:

GRAND RAPIDS MI – The Abbotsford HEAT will be talking to the AHL schedule maker at the end of the year as the longest week of the season has drawn to a close. Five games over six nights and 4400 kilometres later, the HEAT turned in a disappointing 1-4 week of work that culminated with a 6-1 drubbing at the hands of the Grand Rapids Griffins on Sunday.

http://www.abbotsfordheat.com/News/H...Griffins6Heat1

While I do realize that this is the worst stretch they will have, the article very much suggests that fatigue is a factor. The big thing in my opinion is not whether or not the players are tough enough to handle it, but that the fatigue and time zone changes can cause players to under-perform (which hurts their value as a prospect) and also could lead to injury because their bodies are not in tip top shape.

Thoughts on this subject are appreciated.

[Scooter]

Originally Posted by fotze

I think when NHL teams try to pick locations for viable farm teams, they have a choice between bleeeding, bleeding ulcer, vomiting or hemmoraging rectum. Each choice has its own lovely things to get through and in most cases it is terminal and you will die in three years.

Hope this is not the scenario in Abbotsford, but with crowds under 3000 the last 2 home games you may be right about this location.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by Scooter

Hope this is not the scenario in Abbotsford, but with crowds under 3000 the last 2 home games you may be right about this location.

Attendance average so far this season is 3,366. I would think the attendance will improve over time..

As for the question on travel... The Calgary Flames also travel a high amount of miles during the regular season (I believe they are in the top 5). Its all part of becoming a Pro.

[dobbles]

Originally Posted by flambers

Attendance average so far this season is 3,366. I would think the attendance will improve over time..

As for the question on travel... The Calgary Flames also travel a high amount of miles during the regular season (I believe they are in the top 5). Its all part of becoming a Pro.

when was the last time the flames (or any nhl team) played 5 games in 6 nights?

while i realize that travel does occur on many levels, the nhl is much more pampered as far as days off before or after travel and having more days off between games.

i would say the heat are becoming pretty unique in their travels.

[604flames]

To be fair, they're winning 2-0 right now, and they look half-decent.

[3 Justin 3]

5 games over 6 nights is ridiculously stupid. At least they managed a win.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by dobbles

when was the last time the flames (or any nhl team) played 5 games in 6 nights?

while i realize that travel does occur on many levels, the nhl is much more pampered as far as days off before or after travel and having more days off between games.

i would say the heat are becoming pretty unique in their travels.

Well that is true....

However the Flames play 14 games in November, which is more games than the Heat play in Oct or Nov (they play total of 13 each Month).

[c.t.ner]

With the Heat and this ridiculous schedule, I think this year is a major experiment for both the league and the owners. It's obvious that the team is at a geographical disadvantage to the other Eastern teams and is pretty isolated from the rest of the League. Because of which this 'baseball' type schedule is a bit of a necessity for the Heat.

But after this year (most likely two years) of experiment there are two real out comes.

1) The first is that the team flops and it turns out that it's not feasible to keep the team in Abbotsford (even with the travel subsidy) and the team moves east again...or at least closer to Texas.

2) It turns out to be a decent success and struggling teams in the East shift towards to the west coast making one or two more viable options in the area to help reduce the travel issues.

It's an unfortunate reality of the Heat. My hope is that things turn around in Abbotsford and outcome #2 occurs.

[PIMking]

With the way the economy is I just cant see teams moving west unless the parent club is taking the hit for everything. It is costing them a ton in abbotsford and do you think people on the west coast are going to open up to lose millions?

I think the east coast or another midwest team would be fine. But its the ahl and teams move all the time so zanier things have happend.

[Flame19,289]

I see that the Heat are also leading the AHL in PIM's. Through 12 games, Abbotsford has 402 PIM's, an average of 33.5 minutes per game.

Is the schedule also having an effect on the PIM's (more holding & tripping type penalties due to fatigue), or is this just a case of the Heat being an overly aggressive team?

[dobbles]

i think that line brawl they got into probably skewed the statistics.

[PIMking]

well with JD, Vadermeer, and Pelech taking atleast 20 mins a game for stupid crap they will be up there all year.