Quote:
Originally Posted by D_J
Good season for the Heat, it was a great product for the local fans and they pushed hard against a very good team in the Bulldogs.
I used to have season tickets to the WHL Chilliwack Bruins and due to increasing demands on my time couldn't commit to season tickets for any franchise let alone both. I took in games from both teams this year and in the end I was very impressed with the quality of hockey the AHL brought to town. I am a huge WHL fan but if push came to shove the AHL gave more bang for the buck... The professional game played by men was simply much better than a developmental game played by teenagers.
Looking back after season one I am not sure about the viability of this franchise in Abbotsford though. They lost money which has to be picked up by us the local taxpayer.
It was talked about on Team 1040 today about the possibility of the Canucks farm team moving here if the Jets go back to Winnipeg (with the Heat moving to Saskatoon).
Although I enjoyed having the Heat here and will continue to support them in the future the simple fact is that the Flames are public enemy number one in these parts and if there is a way to make that swap it would likely have a huge impact in the long term success of the AHL on the west coast...
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I agree with the first part of what you said. I went to several Heat games this year, and even though the arena was a bit more than half full for most of the games, I was more than happy.
This was an inaugural season that any Flames fan could have hoped for for the Heat. I mean c'mon, I don't know the statistics, but how many newly established AHL franchises make it to the 2nd round of playoffs (game 6) in their first year?
As both an Abbotsfordian and a Flames fan, I'm proud of this team and proud of how this team was put together in such a short period of time. What was it? 4 or 5 months for the whole franchise to be put together from the ground up?
Let's look to next year: Greg Nemisz (70 Pts), TJ Brodie (56 Pts), Lance Bouma (43 Pts), Mitch Wahl (96 Pts), Gaelan Patterson (59 Pts). These are the players most likely to be joining the Heat next season. This is going to be an offensively powered team. Alot of people on this site seem to think all of our prospects are 2-way grinders. While that may be the case for some of the players, that's not going to be the case next season.
I'm extremely excited for next season to begin, and it just ended.
