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As the fall puck-drop of Hamilton’s new American Hockey League team draws closer, members of the local hockey community — including some fellow tenants of the AHL team’s practice facility — say they’re already loving the buzz that comes with having professional hockey coming back to the city.
“For our players and their families, it will be cool,” said Mitchell Payne, general manager of the Wentworth Gryphins, the senior AAA hockey club based at Harry Howell Twin Pad Arena, where the new AHL team will have its training facility.
“[The AHL team is] going to be in there a lot. We’re going to be in there a lot. So, no question, we’ll cross paths.
“We’re really excited to see what they do there and potentially learn a little bit from how they operate,” he said.
Payne is among many eager future fans of the team looking forward to learning what it will be called. An announcement that will take place May 21, TD Coliseum general manager Nick DeLuco told CBC Hamilton on Tuesday.
The AHL team is part of the New York Islanders organization, which has applied to trademark the names Hamilton Havoc, Hamilton Mustangs and Hamilton Hammers, fuelling speculation over which will be the final choice. Until the end of this season, the team was called the Bridgeport Islanders and based in Connecticut.
Eager spectator Matt Lupal, 49, says he’s hoping for one of the name options that uses alliteration.
“Hammers seems too perfect to pass up but I also like the Havoc,” said Lupal, who describes himself as a diehard Toronto Maple Leafs fan eager to have more local options for live games. “Honestly, the name is secondary, as it’s just exciting to get pro hockey back in the city.”
DeLuco, from TD Coliseum, said his team has received numerous emails from local hockey fans with strong ideas about the team name, and that he has shared those with the Islanders organization and also provided his own feedback.
Single-game tickets to sell for about $30
“There’s been a lot of stuff that’s come into us,” he said in an interview at TD Coliseum. “That was one of the things when we started this renovation and [talking with the team about] coming to Hamilton: how passionate fans were about hockey, how much they missed it, how much they wanted it back.”
He said the stadium has received more than 1,000 deposits of $100 from people interested in season seats, who get to come into the stadium in person and choose where they want to sit, or get their $100 refunded if they change their mind. He said the baseline price is about $875 and that there are 36 home games in the season.
DeLuco said single-game tickets are expected to sell for about $30.
When asked what his team would be doing to try to get butts into seats in the venue, which holds up to 18,000, he several times referenced the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League, a team that is renowned for its theatrical game introductions and high-production off-ice entertainment.
“It’s really bringing the community into the venue and getting people involved,” he said.
City promises public interaction at practice facility
The City of Hamilton, which owns the Harry Howell arena near Waterdown, has promised something similar when it comes to the team’s use of the facility, already a busy hub for local hockey and figure skating.
In announcing the arrangement at the start of April, it said current service levels will not be affected for users of the arena and that there would be open practices, development clinics and other community-focused opportunities, “creating a valuable opportunity for the public to connect with the team and the sport,” the city said.
The city said the arena “will undergo a transformation, including the construction of a two-level AHL-exclusive training facility integrated into the existing arena.”
Payne, of the Wentworth Gryphins, said construction has already begun, and that his club was told it will include a gym, kitchen and media area in a separate but attached building.
He said he was told the AHL team would get ice time daily from 7 a.m. to noon on one of the rinks, and that his team uses the other rink so won’t be affected.
Dawn Nikita, director of community and public relations with the Flamborough Hockey Association, told CBC Hamilton Tuesday she’s been told that her group’s ice time won’t be affected either, since the AHL team will practise in the morning while the youth players are in school.
“It’s going to add some excitement to the hockey community locally here, which as an association, that’s what we want,” she said Tuesday in a phone interview. “We want people coming to our centre. We want people knowing Flamborough.”