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ECHL coming to St. John's, will be affiliated with Leafs

CarltonTheBear

CarltonTheBear

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The yet-to-be-named St. John?s team could officially be introduced as the ECHL?s newest franchise as early as today.

With the expected approval from the league?s board of governors, St. John?s will be the 28th team in the ECHL next season, coming in as an expansion franchise along with the Maine (Portland) Mariners.

There are currently 27 teams in the ECHL, but the Colorado Eagles will be moving to the American Hockey League next season to become the chief affiliate of the NHL?s Colorado Avalanche. The Eagles play out of Loveland, Co., just north of Denver.

St. John?s and Portland will be the seventh and eighth former AHL cities to join the ECHL, with Manchester, N.H., Glens Falls (Adirondack), N.Y., Worcester, Mass., Norfolk, Va., Cincinnati, Ohio and Indianapolis, Ind.

While it has not yet been determined, St. John?s will probably be a part of the North Division with the Manchester Monarchs, Adirondack Thunder, Worcester Railers, Reading, Pa., Royals, Wheeling, W.V., Nailers and Brampton, Ont., Beast.

The new St. John?s will have an affiliation with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs are currently affiliated with the Orlando Solar Bears.
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http://www.thetelegram.com/sports/hockey/echl-ready-to-give-official-approval-to-franchise-for-st-johns-192651/
 
They have announced their name, logo, and colours. The team will be known as the Newfoundland Growlers. http://www.nlgrowlers.com/

Schedule is out as well, very heavy on Brampton and the New England teams. https://www.echl.com/stats/schedule/89/48/all-months/homeaway?league=1
 
Why can't they have a Richmond Hill ECHL team affiliated with the Leafs?  Then I could afford to go to games and see some quasi Leafs prospects play.
 
Zee said:
Why can't they have a Richmond Hill ECHL team affiliated with the Leafs?  Then I could afford to go to games and see some quasi Leafs prospects play.
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Maybe it's reclaiming all the St. John's fans from the AHL Leafs of a decade ago, and siphoning off more Montreal fans from the Maritimes. The Leafs get a ton of love out East when they fire up their training camps for a couple of days out there.

Ricoh is not too bad to get to from the Hill, and they're more pseudo-Leafs than an ECHL squad would be.
 
herman said:
Zee said:
Why can't they have a Richmond Hill ECHL team affiliated with the Leafs?  Then I could afford to go to games and see some quasi Leafs prospects play.
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Maybe it's reclaiming all the St. John's fans from the AHL Leafs of a decade ago, and siphoning off more Montreal fans from the Maritimes. The Leafs get a ton of love out East when they fire up their training camps for a couple of days out there.

Ricoh is not too bad to get to from the Hill, and they're more pseudo-Leafs than an ECHL squad would be.
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I'm lazy, I want to drive 10-15 min tops so Richmond Hill it is!  ;D
 
Leafs make it official:

https://twitter.com/LeafsPR/status/1007255513996771328
https://twitter.com/NLGrowlers/status/1007257811989008387
 
https://twitter.com/NLGrowlers/status/1088501246124834817
https://twitter.com/telyrobinshort/status/1088498600810811392

I haven't really been following the Growlers, but this sucks to see. Clowe has apparently been out indefinitely since November.

Assistant coach John Snowden will take over head coach duties officially, and the Growlers will look for a new assistant.

Clowe's playing career was cut short due to multiple concussions.

Good to see the Leafs organization step up and retain Clowe in a different yet-to-be-specified role.
 
Its a really sad comment on the fact that these concussions can lead to such problems down the road. I really feel for this guy. It leads on to ask where the long term future of contact sports is going. I can see Football as the first candidate to diminish as more and more people turn their kids to Soccer or less violent sports. I can see it going away in 40-50 years.
Perhaps this is why hockey is moving away from Goon hitting and fighting. Not saying you can't get concussed in hockey,  but in Football the fact remains that every single play there is an immense danger for brain injury (and believe me I have been there).
 
https://twitter.com/scottcwheeler/status/1089319420701356033

Robidas is on the island*!!!!

* they?re in Brampton tonight
 
herman said:
https://twitter.com/scottcwheeler/status/1089319420701356033

Robidas is on the island*!!!!

* they?re in Brampton tonight
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Damn, I could have gone to Brampton to watch them play
 
Zee said:
herman said:
https://twitter.com/scottcwheeler/status/1089319420701356033

Robidas is on the island*!!!!

* they?re in Brampton tonight
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Damn, I could have gone to Brampton to watch them play
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Brampton, why would anyone want to go there??  And I grew up in the 60-70's just north of the place before the growth explosion, even worked at the Bacardi plant in Bramalea in my yute
 
https://twitter.com/nlgrowlers/status/1136060382198587393

They are 1 for 1 in Championships.
 
I unfondly remember the Baby Leafs losing the Calder Cup final in their first year in St. John's. Every game was won on the road.
 
Interesting tidbit about the Growlers in Friedman's 31 Thoughts this week:

27. Good nugget from one ECHL governor: several clubs were very unhappy with Newfoundland?s Kelly Cup victory, feeling the Growlers were stacked with players on AHL contracts. They thought it was a competitive imbalance and wanted to restrict the number of players with such status per roster. At the league?s Board meeting last Monday in Las Vegas, the Growlers (represented by Toronto management) didn?t back down, saying they thought it was best for the development of their prospects ? that they see the Growlers as a valuable place to prepare good players who aren?t ready for the AHL. They compared it to the baseball model, where you start at Double-A and move to Triple-A before the majors. It benefits the ECHL if more teams think this way, so the temperature cooled. I thought this was pretty interesting.
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Haha suck it other ECHL teams.
 
Wow.

How did the ECHL and its teams need someone to tell them that more good players in their league makes for a better, more attractive product?
 
herman said:
Wow.

How did the ECHL and its teams need someone to tell them that more good players in their league makes for a better, more attractive product?
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I think it's safe to assume it's more of a money/budget issue for other teams.
 
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