[Professional Blog] Breaking the bank in Central

Ill go out on a limb here and predict the Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts will win the Herder this season. Ill branch out from that prognostication and suggest it will be their last chance at the provincial senior crown because there wont be a team there come the fall of 2010. And I think the management knows it. Or at least, they arent ruling it out. The rumours about who the Cats have recruited for the 2009-10 campaign are swirling and it would appear the Conception Bay North CeeBee Stars could be the worst hit. The team has allegedly lost the services of former Avalon East scoring leader Sean Wadden, uber-talented sophomore Matthew Thomey and the wunderkind brothers Delaney, Keith and the younger Ryan, all to the Grand Falls-Windsor club. The Delaneys, its said, are set to take in about $750 per game plus expenses. No word on what Wadden and Thomey would cull, but considering their services are surely needed elsewhere, Id guess their remuneration is enough to make anyone want to drive halfway across the island every weekend for seven months through the fall and winter. And these salaries dont include what theyre paying other new recruits apparently the Mount Pearl Blades Doug Jewer was snatched up as well and existing imports such as two-time defenseman of the year and former pro Martin Lapointe. Not to mention what the local guys are getting. If the rumours are true and those players end up in GFW and new coaches Paul Glavine and Brian Gruchy can pull the chemistry together, any team in the West, including the defending champ Clarenville Caribous, are in tough this year. Next year? Not so much so. There are few towns in this province as hard hit on an economic scale as the town of Grand Falls-Windsor. Times have been tight since the closure of the Mill and theyre only going to get tighter. Like many senior teams in the province, the Cats get a tidy sum of cash from the local town council to help offset costs. Its not a fortune, by any means, but it certainly helps pay the bills. But what if the bills double, possibly triple? I cant see the town chipping in any more cash in light of their seriously depleted tax base and while a few more fans will show up, it wont amount to a lot as the Cats have never had a problem drawing fans. Management has to be aware of this, so why not go for broke (quite literally) this year? It could be the last.