A playoff series between two Florida minor league hockey teams concluded Sunday.
This normally wouldn’t generate a whole lot of interest in St. John’s, but because one of the teams was the Orlando Solar Bears, perhaps it should.
At Orlando, the Solar Bears saw their season end with a 5-2 loss to the Florida Everblades, who took their best-of-seven second-round series 4-1. It was also the last game for Orlando as the Toronto Maple Leafs’ ECHL affiliate — that role will be taken over by the new team that is setting up shop in St. John’s.
With the Solar Bears done, it eliminates an impediment to a formal announcement of Toronto’s new affiliation; it’s believed the Maple Leafs didn’t want to do anything in that regard while Orlando was still playing.
Mind you this is not a case of the Leafs relocating a team. They own neither the Solar Bears (who will remain in the ECHL, but with another affiliate) or the one that will play out of Mile One in St. John’s (that’s an expansion entry with local ownership headed up by Dean MacDonald and Glen Stanford).
But the Maple Leafs will have much to say about the hockey operations in St. John’s, something that should become clearer at a still-to-be-announced press conference. And while that press conference won’t come tomorrow — it could be a couple of weeks or more — you can believe preparations for it are now being made.
Whenever it happens, count on more than news about the Leafs hookup. The St. John’s team still also has to announce its name, logo and colours, although the former will be a bit of a formality, as Newfoundland Growlers looks to be the choice.
Last month, “Newfoundland Growlers” became part of a purchased domain name, and a trademark application for “Newfoundland Growlers” was made to the United States Trademark and Patent Office through the ECHL head office in Princeton, N.J., as it relates to apparel and “professional hockey exhibitions.”
The ownership group will be particularly anxious to establish its identity as it has already begun a season ticket drive through a temporary website, Twitter address and Facebook account, all based on “prohockeyisback”, as in prohockeyisback.com.
Season tickets for a 36-game regular season range between $540 and $900 (plus HST and Mile One Centre service fees), but can be secured with a $50 deposit that secures a number for the actual seat selection process (think of the number you get when waiting for hospital services and the resulting queue).
However, current season ticket holders of the National Basketball League of Canada’s St. John’s Edge will have first shot at maintaining their current seats until May 16. After that, people who held season tickets for the American Hockey League’s St. John’s IceCaps, who left town a year ago, will be given a limited period of time to get dibs on their old seats.
Twitter: @telybrendan
