| | ESTERO, Florida -- It is just after lunch time on a warm winter's Sunday afternoon in southwestern Florida and already TECO Arena is just about sold out. There are tickets left for the 6 p.m. game with Jacksonville, but only if a fan is willing to sit alone, or stand.
Southwest Florida, until two years ago the last untapped market for pro hockey down here, loves its Florida Everblades of the East Coast Hockey League.
Counting the Everblades, there are five minor-league teams in Florida, to go along with the NHL's Panthers and Lightning. The IHL has its successful Orlando Solar Bears in Central Florida. The ECHL also has Tallahassee and Pensacola in the panhandle, and Jacksonville's Lizard Kings in the northeast corner.
Despite the recent boom, minor league hockey is not new to the state. Making money at it is, though. The old Eastern Hockey League had the Jacksonville Rockets in the late '60s, then the SunCoast Suns played in St. Petersburg in both the EHL and original Southern Hockey League.
The Sunshine Hockey League -- later the Southern League II -- tried it in the mid-1990s but that was pro hockey only in the broadest interpretation.
The Everblades are thriving in part because of TECO Arena -- new and pleasant and just off I-75 with plenty of parking -- and because GM-Coach Bob Ferguson has assembled one of the ECHL's best teams.
Florida is averaging 7,108 in a building that holds 7,181. The Everblades have sold out every home game since their third of the season. The weather is warm in Southwest Florida, and so is ECHL hockey.
Notes from the AHL
Hartford goaltender Jean-Francois Labbe won his 20th game of the season, giving him 20 wins for five straight years. He's done it with four different teams including Hershey, Cornwall and Hamilton before coming to the Wolf Pack.
The new Wilkes-Barre Penguins sold out 17 of their first 30 home games, despite their battle with St. John's for the league's worst record. The AHL mark for most sellouts in a season is 36 by the defunct Cape Breton Oilers in 1990-91.
When Michel Larocque played his first game in net for the Saint John Flames, he became the 10th man to play goal for Saint John this season. The AHL doesn't keep such records, but nobody can remember any team ever using that many goaltenders in one year.
Long-time AHL veteran center Craig Charron came home via a trade that sent him from St. John's to Lowell. Charron lives near Worcester, just a short drive from Lowell, and sat out the season's first few games after a summer trade between NHL teams transferred him from Lowell to St. John's. In his return game, a 5-1 victory over Springfield, Charron went 3-2-5.
The Cincinnati Mighty Ducks set a franchise record by drawing 10,063 to see a 1-1 tie with Kentucky on Feb. 26.
Hershey's Serge Aubin had back-to-back hat tricks on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27. He has five hat tricks on the season, two short of the league record. Many players have had back-to-back hats, but Aubin's were the first since Martin Gendron in '95. Aubin has a four-game scoring streak, going 8-4-12 in that span.
Rochester started the season with nine consecutive wins. Considering that the Amerks had Martin Biron in goal and a lineup of veteran All-Stars. Biron is gone and most of the All-Stars have season-ending injuries, so Rochester's recent nine-game winning streak is even more impressive. Goalie Mika Noronen has allowed only 12 goals, playing in all nine games during the streak. The Americans are 10-0-2 in their last 12, and Noronen has allowed 18 goals in those games.
Notes from the IHL
The Michigan Wings are creeping up on the Milwaukee Admirals as the teams battle for the last playoff berth in the East. One week after Michigan coach Jim Playfair criticized the Wings' goaltending, Marty Turco responded by stopping 25 shots in a key 1-0 shutout victory at Milwaukee.
The Manitoba Moose made a key acquisition to get ready for the stretch drive and playoffs when they picked up veteran defenseman Barry Richter in a deal with Quebec of the AHL. Richter is a superb offensive-minded blueliner. The Moose sent Patrice Tardif to Quebec in the deal. It's a return home for Tardif, a native of the Province of Quebec.
The Cleveland Lumberjacks have been making news. Owner Larry Gordon has put the team on the selling block for an asking price of $10-11 million, which is incredible by minor-league standards. And veteran Jock Callander finally broke Len Thornson's league scoring record. Callander owns the IHL points record and was part of a Stanley Cup winner in Pittsburgh, and said it's easy to pick the bigger thrill. "There is nothing that compares with the Stanley Cup," he said. "I can't tell you how many Stanley Cups I won in my driveway when I was growing up."
Bill Ballou covers professional hockey and baseball for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette in Worcester, MA. | |
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