AHL coming to KC

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 8:52 am

Reports of the AHL coming to KC. We lost hockey ever since the IHL folded.

No word on if they would be housed downtown or in a new suburban arena.

KC0KEK · Post by **KC0KEK** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 1:03 pm

My guess is suburban. Unless the owners are confident that the team would draw like the early '90s Blades rather than the late '90s Blades, Kemper is too big.

StL_Dan · Post by **StL_Dan** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 1:26 pm

I will gladly cheer on an AHL team should one settle down in KC. Hopefully, they will be called the "Chiefs".

trailerkid · Post by **trailerkid** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 1:55 pm

NBC Action News reported the team would be owned by the Comets owner and have an affiliation with the Chicago Blackhawks. Jack Harry kept proding the owner about a possible conversion to NHL, and the owner said had had talked to the NHL 6 months ago.

StL_Dan · Post by **StL_Dan** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 2:35 pm

trailerkid wrote:...have an affiliation with the Chicago Blackhawks.

greeeeeeat....if that ends up being the case, i will refuse to root for them. but i will attend games cuz i love hockey.

KC0KEK · Post by **KC0KEK** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 3:48 pm

If we get an AHL team, we'll be able to go to hockey games next season. If we get an NHL team, we won't -- because most likely there'll be a lock-out. An auditor just released a report that paints a pretty bleak picture of most NHL teams' finances -- exactly what you'd expect if the owners plan to dig in their heels aagainst the NHLPA.

KCDevin · Post by **KCDevin** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 3:49 pm

My guess, will be housed in Kemper until the new downtown stadium is built... Or won't come until the downtown stadium is build. Now let's get KC NHL! Then NBA!

(i know, i know, hockey and basketball

)

trailerkid · Post by **trailerkid** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 3:54 pm

I think we need to stay away from NHL until it gets its s@$% together. It is not a stable sport for the city right now and I don't want us to get it and then lose it.

StL_Dan · Post by **StL_Dan** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 4:03 pm

trailerkid wrote:I think we need to stay away from NHL until it gets its s@$% together. It is not a stable sport for the city right now and I don't want us to get it and then lose it.

i agree....nhl caliber hockey is incredible, but needs to get it's stuff together before landing in another city that is questionable at best in it's ability to host a team long term

KC0KEK · Post by **KC0KEK** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 4:12 pm

I agree with Patrick Roy, who said earlier in the week that the NHL should have only 16 teams. It's not just a matter of being in cities with little support for hockey. It's also that even with the influx of European players, the talent is spread pretty thin.

StL_Dan · Post by **StL_Dan** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 4:52 pm

KC0KEK wrote:I agree with Patrick Roy, who said earlier in the week that the NHL should have only 16 teams. It's not just a matter of being in cities with little support for hockey. It's also that even with the influx of European players, the talent is spread pretty thin.

i haven't made up my mind as to whether i agree with the notion that the current number of franchises thin out the talent across the board

more people than ever are playing the game at an elite level

if there is one change i'd like to see made at all levels of professional hockey, it would be to widen the rink to olympic regulation dimensions

there's nothing better than wide open play

they could go ahead and eliminate the red line and/or the two line off-side as well and i'd be just fine. in fact, they could easily do away with the two line right now.

it would be a near impossibility to have all clubs change the dimensions of their rinks

GRID · Post by **GRID** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 11:53 pm

I hope the city gets AHL and they play at Kemper. I will not pay to see the CHL play at that cow barn (leave Hale arena for the horse shows).

KC may be getting back on ice

AHL or CHL could end up returning hockey to town

By RANDY COVITZ

The Kansas City Star

Professional ice hockey, absent from Kansas City for the last three seasons, could be returning as soon as next fall.

The only question is whether it will be in the form of the American Hockey League, which serves as the stepping stone to the National Hockey League, or the Central Hockey League, which is considered a step below the AHL in talent level.

Executives from Global Spectrum, the company that took over management of Kemper Arena last fall, are pursuing an AHL franchise and have approached Comets owner Don Kincaid about owning the club. Meanwhile, Tom Rieger, general manager of NHL 21, the organization trying to attract an NHL franchise to Kansas City, has joined forces with CHL officials in an attempt to bring a club to either Kemper Arena or adjacent Hale Arena.

Kemper has been without a professional hockey tenant since the Blades of the old International Hockey League folded at the end of the 2000-01 season.

â€œWe're pushing harder for the AHL,â€