Nothing new to report today so I'm just going to run with one thing I poached from Gregg Drinnan....check out this story in today's Regina Leader-Post.
Sounds like the league is ready to arm the ejection seat for the Warriors if Moose Jaw city council doesn't finally act on something they've been talking seriously about for at least five years, if not more. And really, who can blame the league; they've been very patient on this issue and doesn't enough have to be enough sometime? The people of Moose Jaw voted in a referendum in 2006 to proceed on a new rink, and if their city council still doesn't want to spend the money, that's fine....but then the league needs to start investigating potentially revoking and/or relocating the franchise. The Warriors are the last team in the league playing in a sub-par building....Swift Current and Prince Albert upgraded their rinks and it's high time the Moose Jaw people did the same for theirs.
Some good comments in there.....like Warriors GM Chad Lang admitting that playing in a dump is starting to impact the team's ability to recruit players. And the always-colorful Regina GM Brent Parker says "If their city council is too stupid to build a rink, then they get what they deserve. It would be a shame, but see you later".
So: the Warriors need to have a new facility in place for September 2009 to meet the league's deadline....that's about 18 months away and given that they haven't even broken ground (heck, they haven't even settled on a location or a design), I would say the chances of having the new rink finished by then are around zero. What do you think - should the league give them an extension on the deadline? I have set up a poll on the left side of the page if you want to offer your two-bits....
Victoria has a nice new rink and might want a WHL team again....so does Winnipeg. And wouldn't THAT be interesting since the Warriors were originally the Winnipeg Warriors before they moved to Moose Jaw in 1984.
3 comments:
Alan--
I voted yes, but I stand by that vote ONLY IF the city council proceeds with the project. If they keep stalling and not move forward then NO.
That's my feeling as well....they can have an extension as long as the building is well under construction by the original deadline. That gives them 18 months to finalize the funding, pick a site and a building plan, tender construction offers on it, and break ground.
If they can't get that done by then, then they aren't trying hard enough and that should be the ballgame.
Victoria may have a new arena but they also have the Salmon Kings. It would be unlikly to move to Victoria unless Nanaimo was included so there would be two teams on Vancouver Island.
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