Hockey: Mulling a team at Memorial

It's a little, "What idea? Renovating the restaurant you don't own? Or spending the 200 million dollars you don't have?" but at least it's good to see the enthusiasm for CIS hockey in St. John's, N.L., which lost the AHL to Toronto and QMJHL to Montreal:
"Currently there are nine Newfoundlanders skating in the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) hockey conference, four in the Ontario university circuit and another two representing United States college teams.

"Imagine for a moment if these players had a chance to remains at home and play varsity hockey at Mile One Stadium?

" ... St. Francis Xavier X-Men coach Brad Peddle says a Memorial hockey team would be one to be reckoned with.

" 'Memorial has the potential to ice a very competitive team in the AUS,' said Peddle, a St. John's native."
Peddle added, "this is strictly from a hockey perspective as there would be significant financial implications to be considered and overcome in respect to Memorial and the existing AUS hockey teams.

"At the same time, I do believe there is potential for a successful hockey program under the right financial model and it is something that would be well-received in Newfoundland."

Again, there is nothing concrete, but it's worth making a meme out of a molehill. There would likely need to be another school starting hockey to keep the AUS' numbers even. There does not seem to be anyone who jumps out (Cape Breton? Mount Allison?).

Related:
Enough talent to fill an AUS roster; Newfoundlanders would have opted for MUN if they had a choice (Dave Salter, St. John's Telegram, Jan. 23)
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2 comments:

  1. I don't see any need to 'keep numbers even'. CW and OUA manage. And in the AUS teams seldom play double-headers, but do play a lot of Wednesdays.

    I would love to see the Newfies join in. They would be like Lakehead for fan support.

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  2. Well since the AUS plays a balanced schedule, it would be a perfect excuse to bump up the season to 32 games, making the players and coaches happy.

    Like when Memorial was in the then AUAA before, you'd play two game sets against them, just like with Lakehead or most of the Canada West games.

    The big issue is money. All of the teams would have to pay for flights to St. John's which isn't cheap, and Memorial will be flying out every second weekend. Yes I know they do it for other AUS sports, but there is obviously a lot more players on hockey team than their other sports.

    And yes, I'm aware Lakehead and Canada West teams deal with this kind of travel, but we're spoiled in the AUS with the longest roadtrip six hours on the bus. As well, I believe only Halifax has direct flights to St. John's.

    All that being said, I agree that there are enough good Newfoundlanders plus recruitable mainlanders to make them a competitive team.

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