Milwaukeehockey.com

Turn and face the strain...

May 16, 2007

Minor league hockey in the summertime can be summed up by one word. Changes.

Roster changes, logo changes, affiliation changes, league changes, city changes. Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes.

News broke this week of the Omaha Knights possibly moving to Moline, IL, current home of the UHL's Quad Cities Mallards. QC has had close calls in recent years to get AHL hockey. San Jose was interested two years ago, but chose Worcester instead, and Edmonton expressed interest in moving their dormant AHL franchise there last year.

FYI - 'Quad Cities' is the name of the urban region, including the Iowa cities of Davenport and Bettendorf, and the Illinois cities of Moline, Rock Island, and East Moline. (Yes, five cities... Bettendorf did not grow until after the phrase was coined.) The hockey arena is in Moline along the banks of the Mississippi River.

The news isn't official, as nobody involved is willing to confirm or deny it, but there are strong signs. Omaha is co-owned and affiliated by the Calgary Flames. Calgary GM Darryl Sutter and other Flames employees were seen in Moline this week, and Omaha's attendance has been among the worst in the league. Anonymous sources broke the story to the local media. We'll have to wait and see how this pans out.

Other recent team news...
- The Hartford Wolf Pack appear to be back for another season, as the city appears to be ironing out the final details on a new arena contract with MSG, who owns the Wolf Pack. The future of the team has been hinging on this deal, which has been up in the air for the last few months.
- The Lowell Devils may be moving to Trenton, home of an ECHL team that would make the step up to the AHL. This would place the New Jersey prospects closer to their NHL home. The web address trentondevils.com currently forwards people to the Trenton Titans ECHL site.

Back to the Omaha/Quad Cities story... This is nothing but positive news for the Milwaukee Admirals. Along with the addition of the Rockford Icehogs (Quad Cities' biggest UHL rival), the division is becoming much more cozier and brings the travel costs down, as Moline and Rockford are close enough to Milwaukee to warrant a drive home after the game instead of getting hotel rooms.

Granted, any time a team moves, the fans (and employees) of the team that moved get the short end of the stick, and I mean no disrespect to them. I met a group of very nice Knights fans in Milwaukee last fall. To them, I express my condolences.

Oh by the way, I updated the Players page to reflect how the roster will change this summer. I will update the charts as I hear news in the coming months.

posted by Todd # 1:22 PM

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