Did you know that there were two professional hockey teams in the Greater Vancouver region? Unfortunately, the key word here is “were.”
In addition to our NHL team, the Vancouver Canucks, there used to be an American Hockey League (AHL) team, the Abbotsford Heat. The AHL is a lower-tiered professional league that serves as a farm team. This is where either young players develop or where players who don’t quite cut it in the NHL play.
The Heat, who came to Abbotsford in 2009, served as a farm team to the Calgary Flames, which meant that fans got to see future NHL players rise to the Flames, like Sven Baertschi and Max Reinhart.
However, the team suffered from low attendance and presumably didn’t make too much money. On weekends, the attendance was pretty pitiful, and it was easy to shuffle from your lower priced seats to empty rink-side ones. I don’t even want to know how empty a weeknight must have been.
I understand why tickets didn’t sell.
To start with, they were the Calgary Flames’ farm team in Vancouver territory. I can’t imagine any Canucks fan liking the Flames. As a matter of fact, they are my least favourite team (aside from the Bruins, that is).
I would guess most don’t want to venture to Abbotsford to catch a game.
This may be a bit harsh, but I would wager that my sentiments are hardly unique. The players are being groomed to face the Canucks, a thing most fans would (an-’ould cheer for a team that wears, essentially, Flames jerseys? It doesn’t help that those jerseys are nearly identical to the Flames’, with matching colour schemes right down to the Flames’ unique shoulder flag crests.
It should be noted the few games that really did sell were those against the Canucks’ farm team — proof, perhaps, that being associated with the Flames probably hurt their sales.
However, it’s not all on the fact that the two teams are essentially the same. Location probably didn’t help too much either. Abbotsford is just not a good enough location for a pro team. It’s very small, and I would guess that most people don’t want to venture that far away to catch a game.
In the last few games, even the Utica Comets (the Canucks’ new AHL affiliates) did not draw that many people to the Heat. That’s the writing on the wall: if the Canucks can’t draw in fans, no one can.
Finally, Abbotsford was the only AHL team on the West Coast with the rest of the teams located in the east. This has no impact on the fans, but it may hinder player development, with extra travel time and odd schedules to accommodate.
You’re probably thinking I had some grudge against the Heat, but I loved going to games. They had cheap tickets (hovering around $20), cheap concession foods, along with an entertaining, high-level game to watch. Plus, they displayed the prospects of both the Flames and whoever they faced.
Sure, I cheered against them each time. I hate to say it, but with them gone, I find myself sentimental for the Flames. It’s no doubt the Heat will be missed.
(A)side jab: This year the Canucks actually have some prospects to watch on their farm team, and now the one way to watch them up close has been taken away. Really?
