NHL Hockey

[buczfan4014]

Yea? We have a team here too. The Peoria Riverman. I don't know if you've ever heard of them. But they are the AHL affiliate of the St. Louis Blues. Although I'm not a Blues fan, I've been to Scottrade Center twice. I'm a Minnesota Wild fan. I would love to go to Excel Energy Center and see a game.

[GA Cat Fan]

Yes, I've heard of the Rivermen. I think they once were in the ECHL, but they moved up to the AHL.

What I don't like about our league is when you get a really good player, chances are they will get called up to the AHL for a tryout. Sometimes, they never come back. I know the ECHL is a developmental league, and all teams go through call-ups, but usually in our case, we suffer greatly when we lose our best guys. It doesn't seem to bother the other teams so much. Right now our team is doing pretty well, but we need to keep winning in order to make the playoffs. Normally we are a middle of the pack team. We have some good players this year, and some quality goalies. Hopefully, we can continue to win.

[buczfan4014]

Yes, the Riverman were once in the ECHL, won the Kelly Cup in oh man...'02 maybe, don't wuote me on that..But the RIverman have the same problem with call-ups. We have quality players, but the Blues have been so bad the past years, theyve been callin up so many young players. Were out of the playoff picture right now, but we got Toivenen back, so we should be winnin, and makin the playoffs. Lets hope so..

[Arkansas Falcon]

We used to have 2 minor league hockey teams. The Arkansas Glaciercats of the Western Professional Hockey League and the Arkansas Riverblades of the East Coast Hockey League. Arkansas just never got into ice hockey too well.

[buczfan4014]

Yea, Arkansas sems like a football state, but I would be too if we had McFadden. But yea, hockey is kinda big up here. I wish it was bigger. But I can't control that. SO idk.

[GA Cat Fan]

	Quote:			Originally Posted by Arkansas Falcon
	We used to have 2 minor league hockey teams. The Arkansas Glaciercats of the Western Professional Hockey League and the Arkansas Riverblades of the East Coast Hockey League. Arkansas just never got into ice hockey too well.

I remember the Riverblades. I am pretty sure we played them a few times. I think they were only around a season or two.

I am actually surprised we still have a team here. This is our 10th season. We almost folded up last season, but the only thing that saved our team was a group of buyers took them over from someone else, who was actually trying to shut the team down. We have a small arena, and don't even half-fill it on any given night. I hope hockey continues here, but I don't see how it can much longer without fan support.

[buczfan4014]

Yea, we were the Riverblades, Prancers, and one other one, but I dont remember it right now. Um, we only have an arena that holds just over 20,000. How big is oyur arena?

[GA Cat Fan]

20,000 !!! Wow! That is as big as some NHL arenas. Ours only holds 8500. It has only sold out for hockey two or three times in the entire 10-year period the team has been here. We used to have respectable crowds for quite a few years, and then attendance gradually fell off every year. I guess people got over their fascination with the sport and went back to doing other things. This is also primarily a golfing town (the Masters tournament), so that doesn't help either.

Now, on a good night, you may get 2500-3000 people in the stands. There was talk about building a new arena in town, but it got voted down every time it came up in the elections. There is hardly any other type of entertainment (concerts, shows, etc.) that wants to come to such a small building, so I don't know if we will ever get a bigger one or not.

[buczfan4014]

Yea, it is really big, but yea, any town where the Masters takes place is a golfing town. Lol. Yea, a new arena would be nice here.

[Grrrowlguy]

I used to make the Greenville Grrrowl games all the time! I used to love to go to the Augusta games vs Greenville cause the Augusta crowd was always so rowdy! We have been back twice since the Grrrowl folded but I dont get to enough hockey games and have 6 teams decently close, 4 ECHL and 2 NHL.