Calgary's AHL affiliate in Abbotsford played a role in pushing junior hockey out of Chillwack.
There was a time when one would laugh at the notion of the Calgary Flames having any influence in lower-mainland British Columbia.
Alberta's southern-most National Hockey League team had no place in another Canadian province -- particularly not in a city so close to a division rival. But in 2009, the Flames set up shop in Abbotsford, a stone's throw from Vancouver, and the ripple effects from their farm team shook the balance of the Western Hockey League on Wednesday.
The WHL confirmed its worst-kept secret by announcing the Chilliwack Bruins were on the move for the provincial capital of Victoria on Vancouver Island. While junior hockey fans in Victoria are the beneficiaries, the Flames won't expect any thank you cards from those in Chilliwack.
The WHL franchise in Chilliwack will be considered nothing more than collateral damage for the Flames' AHL experiment.
Although the Victoria marketplace has long been sought by the WHL, the Bruins' move to Victoria is largely precipitated by the American Hockey League's arrival in Abbotsford two years ago. As it turns out, the lower-mainland wasn't big enough for two teams from differing leagues beyond the Greater Vancouver boundaries.
"The reality is it's two Starbucks on the same corner," departing Bruins majority-owner Darryl Porter said on The Hawk radio station in Chilliwack on Wednesday.
Brian Burke, general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs and part-owner of the Bruins, took it a step further when discussing the impact the AHL had on the Bruins.
"You're talking about cannibalizing the common ticket base," Burke said.
The nail in the Bruins' coffin, however, was that the team was never able to renegotiate its lease with its home facility, the Prospera Centre.
"To me, it has hurt the business -- it's beyond dispute," Burke said of the AHL's arrival in Abbotsford. "(If the AHL's Heat was) the only issue, we'd have stuck it out and figured out a way. In fact, when the process happened and Abbotsford was approved (for an AHL franchise), we discussed this and we said, ‘We're not going anywhere.' But when it did impact our business and we couldn't get any lease modifications, it didn't make sense."
Needless to say, the Calgary Flames aren't making many friends in the Chilliwack community.
The same may not be said for hockey fans in the provincial capital. The process of bringing the Bruins (who will be renamed) to Victoria began on Jan. 13. The Bruins' ownership group gave the league their wish to pursue a new owner on the Island and the wheels could not be slowed once set in motion.
Regardless of the circumstances surrounding the WHL's return to Victoria, this is now a major coup for the junior league. Victoria has always been the most attractive market not named Winnipeg in Western Canada that wasn't already home to a junior team. But it wasn't until the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre was built in 2005 that the city once again became a viable destination.
With many rumours circulating about the possible relocation of the Phoenix Coyotes back to Winnipeg, the Vancouver Canucks' farm team had also been linked in rumours to Victoria. The WHL protected its most desirable marketplace from the threat of another AHL team by getting there first.
"There was a strong feeling in the community that the WHL was the appropriate league for this market," WHL commissioner Ron Robison told sportsnet.ca. "This was honestly the second-most influential market in B.C. and we wanted to occupy it if we could. It was strategically part of our plan for quite some time and we decided this was the right opportunity."
The only opportunity, really. Fans in Chilliwack may resent the fact the league made Victoria, and not Chilliwack, the priority for the Bruins' franchise. Chilliwack needs to get its house in order, meaning a friendlier lease given the AHL's intrusion in its territory.
"We believe that Chilliwack could be a viable market under the right conditions," Robison said. "The right conditions largely are the ownership group, lease terms that will allow us not only to make a franchise viable, but to ensure it could be operating there in a healthy fashion long-term.
"Is it a viable market? Yes. Under the right conditions."
While the rumour-mill suggests Chilliwack could receive another team in the not-too-distant future, Robison doesn't anticipate it coming through expansion.
"Our original plan was not to exceed 20 teams," he said. "One of the considerations (when considering Victoria) was if we should go beyond 22 teams and we just felt that was not an option. Too much demand on the talent pool and that was ultimately our decision. We just didn't feel we could expand further."
As for the new team in Victoria, fans in the new city can expect a lot of double-headers for home-stands due to travel restrictions. The goal has always been for two teams on the Island, and Robison essentially threw the challenge out to Nanaimo.
"It would be up to Nanaimo to develop the facility and it would be up to us to have a team available to relocate to Nanaimo," he said.
Although it took 17 years for the WHL to return to the City of Gardens, fans in Victoria may be forgiven for developing a small allegiance to the Flames.
