First Year Teams Matchup
February 5, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Utica Comets News Release
It's pretty cool how many different ways there are to reach the same outcome. It happens in life all the time. Two people can hold the same job with completely different backgrounds, education or even prior work experience. Sometimes these people even cross paths to get there, but in the end, their route was unique.
When the Utica Comets and Iowa Wild meet tonight, it marks the first time that two different paths, with the same end goal in mind, will finally cross. This summer, the American Hockey League saw two changes made from the prior season, as the Houston Aeros moved to Des Moines to become the Wild and the Peoria Rivermen moving to the Mohawk Valley where they became the Comets.
In that regard, on paper at least, the AHL is kind of like a reality television show. At the end of the day, all you'll see in five years is how there were two different names in the standings and that's the end of it. Kind of like on the Jersey Shore, when Angelina was no longer a fit, so they brought in Deena and everything was peachy keen again.
In reality, however, it's not as simple as just moving a piece out and moving another one in to replace it, which comes back to the Comets and Wild. Both organizations moved to cities with at least some kind of history in the AHL, but never was anything set in stone. Iowa hosted the Stars and Chops from 2005-2009 and Utica hosted the Devils from 1987-1993
Lets start with Iowa. Des Moines is a market that just screams what the AHL is looking for and probably one they never wanted to lose. Iowa lost its original team when the Chops were suspended by the AHL after the 2009 season. The franchise never recovered and Iowa was without AHL hockey for four seasons.
Iowa averaged well over 4,500 fans per season during its four-year stay in the league. The area, with a population of over 200,000 people, calls the Wells Fargo Center home, a multi-purpose arena with a capacity of over 15,000 for hockey. When the Minnesota Wild and the Toyota Center in Houston were unable to agree on an agreement, Iowa was certainly towards the top of the list for relocation.
Things were made official on April 16, and have moved swimmingly ever since as the affiliate Wild saw over 10,000 fans in their building on opening night. The team is currently averaging 5,908 fans per game, well over their best season as either the Stars or Chops. Hockey fans in Iowa have treated the game like it never left at all.
Fast forward two months and the ravenous city of Utica, New York joined the fold. At the surface, Utica was not the city you would be drawn to right away to host a professional sports team. Utica had a population of only 60,000 people and was, although to no fault of its own, a market that had not held an AHL team in 20 years. The arena, The Utica Memorial Auditorium, had plenty of history, but needed quite a bit of work to get back to AHL standards.
A fan base showed through their support for the Utica Pioneers' Division III hockey team that they were AHL worthy. The Pioneers have led all division three teams in the United States in attendance for seven seasons running and were a driving force behind bringing the AHL to Utica.
Utica had more selling to do than Iowa did, but it was the people involved that closed the gap. Team President Robert Esche made weekly, sometimes bi-weekly trips to Albany to press and show anyone who wanted to hear how badly Utica needed this team. The Comets became official on June 14. And the rest, as they say, is history.
When the Comets and Wild take to the ice this evening at the Wells Fargo Arena, it will be about much more than just the on ice result. Tonight marks the culmination of a journey that's been in the making since these teams began preparation in the summer.
Having been a part of the revolution in Utica, it has certainly been something extraordinary, and I'm sure that anyone affiliated with the Wild would say the same thing. When the puck drops tonight, we will finally see the visualization of these two paths crossing. As it has been for both franchises this season, it's sure to be something special.
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American Hockey League Stories from February 5, 2014
- Griffins Blanked by Monsters, 4-0 - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Utica Squeezes Past Iowa 3-2 in a Shootout - Iowa Wild
- Admirals Top Bulldogs 4-2 - Hamilton Bulldogs
- Portland Bests Binghamton 5-1 - Binghamton Senators
- Amerks Win Streak Halted in 4-1 Loss to Crunch - Rochester Americans
- Monsters Win 4-0 in Grand Rapids - Cleveland Monsters
- Special Night on Special Teams Leads Pirates Past Senators 5-1 - Portland Pirates
- Syracuse Snaps Skid with 4-1 Win in Rochester - Syracuse Crunch
- IceCaps Down Bruins 4-3 in Shootout - St. John's IceCaps
- P-Bruins Earn Point in 4-3 Shootout Loss to IceCaps - Providence Bruins
- Falcons Announce AHL Bubble Hockey - Springfield Falcons
- Heat Pink in the Rink this Sunday - Abbotsford Heat
- Toronto Marlies Weekly - Toronto Marlies
- Minnesota Wild Acquires Curt Gogul from San Jose for Chad Rau - Iowa Wild
- McCudden Going to Sochi with Women's Olympic Team - Chicago Wolves
- Crunch Weekly - Syracuse Crunch
- Rampage Open Road Trip with a Point in Shootout Loss to Marlies - San Antonio Rampage
- Wolf Pack's Bourque More Than Just An Energy Guy - Hartford Wolf Pack
- Gameday: Comets at Iowa - Utica Comets
- Comets Sign Kaunisto - Utica Comets
- First Year Teams Matchup - Utica Comets
- Anaheim Recalls Etem; Reassigns Steckel to Norfolk - Norfolk Admirals
- Texas Stars Return Montgomery to Idaho Steelheads - Texas Stars
- Abbott to Join Brennan at AHL All-Star Classic - Toronto Marlies
- Marlies Sign Nagy to PTO, Recall Duco from Orlando - Toronto Marlies
- Pirates Look for Payback in Only Visit to Binghamton - Portland Pirates
- Canucks Recall Pelletier - Utica Comets
- Comets Fall to Chicago - Utica Comets
- Hogs Stave off Charging Dogs - Rockford IceHogs
- Heat Beat Checkers 7-1 - Abbotsford Heat
- Heat Score Early, Often in Win over Checkers - Charlotte Checkers
- Barons Sweep Stars with 5-2 Win - Oklahoma City Barons
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