UML offseason looking towards 2010/11 season

[UMLGoon]

Re: UML offseason looking towards 2010/11 season

lowell devils: out.

[UMLFan]

Re: UML offseason looking towards 2010/11 season

lowell devils: out.

Bye-bye now ... bye-bye.

[Gainzo]

Re: UML offseason looking towards 2010/11 season

Bye-bye now ... bye-bye.

Yep.

The Sun article stated that the Devils pay $150k in rent. That is ridiculous as they have 40 home games (150,000 divided by 40 = $3,750 per game).

The University can easily make up the $150k.

Good riddance Devils*

*I do feel bad for the handful of fans who supported minor league hockey in Lowell.

[Federal League]

Re: UML offseason looking towards 2010/11 season

Even though I still insisted on calling them the Lock Monsters, I'll miss them. I think I've only been to one game since I've been in college, but I always had fun when I went. It was cheap, good hockey. One positive for UML is that it will probably mean more local kids and teams will go to River Hawks games. Growing up, my teams always went to Lock Monsters games instead of River Hawks games for whatever reason.

[Gainzo]

Re: UML offseason looking towards 2010/11 season

Even though I still insisted on calling them the Lock Monsters, I'll miss them. I think I've only been to one game since I've been in college, but I always had fun when I went. It was cheap, good hockey. One positive for UML is that it will probably mean more local kids and teams will go to River Hawks games. Growing up, my teams always went to Lock Monsters games instead of River Hawks games for whatever reason.

The Devils have averaged around 2,000 a game the last few years while UML has doubled that. Their are tons of youth hockey teams and kids at UML games nowadays.

It's very cheap and 99% of the UML games are on Friday or Saturday nights.

As I said a few pages ago minor league hockey was never going to work in Lowell. The Lock Monsters were a nice attraction when they started but the nature of the AHL means the teams don't really have their own identity.

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the Lowell AHL team affiliated with Ducks, Islanders & Devils since their inception??

I'm 100% behind Marty on this move. The AHL was a disaster in Lowell.

[Federal League]

Re: UML offseason looking towards 2010/11 season

The Devils have averaged around 2,000 a game the last few years while UML has doubled that. Their are tons of youth hockey teams and kids at UML games nowadays.

It's very cheap and 99% of the UML games are on Friday or Saturday nights.

As I said a few pages ago minor league hockey was never going to work in Lowell. The Lock Monsters were a nice attraction when they started but the nature of the AHL means the teams don't really have their own identity.

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the Lowell AHL team affiliated with Ducks, Islanders & Devils since their inception??

I'm 100% behind Marty on this move. The AHL was a disaster in Lowell.

Not sure about the Ducks, but I definitely remember the Islanders, Hurricanes and Flames (and Devils obviously). I don't think they were ever the Flames alone, but I think it was the Flames and Canes at one point. I'm not arguing that it wasn't destined to fail (I think anyone who followed the situation would agree it was), but I'll still miss them.

Edit -- According to Wikipedia:
Islanders 1998-2000
Islanders/Kings 2000-01
Hurricanes 2001-03
Hurricanes/Flames 2003-05
Hurricanes/Avalanche 2005-06
Devils 2006-10

[Gainzo]

Re: UML offseason looking towards 2010/11 season

Not sure about the Ducks, but I definitely remember the Islanders, Hurricanes and Flames (and Devils obviously). I don't think they were ever the Flames alone, but I think it was the Flames and Canes at one point. I'm not arguing that it wasn't destined to fail (I think anyone who followed the situation would agree it was), but I'll still miss them.

Edit -- According to Wikipedia:
Islanders 1998-2000
Islanders/Kings 2000-01
Hurricanes 2001-03
Hurricanes/Flames 2003-05
Hurricanes/Avalanche 2005-06
Devils 2006-10

I was thinking of the Kings (Kings/Ducks who cares!). Either way that lineup pretty much explains why the AHL didn't work in Lowell.

ULowell/UML gives the City and the surrounding area a sense of pride when it comes to hockey.

The Spinners pack the house because they are affiliated with the Red Sox. I doubt they would get 500 to a game if they were an independent team.

I spent many years in Lowell and have some close friends from my years there. Lowell natives are fiercely loyal to their City and they get behind UML hockey when they are good*

*Once a decade!

[boblav1]

Re: UML offseason looking towards 2010/11 season

Lowell Sun article. Meehan: Devils hockey not gone yet

[Patronick]

Re: UML offseason looking towards 2010/11 season

No need for the smokescreen, Marty, we all know the Devils are history. I would have liked to see what the proposal would have been for them to stay. I can hear Marty now: "Gentlemen! High six figures and we're in business!"

[mikeinlowell]

Re: UML offseason looking towards 2010/11 season

The Devils are out because the Sun drove them out. The city BEGGED the AHL to get a team so they could justify building the arena...and then the sun made them look greedy for doing it. The picture on the front page today is the first they have run in years. If they could separate their news staff from their editorial staff then maybe we would have a real newspaper in the city. Hard to do from bankruptcy but still...

[UMLGoon]

Re: UML offseason looking towards 2010/11 season

The Devils are out because the Sun drove them out. The city BEGGED the AHL to get a team so they could justify building the arena...and then the sun made them look greedy for doing it. The picture on the front page today is the first they have run in years. If they could separate their news staff from their editorial staff then maybe we would have a real newspaper in the city. Hard to do from bankruptcy but still...

hey look it's doesn't understand the situation guy

the team, when it was still the lock monsters and was drawing a decent amount (still not good, but kind of bottom of the middle of the pack), made no money, but at least had an identity among the locals, had a sweetheart lease and were a half-decent hockey team.

then the devils came to town, changed the team's name, and were immediately awful.

since there are no attendance figures from before 2005-06, the last year as the lock monsters, i guess we'll have to start with that:

year       team name     total pts     playoffs?     attendance      att. rnk
2005-06    'monsters     72               n              3635        4th worst
2006-07    devils        88               n              2801            worst
2007-08    devils        62               n              2192            worst
2008-09    devils        79               n              2293            worst
2009-10    devils        88               y              2498            worst

these were losing teams playing in front of an empty building and costing the city (now the school) money.

basically they ran themselves out of town by being awful. the lock monsters missed the playoffs three years out of eight, the devils missed them three years out of four. no one wants to pay more money to see a devils game than a lowell game if they're also going to lose.

and not to be forgotten is that the changeover from lock monsters to devils was the first major roster overhaul in about six years, and people had gotten accustomed to seeing hurricanes farmhands in lowell, and seeing them succeed for the most part.

second point: do you think marty honestly gives a **** what the morons at the sun think? hell, if the sun was really behind this nefarious plot to run a crap hockey team no one watches out of town, wouldn't they have done it two years ago when the devils' lease ran out the first time, and they were still losing money, but signed them to another one that was far more beneficial to the devils than the city because the city councilors wanted lowell to be viewed as being the kind of place that can support an AHL franchise?

so the arena and therefore the city was losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, and the city sold the arena to the school just to get the problem off their hands. was marty supposed to let the arena operate at a huge loss just so 2200 people or so could halfheartedly root for a team that loses every game 3-2?

the writing has been on the wall for about three seasons now: the devils weren't long for the merrimack valley.

because as it turns out, the problem, given the disparity in attendance between college hockey and AHL attendance in the U's favor, wasn't that it COULDN'T support it, it's that it didn't want to.

and that's why there are no more lowell devils.

[Patman]

Re: UML offseason looking towards 2010/11 season

No need for the smokescreen, Marty, we all know the Devils are history. I would have liked to see what the proposal would have been for them to stay. I can hear Marty now: "Gentlemen! High six figures and we're in business!"

I think Marty is playing both sides... don't want to give an instant bone of contention if he runs for higher office. People could point to driving out an AHL team for a middle-level town as an example of negative influence. Of course this is by far the right thing to do... but not many outsiders are going to think yielding to a college is better than yielding to a minor-pro team. People outside would say "what the hell are those chuckleheads doing".

[boblav1]

Re: UML offseason looking towards 2010/11 season

Tough break for the school. The sold out Drake show scheduled for tomorrow night at the Tsongas has been postponed. http://www.lowellsun.com/breakingnews/ci_14976389

[boblav1]

Re: UML offseason looking towards 2010/11 season

Carter Hutton signs with San Jose.

Carter Hutton's NHL career with the Philadelphia Flyers lasted just one day. If UMass Lowell's All-Hockey East and All-New England goaltender makes it to the NHL again, he'll probably be wearing the sweater of the San Jose Sharks. Hutton has signed a contract with the Sharks, who are expected to formally announce the signing after their quest for the Stanley Cup is over.

http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_14982100....lowellsun.com

[pressbox]

Re: UML offseason looking towards 2010/11 season

hey look it's doesn't understand the situation guy

the team, when it was still the lock monsters and was drawing a decent amount (still not good, but kind of bottom of the middle of the pack), made no money, but at least had an identity among the locals, had a sweetheart lease and were a half-decent hockey team.

then the devils came to town, changed the team's name, and were immediately awful.

since there are no attendance figures from before 2005-06, the last year as the lock monsters, i guess we'll have to start with that:

year       team name     total pts     playoffs?     attendance      att. rnk
2005-06    'monsters     72               n              3635        4th worst
2006-07    devils        88               n              2801            worst
2007-08    devils        62               n              2192            worst
2008-09    devils        79               n              2293            worst
2009-10    devils        88               y              2498            worst

these were losing teams playing in front of an empty building and costing the city (now the school) money.

basically they ran themselves out of town by being awful. the lock monsters missed the playoffs three years out of eight, the devils missed them three years out of four. no one wants to pay more money to see a devils game than a lowell game if they're also going to lose.

and not to be forgotten is that the changeover from lock monsters to devils was the first major roster overhaul in about six years, and people had gotten accustomed to seeing hurricanes farmhands in lowell, and seeing them succeed for the most part.

second point: do you think marty honestly gives a **** what the morons at the sun think? hell, if the sun was really behind this nefarious plot to run a crap hockey team no one watches out of town, wouldn't they have done it two years ago when the devils' lease ran out the first time, and they were still losing money, but signed them to another one that was far more beneficial to the devils than the city because the city councilors wanted lowell to be viewed as being the kind of place that can support an AHL franchise?

so the arena and therefore the city was losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, and the city sold the arena to the school just to get the problem off their hands. was marty supposed to let the arena operate at a huge loss just so 2200 people or so could halfheartedly root for a team that loses every game 3-2?

the writing has been on the wall for about three seasons now: the devils weren't long for the merrimack valley.

because as it turns out, the problem, given the disparity in attendance between college hockey and AHL attendance in the U's favor, wasn't that it COULDN'T support it, it's that it didn't want to.

and that's why there are no more lowell devils.

I don't believe this is entirely true. I think it all came down to finances. The Devil's would be giving up a lot in order to stay in Lowell. They would be losing ad revenue, concessions rights, and be paying more in rent. Bottom line, they would not be in control and the primary tenant in the building any longer. With the loss of control and losses in finances, they probably felt they could not survive here any longer. They will gain all that back when they move to Albany.