CANTLON: CT HOCKEY OFF SEASON VOLUME 8 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – The Tampa Bay Lightning captured their second consecutive (third overall) Stanley Cup championship. It a difficult feat under less restrictive times but almost unheard of in the post-hard-cap era. They’re the fourth team in thirty years to win consecutive titles.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have done it twice, and the Detroit Red Wings as well.

On the game and Stanley Cup-winning goal, Ross Colton (Taft Prep) established an inside position in front of the net to score the game’s lone goal at the Amalie Arena.

In two weeks, the NHL Seattle Kraken expansion draft will occur, and the champion Lightning will lose a player, just as every other team will. However, who that player will be and the impact of their departure are unknown.

How the Lightning handles the expansion draft, free agency, and amateur draft will determine if a Three-Peat will be possible. Still, for now, they’re celebrating being champions.

Among those capturing their second Cup title is former New York Ranger and ex-CT Whale Ryan McDonagh. Head coach Jon Cooper joins the late Fred “The Fog” Shero are the only coaches to have won two Stanley Cups and an AHL  Calder Cup.

The names of those connected to Connecticut who will now have their names on Lord Stanley’s Chalice are ex-Hartford Wolf Pack Jamie Pushor, Assistant GM/Director of Player Personnel, Director of Hockey Operations, Mathieu Darche (Choate), amateur scout, and ex-Bridgeport Sound Tiger, Jeff Tambellini. Receiving getting another ring is Director of Hockey Administration and former Beast of New Haven front office employee and AHL assistant to the President, Liz Sylvia-Koharski.

FT. WAYNE WINS IT ALL IN THE ECHL

Congrats to the ECHL’s Ft. Wayne Komets for their capturing of the Kelly Cup Championship. The Komets knocked off the South Carolina Stingrays in four games in a Best-of-Five final.

The Komets have been a cornerstone of true minor league hockey success.

Born in the old IHL in the early 1950s, then a semi-pro league until the early 1980s, like the Hershey Bears in the AHL, the Komets recognize who they were and built a strong identity and brand recognized throughout the industry.

The team has always been a leader in attendance, consistently in the top five in any league they have been in. Not only that, but in their 69-year history, they have won a championship in every league they’ve played in.

KOMETS HISTORY

The team won three Turner Cups in the old IHL 1952-1990 version. They earned another while in the league from 1990-2001 and left the league in 1999.

The IHL folded a year later. They spent eight years in the United Hockey League-UHL (1999-2007), winning one President’s Cup. Then came a three-year run in the “IHL2,” winning all three titles in the league’s existence (2007-2010).

Following that came a two-year run in the now-defunct Central Hockey League (CHL). While in the CHL, the Komets won one title, and now in the ECHL, they add a Kelly Cup to their trophy case in their ninth year.

The team’s brand was extended nationwide well before the internet and other marketing venues. They did it with the radio. They heard the games on a 50,000-watt clear channel, over-the-air throughout the US and parts of Canada on WOWO-AM 1190 with the legendary voice of the late Hockey Hall of Famer, Bob Chase.

MORE ON THE KELLY CUP

Ex-Pack, Justin Vaive, was on the winning roster and shared in the title. His head coach, Ben Boudreau, is the son of AHL Hall-of-Famer, a great coach in his own right, and now a junior hockey owner, Bruce “Gabby” Boudreau.

Bruce won a Kelly Cup with the Mississippi Sea Wolves, making him and Ben the first father-son coaches to win the title.

Congratulations to the ECHL for silencing their critics by climbing over so many hurdles throughout the pandemic and who, at one point, lost an entire division but still managed their way through a regular and playoff season and crowned a champion, something the AHL hasn’t done in two years.

HURRICANE WARNINGS

Dana Huffman, the managing editor from the Triangle Business Journal, reports that the Carolina Hurricanes lease extension has reached critical mass.

The Centennial Authority, which oversees Raleigh’s PNC Arena,  called a special meeting Thursday morning and finally did approve a new lease deal to keep the Carolina Hurricanes through 2029.

The Authority, the landlord, and Gale Force Holdings, the parent company of the Hurricanes, had been working on a lease extension since owner Tom Dundon took over the ‘Canes in 2018.

He recently brought out all the remaining shares of Peter Karmanos, who was a minority owner. This was required under his deal to purchase the team, so Dundon now has complete ownership of the Hurricanes.

According to the Raleigh News & Observer Board member Stephen Stroud cast the lone vote against the lease extension, responded by vowing to support the team in that venture, saying, “If you certainly mean that, then I will help you get where you need to go.”

THE PARTICULARS

Stroud spoke against the deal based on concerns about the team’s long-term future, saying the new lease “opens the door” for relocation if a new owner wanted to buy the team from Tom Dundon and move it.

However, any sale and relocation must first pass the muster of the NHL BOG and Commissioner Gary Bettman – a very high hurdle.

A requirement in completing the term-sheet agreement in 2020 was that the authority gain approval from the City of Raleigh and Wake County that $9 million a year through 2029 be provided through the Tri-Party Agreement, in which money annually is appropriated from the hotel and prepared food and beverage tax revenue.

The annual stipend of $9 million will be used to assume part of the arena operating expenses detailed in the lease extension and other purposes, including enhancement of the arena, which opened in 1999 and hosts Hurricanes games, N.C. State men’s basketball games and other major events and concerts.

As part of the lease agreement term sheet, the authority will pay 50% of the arena operating costs each year up to $3.885 million. The authority also agreed to reduce the rent for fiscal 2020 of $1.78 million and no rent to be paid in the following years.

In May 2020, the two sides agreed to a term sheet for a five-year extension.

THE EXTENSION

Jeff Merritt, the executive director of the Centennial Authority, said to the Triangle Business Journal the pandemic dragged out finalizing the deal and that the terms in the final agreement are essentially the same as the term sheet. “This is the term sheet turned into a legal document,” Merritt said.

He said that if the Hurricanes were to exercise their option to leave, the terms in the final contract would remain the same.

If the Hurricanes were to leave, they would have to pay the authority a specific fee based on the year, which dwindles in the outer years:

$31 million in 2024
$20 million in 2025
$12 million in 2026
$6 million in 2027
$3 million in 2028
$0 in 2029

For now, the Hurricanes stay put, but in three to five years, things could be different.

HARTFORD WOLF PACK

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