ECHL's Augusta Lynx "ceases operations"

RIP, original Raleigh IceCaps: Lyle Wildgoose, Jimmy Powers, Smokey Reddick, Bruno Villenueve, Barry Nieckar, Rick Barkovich, Wayne Cowley.

There's nothing like a hockey game in a converted horse show arena. Dorton Arena had the worst acoustics and a tendency to create its own fog bank, and yet was the hottest ticket in town those first two seasons. There were times when the game had to be stopped because of visibility. Nothing like an old-fashioned "all skate" in the middle of the second period.

Thanks for the memories, guys.

 

I would have thought that The Masters would be "hottest ticket in town" - go figure.

 

Ahh, Dorton Arena. The Saddledome before the Saddledome.

I miss the NC State Fair.

 

ECHL teams play the vast majority of their games against division opponents for that very reason. The teams in the eastern part of the country bus to the vast majority of their games and make one, maybe two road trips outside of their division a season.

The western teams have it much rougher because of the distances between the teams. The Alaska franchise would seem to have it the worst, but I guess they're used to travelling long distances at great coast to get anywhere.

 

Actually, I'm not sure they have very many good players at all. Their leading scorer had something like 11 points in 16 games. In the minors, that's horrible.

 

They should try the ABA's business model -- expand to 200 teams, pocket the expansion fee, then move on to the next suckers town

 

Like the story mentioned, it's the Tampa Bay Lightning's affiliate. And anyone who's been following the Lightning of late knows the club's minor league teams, Norfolk included, have precious little talent right now.

It's part of why the team is so awful as a whole, and has fallen so far, so fast from a Cup in 2004.

 

That sucks -- the ECHL is a fun league to watch. I started going to ECHL games in Bakersfield during the NHL lockout and they are a blast. In some markets especially out west (Bakersfield, Stockton), I'm amazed to see crowds of 7,000-8,000 a night in places you wouldn't think of as traditional hockey hotbeds.

 

I moved from Augusta last year and before that the team had some good talent. Of course they were a Ducks affiliate then.