If the rink comes does the mem cup come?

[Tigerfan96]

Whats the thoughts of if this new rink ever does get built.. would we see a mem cup or large scale tourny or game held here? Cause the homeice advantage realy took its tole in the last game. Not only the crowd factor, but bed, food and the ability to bulk up the team at the deadline..Also being able to determin what mascotts participate and wich ones dont.hahah

[TheBrass]

I haven't been to Medicine Hat in a long time, and don't recall seeing your barn at all. I have a lot of customers both in Medicine Hat and that part of Alberta in general, and what I constantly hear is that you could fill whatever building was thrown at you. After seeing your fans out here in Vancouver, I am left with no doubt that that is most certainly the case. I really hope you guys get your new building, I for one would love to experience hockey in the Hat.

[old_time_hockey]

Whats the thoughts of if this new rink ever does get built.. would we see a mem cup or large scale tourny or game held here? Cause the homeice advantage realy took its tole in the last game. Not only the crowd factor, but bed, food and the ability to bulk up the team at the deadline..Also being able to determin what mascotts participate and wich ones dont.hahah

You are kidding right?

ALL the visiting Memorial Cup teams stayed at 4 and 5 star hotels and got to practice at the PC. A short 20-30 minute drive from downtown. Where as the Giants stayed with their billets out in Ladner which on a super awsome GREAT traffic day takes 45minutes to get to the rink. Average 60-90 minutes.

The Hat couldn't treat the visiting teams the way the 2007 committee treated the visitng teams. We could have done what the Wildcats did last year putting teams out in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do in a fleabag hotel.

[Tiger Trauma]

You are kidding right?

ALL the visiting Memorial Cup teams stayed at 4 and 5 star hotels and got to practice at the PC. A short 20-30 minute drive from downtown. Where as the Giants stayed with their billets out in Ladner which on a super awsome GREAT traffic day takes 45minutes to get to the rink. Average 60-90 minutes.

The Hat couldn't treat the visiting teams the way the 2007 committee treated the visiting teams. We could have done what the Wildcats did last year putting teams out in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do in a fleabag hotel.


Its good to know all teams were treated well. Having home ice is just a big comfort factor. You could put the other team in a palace, but it still wouldnt be the same as playing with home ice.

As for the memorial cup. There's slmost nothing better i would like to see come to medicine hat.

I would like to think that as soon as we get a rink built, a memorial cup bid is a good possiblity. IMO, we have some of the best fans in the league. Just look at all our fans who travelled to watch during the season, as well as filling our building up every single game for the past what 4-5-6 years.

[old_time_hockey]

Its good to know all teams were treated well. Having home ice is just a big comfort factor. You could put the other team in a palace, but it still wouldnt be the same as playing with home ice.

As for the memorial cup. There's slmost nothing better i would like to see come to medicine hat.

I would like to think that as soon as we get a rink built, a memorial cup bid is a good possiblity. IMO, we have some of the best fans in the league. Just look at all our fans who travelled to watch during the season, as well as filling our building up every single game for the past what 4-5-6 years.

Your fans that came to Vancouver were great. Keetley's family was sitting in Sec. B (as my sig says...I am in Sec. C) and became good friends with some Giants STHs. Had a good chat with "Sideshow" in the Partyzone and other Tigers fans.

Some of the internet people could learn a thing or 2 from them.

I would just love to know who the person was that told me it was nice of me to grow a memorial cup beard for the Tigers and could I be in the pics when the Tigers celebrated with the cup during game 6 of the tournament. Or later that intermission about how the Giants don't have what it takes to win. I would like to mail them a Memorial Cup Champions hat at my expense.

[Tinner]

My thoughts are that a Memorial Cup will only go to venues that have 7000 - 9000 seats or more. That said, there will be venues with less seating chosen, but their bid will include a financial package that equals that of a venue that can support 7000 - 9000+ fans.

Part of a sucessful bid that will be looked at by the "bid committee" is the off ice facilities, which includes hotels and "beer gardens" that are at the venue or very close by. When Red Deer hosted the world juniors, the sucess of the bid was attributed to not only the new rink, but all the facilities attached to the rink for all the events associated with the tournament. Along with having 6200 watch every game in the rink, another 2000+- were in the pavillion attached to the rink watching the games on big srceen tv's.

Unfortunately, the bottom line is the dollars the tournament can generate for the CHL. I hate to see that as there has to be something said about "hockey crazed, fan support" from communities that are smaller or have smaller rinks.

Lastly, if the format stays the same, that is, the host team is part of the process, it does open the door a bit for smaller venues/cities such as Medicine Hat and Red Deer to host and that is encouraging.

[old_time_hockey]

I am all for brining the tournament to smaller centers. The roots of the CHL are in smaller towns. But take the Kelowna Memorial Cup. It was hard for out of town people to get tixs because alot of the STHs have multiple seats (as give aways to clients, etc.) and were given first shot at buying MC tixs. I was given the same first crack this year as a Giants STH. But the difference being, even if the entire STH list snaps up their seats, there roughly still is another 10,000 seats which is more seating than most other rinks have in the CHL.

So when I went to Kelowna I watched in the fan zone on big screens. Not saying that I didn't have a good time, but it sure would have been nice to be IN the building.

[Tigerfan96]

Im not saying bring it to medicine hat now, our rink cannot even hold tiger fans let alone 3 other teams. This is when and if the new rink is built. And the hotel thing i dont think should be a problem considering a new hotel goes up accross the street from the main centres of medicine hat weekly Boogaard'd ...

[old_time_hockey]

I know your current rink only holds 4006.

But even Kelowna holds around 6000 and I couldn't get tixs after the STH got first crack.

Not knowing what the waiting list is for Tigers season tixs, could they make it work with a 10,000 seat arena?

[bandwagonboy]

Not knowing what the waiting list is for Tigers season tixs, could they make it work with a 10,000 seat arena?

No. You can count on 2 hands and have fingers left over how many CHL venues hold 10 000 bodies. The waiting list is at around 2000 or something like that, but that inevitably will be somewhat inflated. There are several season ticket holders who have 2 extra sets that only get used from time to time from back when they were selling season ticket packages for only $200 and just bought extra because they were cheap. Now they hold onto them so friends or family can sit with them when needed, but they either sell the extra tickets or simply give them away when they can't use them. These people acknowledge they don't really need 4 sets of seasons, but keep them because they know it's impossible to buy extras when needed so they just hold onto them even if they only get used every second game.

The waiting list might be over 2000 people, but you have to know that you'd probably be lucky to get 1500 people to actually commit. Plus considering the ease at which you can buy tickets out front from season ticket holders selling extra tickets I'd wager at least 100 people would hand in their season tickets once the new arena is built when they know they can get tickets on demand on any given night.

I'm sure that a building the size of the centrium would be more than sufficient for Medicine Hat's needs.