I want to believe...

[TooLoud]

....I really do. I admit that I was not a fan of the RP regime, and the uninspired, under-achieving hockey that came with it. When I heard about the new staff, I was excited. This was a young group, a group who collectively have won all the major hockey awards that are available, and a group who's message is easy to grasp and run with. But....wait a minute....for some reason, everyone but the players have "bought in". While I believe systems, especially defensive zone ones are absolutely mandatory at this level of hockey, it appears that understanding coach B's "system" requires a Master's degree. That must be, because this team looks absolutely unsure as to what the hell that they are supposed to be doing with the puck, without the puck, with the man advantage, and shorthanded. They are now in last place, and near the bottom for both PP and PK, and last place in goals for. As far as I can tell, coach B's promise of "I promise that we will put an exciting fast paced product on the ice each and every game and bring back the winning tradition to Lethbridge" might be a tad premature. And, please, no more of the " It's a marathon, not a sprint" It is insulting to both the players and the fans. We are 10 games in, and have 1 win to show for it. I do not think that it is an unrealistic demand that the team show improvement that goes beyond "buy in" and starts showing up on the scoresheet. I understand that the season is still young, but I am afraid that if the slide goes on too much longer, this season will be in the trash. I want to believe, coach B........give me something to believe in.

[here for the long run]

....I really do. I admit that I was not a fan of the RP regime, and the uninspired, under-achieving hockey that came with it. When I heard about the new staff, I was excited. This was a young group, a group who collectively have won all the major hockey awards that are available, and a group who's message is easy to grasp and run with. But....wait a minute....for some reason, everyone but the players have "bought in". While I believe systems, especially defensive zone ones are absolutely mandatory at this level of hockey, it appears that understanding coach B's "system" requires a Master's degree. That must be, because this team looks absolutely unsure as to what the hell that they are supposed to be doing with the puck, without the puck, with the man advantage, and shorthanded. They are now in last place, and near the bottom for both PP and PK, and last place in goals for. As far as I can tell, coach B's promise of "I promise that we will put an exciting fast paced product on the ice each and every game and bring back the winning tradition to Lethbridge" might be a tad premature. And, please, no more of the " It's a marathon, not a sprint" It is insulting to both the players and the fans. We are 10 games in, and have 1 win to show for it. I do not think that it is an unrealistic demand that the team show improvement that goes beyond "buy in" and starts showing up on the scoresheet. I understand that the season is still young, but I am afraid that if the slide goes on too much longer, this season will be in the trash. I want to believe, coach B........give me something to believe in.

I also want coach “B” to keep his trap shut about the fans being patient. I would love a refund for all the money I have spent on this team and I will be as patient as he likes. Brad R should tell coach “B” he was hired to get wins not give advice to this teams fans. What a joke.

[Bare Bear]

It is time to sell this team to a group that has local ties and that has hockey knowledge and the passion to go with it. The "community owned" model is not working. The Lethbridge Hurricanes are broken and nobody knows how to put Humpty back together again. For example since the Hurricanes started in 1986 there have only been 52 Canes drafted into the NHL and only 5 ever in the first round. That is less than 2 drafted per year. Compare the numbers. There may be the odd number that may be out, but generally these numbers are close. I would be curious to see how many teams in the WHL that the Hurricanes actually have an all time winning percentage against.

Team, total drafted players, (since 86) and first rounders.; I left out Edmonton because they are brand new (almost). Ditto Victoria.

Medicine Hat 130 total (64)since '86 16 first rounders
Red Deer 52 52 11 (only since 1993)
Kootenaey 22 22 2 (only since 1999)
Calgary 44 44 9 (only since 1996)
Prince Albert 71 71 13
Moose Jaw 68 64 8
Swift Current 61 61 4 Cup
Brandon 100+ 57 9
Saskatoon 100+ 71 9
Regina 100+ 54 13
Kamloops 88 84 11 few cups
Kelowna 45 45 4 (only since 1996)
Vancouver 25 25 4 (only since 2002)
Prince George 31 31 4 (only since 1995)
Tri Cities 57 57 12 (only since 1989)
Spokane 82 82 6 (only 2 cups)
Seattle 79 79 12
Portland 100+ 72 13
Everett 17 17 4 (almost brand new)

Sure there may be a handful of fans that quit if the team were sold, but the renewed interest under a new group of local owners would be great for Lethbridge. These "volunteers" that are running the club are really out of their league and should step back and allow a new direction to be taken. I wish Kris Versteeg and his group all the best in their effort to purchase the Hurricanes. Just set up the shareholder special meeting and I will come down to cast my ballot. Start it now before it is too late.

BB

[shushu]

I have no idea what is wrong or right at this point in time but look at it this way, 15 games in and does the team look to be improving ,not so much..last night in o/t they got the puck in deep and then retreated like it was a pk . there was NO preasure in the d/zone or o/zone most of the game...this is coaching and players that don't get what their being told for some reason..if their being told...put that aside, look at our gm. I defended him to anyone that would listen on the draft thing but the seattle trade as of late is retarded..there's no other word for it..he talks about getting bigger then trade for a 156 lbs player..he traded away our top two forwards for nothing. just to keep them out of our conference for good......when someone owns a business they hire people to run it and if they don't produce they are fired because the owner will not stand for losing money...with the canes there is no one that shelled out 6 million dollar and it does cost them anything to win or loose............ that's the problem

[canes77]

Sure there may be a handful of fans that quit if the team were sold, but the renewed interest under a new group of local owners would be great for Lethbridge. These "volunteers" that are running the club are really out of their league and should step back and allow a new direction to be taken. I wish Kris Versteeg and his group all the best in their effort to purchase the Hurricanes. Just set up the shareholder special meeting and I will come down to cast my ballot. Start it now before it is too late.

BB


Who else is in Kris Versteeg's group?? The reason I ask is that the WHL Board recently turned down an offer from a group of former NHL players regarding the Saskatoon franchise. Instead, an out-of-province businessman was given the green light to own the club.

Unfortunately this isn't an easy sale, the League decides who the owner is... and they STILL seem to be okay with the status quo here.

[Tiger Trauma]

I have always wondered what Kind of pressure or influence a board would put on the guys that run the team.....

I see that to be on the board their are positions to be in Hockey Operations....which states

" TO OVERSEE THE HOCKEY OPERATIONS OF THE CLUB IN CONSULTATION WITH THE GENERAL MANAGER." ...micro managing a GM is pretty much a guaranteed way to fail....and having an election for these positions seems very dumb to me.

I could see A board that is not hockey-sense intelligent develop a political mob type mentality that puts pressure to make decisions that aren't beneficial in the long-run........especially when I see a name Like Dick Gibson on that list.

I think if you have some hockey guys that are willing to step up and keep the team in lethbridge it should at least be considered, and anything less than that kind of statement from the board directors to me suggests that their might be a power struggle, or something behind the scenes going on since they aren't posting record profits like 1Mil +, which might make sense that way to keep it community owned for profit/revenue reasons.