The WHL numbers of butts in a seat are down across the league with, apparently, 3 exceptions - 1 holding and 2 up a bit. I sit in Vancouver seats and while I still intend to do so next season and have put money down I find that I am less and less enamored with following the dub. The actual product I watch on the ice is not too bad even given Vancouver's play last season and this. It is all the other bits and pieces that are dragging the experience down. For the past few season it has felt that the league and individual teams in general are filtering or limiting information to the fans. In Vancouver's case I find so much of what goes on during the whistles or periods to be either poorly implemented or to repetitive, to the point of being cheesy. One prime example of what I am talking about is the get an 'ice crew' to pickup the snow around the nets and benches. They will often have a couple that can barely skate and can't move the scaper in a straight line leaving patches behind. In our short playoff slaughter the girl holding the shovel left more snow on the ice in a pile than in her shovel on the third attempt to the point where she had Portland players pissed off at her leaving a pile rather just not bothering in the first place. I just find that example to cover the basic parts of the product that represent the league and I find it shameful at best that it just seems to be getting worse and not better. How can the league home for a turnaround in numbers when that can't even get the small things right?
I find it ironic that Portland, the team that took a beating from the league last year, has numbers up.
Those who's teams are still in the playoffs enjoy the rest of your second season.