Date Posted: April 11, 2011
Print Edition: April 8, 2011
By Sean Evans (Contributor) – Email
Last weekend the Abbotsford Heat won two major games against Grand Rapids in an effort to keep their playoff hopes alive. The two victories allowed them to leap-frog over Toronto, seating Abbotsford four points back of the final playoff spot, with a game in hand. With just a handful of games remaining, it is yet to be determined whether the Heat will see some spring hockey. While a playoff berth is a long shot, the Heat are still in the fight.
As the season winds down and the golf course is looming, one is left with some questions about the future of this organization.
The Heat averaged 3,755 in attendance at the Abbotsford Entertainment & Sports Centre this season. This has been a disappointment for the Heat ownership group, considering there are 7,000 seats available. Clearly the team has not taken a strong hold over the market.
For the Abbotsford Heat to develop a strong fan base and sellout home games, they need to do one thing. Win. Everyone knows that hockey fans are fickle, let alone hockey fans from the Fraser Valley – success is necessary to draw a crowd. If the Heat can begin to play solid hockey on a consistent basis – and maybe even make a run in the playoffs, the fans will follow.
Inherent with being an NHL affiliate comes an inconsistent roster. Even more so with being farm team to the struggling Calgary Flames. It seems as though whenever a player begins to find his stride playing for the Heat, he is called up to bring some life to a floundering Calgary team. Names like Kotalik, Nemisz, Bouma, and Backlund have been missed at times throughout the season. While this is a problem for every NHL farm team, it seems that the Heat have had it particularly bad this year. The success of the Heat is, in a way, dependent on the success and health of the Calgary Flames.
The Abbotsford Heat provides something that has been missing in Abbotsford: affordable, entertaining, professional hockey. The question is whether the Heat, farm team to the Calgary Flames (rival of the Vancouver Canucks, if you hadn’t heard), can build up an adequate fan base in a region that is consumed by Canucks hockey. Fans are simply unable to differentiate between the Abbotsford Heat and the Calgary Flames. If the Heat hope to develop a fan base, they need to be seen as a local team.
One would hope that local Abbotsford hockey fans would be able to move beyond the affiliation with the Calgary Flames, but alas, this has not yet happened.
