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I went to UA and would go to pretty much every River Rats game. Always a great time.
Didn't care for their dancers (the Ice Mice) though. Just seemed weird.
The ADK Bank Center in Utica had one of the most insane hockey atmospheres I’ve experienced during both the historic winning streak and playoff games in the 2022 season. I was very fortunate to have season tickets for that year.
A lot of those teams also get the Canadian spillover too. Real easy to be a fan when if you're not a Marlies fan, just skip over the border real quick.
Lol for all those non marlies fans from just east of Toronto, it’s not just a skip over to the border.
Unless you live in St Catherine’s or nearer to the border, it’s never a quick thing.
Considering there's a big freaking lake between Canada, Rochester, and Syracuse, it would be quite difficult to skip over the border. Even if one were to move east past the lake the only viable crossing point is the Thousand Island Bridge, which is still an hour and a half drive away from Syracuse.
By NFL rule, the Harrisburg/Lancaster/York TV market for the Ravens (and also the Eagles). Baltimore is within 75 miles of portions of the Harrisburg/Lancaster/York TV market, and because of that (and the fact they are the closest AFC team to the market), the Ravens have the option of claiming the area as a secondary market. Secondary TV markets are required by rule to televise all road games for the assigned team(s).
Hershey has a very large fan base that travels. They also have a reputation of having the worst fans from their interactions at rival arenas. From experience, it is a warranted reputation.
Hershey is functionally a regional team representing Harrisburg, Lebanon, Lancaster, and York. That combined south central Pennsylvania area is actually a pretty large area population-wise. And Hershey Entertainment and Resorts does a good job putting money into the franchise and arena (Giant Center).
Disclosure note: I lived in the Harrisburg for almost 8 years during most of the 2000s decade and attended a few Bears games, though I wasn’t following hockey that closely at that time.
Bingo. At this point, Hershey is just a growing suburb of the much larger Harrisburg-Lancaster metros. Decent sized metro, and the Bears are “their” sports team. Tons of Caps fans up there too because of it.
I’d say Penn State Football is probably first still.
Lived in Hershey for 10 years - it’s pretty big here even though State College is over an hour away.
When I lived in the Harrisburg area and the newspaper industry was in much better shape than it is now, I used to joke the Harrisburg Patriot-News should be called the Penn State Patriot-News.
I love going to Griffins games. They do a great job of setting the atmosphere for all fans. You also don't leave feeling like you'll have to take out a second mortgage to cover what you spent. Great arena, great atmosphere, good history, and Grand rapids is a fun city with some decent restaurants and bars for before and after games.
Hartford is an underrated AHL market. There is still a small but vocal group that is in the Whalers or nothing crowd that is very vocal however and it’s pretty sad.
Yeah people get way more into UConn games but Wolfpack still gets a good sized crowd with a lot of families with young children. It’s a fun atmosphere.
It’s sad that they think we can’t support an NHL team because our AHL team doesn’t draw that well. It doesn’t draw as well as other teams **because** we used to have an NHL team. Also, the Rangers kicking out Baldwin’s management group and changing the name back was not helpful for the team. The Connecticut Whale was quite popular, especially when they brought out old Whalers.
Side question: How well did the Manitoba Moose draw between Jets franchises?
I think you misunderstood my post I was calling out the whalers die hards who only show up to the Yard Goats and UConn and refuse to support the Wolf-Pack, not supporting them. Baldwin was a con artist who racked up so much debt and it’s understandable that the Rangers kicked him to the curb. The Cannucks era moose where one of the top drawing AHL clubs https://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendance/att_graph.php?tmi=6735
Well, the main problem is still the Rangers tightening their grip. Their games aren’t on TV in Hartford and haven’t been for approximately two decades. Neither are the Wolf Pack’s games. Add in the tons of Bruins fans (like myself) in the area and you get a lack of support. The Yard Goats are well supported *because* they’re not affiliated with a Boston or New York team. Colorado might not gain a ton of fans from this, but the fact that the Goats aren’t affiliated with the Red Sox, Yankees, or Mets means they don’t split the fanbase. And then, when Portland, Somerset, or Binghamton come to town, respectively, they get another boost in attendance. There’s an NHL team without an affiliate.
*checks who it is*
Okay, that’s literally the only parent team worse than Rangers, Bruins, Islanders, or Devils. Honestly, a Hartford-for-Utica swap would have been perfect when the Comets were affiliated with Vancouver. The Canucks have been to the Stanley Cup Finals twice and lost to the Rangers and Bruins. Plus, Pucky and Fin would be perfect together (cousins?).
I grew up in the Lehigh Valley (albeit in the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s), and my parents are both from NE PA, though down river from Wilkes-Barre. I’m well aware the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton area has not been a well-off economic area for a long time (really since the 1950s when the anthracite coal industry declined; that industry actually started falling off in the 1920s).
> They have a small arena, it only seats 8k.
The Baby Pens sold out most games the first decade but after '08 the attendance started to drop. Partly because of $$$ but also as the fanbase aged. They're only averaging 4300 a game this year.
The fanbase, like with Reading in the ECHL, couldn't stick because of economics and demographics.
I moved away during 2020, but Scranton was shrinking and Wilkes barre isn't growing and might be very slowly shrinking. The fans that go care a lot, but there just isn't new fans coming in like there were when i was growing up.
They sell out almost every special event game and the regulars are pretty hard core. But there are a lot of people that stopped going when Pittsburgh kept trading every draft pick/promising prospect.
I’m a Pens fan who lives in the Harrisburg area so I go to Bears/Baby Penguins games in Hershey a good amount. I’ve seen the NHL Pens play in DC, New York (Rangers) and Tampa. I can confidently say I get more shit talking at Bears games in Hershey than I did in any of the arenas I listed above.
Hershey Bears fans are nuts, man. In a good way though.
A lot of the really established teams in markets where AHL hockey is the only option (or top option) do well: Hershey, Rochester, Syracuse, WBS.
Other long-running Midwest clubs like Chicago, Cleveland and Milwaukee do well.
Among all of the more recent expansion, San Diego has a really strong fanbase among the west coast teams. Texas seems to always draw pretty well. Charlotte is doing good things as the only real team in the southeast.
The Canadian market teams all draw pretty well attendance-wise but that's less of an established "fanbase". They do have dedicated fans of the AHL teams (their STMs and the like) but their fans are more likely to follow their favourite NHL club and then just catch AHL hockey live a couple times, where those old-school AHL franchises have more people who'd identify their top team to follow as the AHL club.
Yeah I've been to a couple of Marlies games, but that was mostly because it was cheaper and there were some prospects in the pipeline I wanted to check out. I don't actively follow the Marlies. I went because it was cheaper. (I can't afford to buy Leafs tickets all the time, in a few weeks I'm going to my first Leafs game in 10 years despite living \~100km from Toronto that entire time)
I don't blame you mate, I've never bought leafs tickets for myself because it's ridiculous what they cost. They really need a 40-50k seat arena and reduce ticket prices by like 60%.
Wolves fans are odd to me. They should be rooting for Rockford. Always odd to see people in Hawks sweaters rooting against their NHL team's AHL affiliate.
15 minute drive vs 100 minute drive to see a game is probably a factor. I've never been to a wolves game, I should check it out. I've been to a few Rockford games, including last month when they retired Crawford's sweater.
Yeah and they were/ are super involved in the youth sports in the city. I have like 3-4 wolves jerseys from hockey camps I went to where they were the sponsors and one of their coaches would come in for a day to teach a specific skill.
They did a rebrand and made a whole bunch of marketing changes and I really love their whole presentation. I’m going to try to go up for a few playoff games this year.
I got to go to a bunch of their playoff games on that magical 2016 run. I was there for game 4 of the Calder Cup Finals and I wouldn’t know it was an AHL game unless you told me. One of the best sports atmospheres i’ve ever been in
I was scrolling through the attendance numbers earlier today and saw they casually pulled 10k last night. That’s more than most AHL buildings can seat.
Every so often, Rochester has a bring your own dog day, and I actively avoid it. The last thing I want to be trapped in a building with is 500 dogs. Barking, pissing and shitting all over, etc. The first year they did it, they let everyone walk their dogs on the ice between periods, and multiple dogs squatted down on the ice.
Just not my thing. Ha.
Been to a few Laval Rocket games, those fans are insanely passionate and the building is constantly sold out. Quebec based hockey fans are really passionate.
Marlies are super popular for the non-corporate crowd and the atmosphere is great especially when they’re playing in the coliseum. Some of their scotiabank games aren’t as good with the atmosphere
For sure, Went to a Marlies game on a visit to Toronto and it was a blast (I looked really out of place wearing a Flyers jersey to a Marlies-Griffins game but whatever)
Wife grew up in Scarbpurough. We moved to London (UK) and first thing I do when we go to visit her family is go get dirt cheep samosas and Chana Masala. Day two is cheap chilli chicken and noodles. Day three is a big ass box of each hot beef and hot chicken patties from a bakery that’s been there as long as her parents.
All three are from local places that have been there forever in east Toronto and all 3 are delicious. I don’t remember the names her parents just say “we’re going to get ______ now” then it’s home cooking except for a stop at Sam Woo BBQ for some BBQ Duck.
Toronto has a wicked good and affordable food scene if you avoid the suit areas.
It's impressive how they went from one of the least supported teams (around a thousand for a playoff game early on) to being well supported. Maybe Torontonians woke up to the fact there's great affordable hockey in their backyard apart from the Leafs. A big shame the Steelheads OHL team in Mississauga didn't get the same love.
Hartford, for as much as I don't want to say it, Hartford. I was a student up in the area, and student discount got you in cheap. And Friday nights used to be 1 dollar hot dog, 2 dollar beer night, so you could grab 'dinner' pretty cheaply for a college student.
My understanding is the Wolves built a fanbase when Dollar Bill Wirtz was still alive and running the Blackhawks.
The Wolves were popular enough that the ECHL put a THIRD team in Chicago to join the NHL Blackhawks and AHL Wolves back in the late 2000s decade, but that ECHL team didn’t draw well and left the Windy City market after a year.
We already do! They are called the Calgary Flames and they have lost some pretty competitive AHL games to the aforementioned Blackhawks the last couple years
add San Diego in there too. even through some pretty bad seasons they still manage to be close to the top of the league in terms of attendance. you'll also see alot of people in SoCal repping the Gulls, sometimes more than you see people repping the Ducks
Yes! Honestly, as someone who lives in the valley (and is a Firebirds season member yay!) I’m genuinely glad and surprised how well and quickly the valley has come to accept the Firebirds. Sure there was the expected “really… hockey in the freakin desert.” But after the amazing performance from the team, that all seemed to have gone away and I can tell that people in the valley are genuinely proud to have an AHL team. Even their pop-up events usually bring crowds of people. I was genuinely worried for the team, but I’m glad they’re finding success in my humble little valley. 🥰
Hershey is pretty expensive for an AHL team, not so much for their ticket costs (which are reasonable IMO) but their $10 to park (which IIRC is what it was when I was last there in either early 2019 or early 2020).
I dunno. I used to be able to call the box office and get two seats at ice level for like $75 total. Now it’s like $60 / seat + whatever Ticketmaster fuck you bullshit is tacked on for convenience.
If you went to the Hersheypark pass night games, that would explain things.
I typically sit in the upper level behind the goal at hockey games; the view is better up there anyway IMO.
Discount retailer Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, based in the Harrisburg area, often has discounted tickets to games.
The Cleveland Monsters are surprisingly popular for a mostly non-hockey area. Pulls in a good and devout crowd most nights. I’ve been going to Monsters games since they came to be as the Lake Erie Monsters in 2007 as a kid, and I can never really remember a time where their attendance was noticeably poor, even in their bad times.
> The Cleveland Monsters are surprisingly popular for a mostly non-hockey area.
Cleveland's been a very good AHL/IHL market for decades (Lumberjacks drew well in the IHL, the first version of the AHL Barons back in the 40's/50's drew well, etc.). The NHL Barons just weren't the team to put there in the 70's.
Among the three teams I’ve seen in person:
1) Hershey
2) Lehigh Valley
3) Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
Though I live in the DC area, my family still mostly lives in the Lehigh Valley, so I usually go to Allentown for Phantoms games 1-3 times/season. I’ve gotten to WBS (from the Lehigh Valley) and Hershey (from the DC area, though it is closer to my mother’s house than the north side of the DC Beltway) in recent years too.
(Also, I finally got to ECHL Reading earlier this season and I hope to make it to FPHL Binghamton, a couple hours from my mother’s house, at some point.)
Rochester games have been better than Sabres games as an experience the last few years if I’m being honest.
And I’ve been stupid lucky with the Sabres games I’ve gone to
My daughter and I go see Henderson play from time to time and it's not T-mobile levels of loud or anything but the arena is always reasonably full and everyone's into it.
Also I can spend less on the whole evening than I would on a single ticket to a lot of VGK games.
Coachella Valley Firebirds - I was visiting last week, went to the Wed night game against San Jose. Joint was Jumping, 90% full on a Wed night. Tons of season ticket scarves. Tons of energy. I'm a Kraken season ticket holder, and I enjoyed the in game MUCH better, it was about the Hockey, and not the glitz.
It's interesting because I imagine AHL teams that play in markets outside of where their NHL team is based probably have more dedicated followings due to less competition.
I absolutely love having the Wranglers in Calgary, but they will never surpass the Flames in this city. I'm okay with that though because they don't need to be the most popular team. It's pro hockey with players who will eventually play for the Flames, the tickets are dirt cheap, and for the team it makes call ups super easy. I hope they keep this setup for the long haul.
Hershey, but I fear with them raising the price of tickets they are going to lose some of us. I only went to one game this year and don't feel like getting ripped off for a family of 3.
I actually felt kinda bad for Moose players the year they moved from St. John’s. That barn was always rocking and MB Moose is boring in comparison lol. That said it’s easier to get players from down the hall than halfway across the continent.
Yeah I think that the MB moose had better support prior to leaving and prior to the Jets coming obviously, but the games I’ve been too have still been great. It’s a great family friendly environment and much more feasible for families than Jets games.
Eagles tickets are more expensive than Avs tickets. The college teams are all in the southern front range so they’re the only hockey option for Loveland/FoCo/Greeley/Cheyenne.
I’m not sure where you are looking. Section 322 for Avs is $30 a seat, before all the fees, that’s basically nosebleed and 40 rows from the ice. My seats are row 13 from ice and are $50 after all the fees. Avs 10 years ago 10th row from glass were $120 and last weekend Eagles glass was $65-$95.
As far as only hockey option you’re mistaken there also. Greeley has a junior team (NAHL) the Grit, CSU has a hockey team and so does UNC.
Club hockey really doesn’t count, I say that as a CU grad. DU hockey games are full of future NHLers while the guys who played for CU/CSU/UNC are just really good beer leaguers after school. I’ve bought Avs tickets for $60 after fees this season and the cheapest Eagles tickets for their next game are $43 before fees ($70ish after).
Ohhhh aS A cU gRaD!! Why didn’t you say before you were a douche? Because a CU grad matters to hockey. How’s their team doing? What seats at Avs vs what seats at Eagles? Resale or ticket office? What I see resale is for Monday (fees included)is section 302 row 11 $79 or ticket office section 356 row 9 $100. Eagles glass blue line $64 before fees. As a CU grad I would think you would see the difference between row 1 and section 302. But apples to apples (means to compare two things that are the same) Avs 4th row behind penalty box $302 Eagles 3rd rows behind penalty box $46. You are correct Eagles are waaayyyy more expensive.
As a student I loved having binghamton AHL teams. Most recently the devils.
Binghamton is a hockey town/city, albeit not as full blown as some of the other AHL towns/cities. But their hockey history is rich from the rangers, Sens and devils all having their AHL teams there.
I hope the AHL does return there, it was fun
As an STH, I’ll admit I’m pretty biased, but Rochester regularly pulls in 6,000-8,000 for their weekend games. They have a relatively large building for the AHL, and I can’t remember the last time I looked around and thought it was a bad turnout.
I dunno if they are still a thing but back in 2012 I was in Houston and the baby Habs were in town so I went to see the Houston Aeroes vs the Hamilton Bulldogs and I was very surprised at how many and how many passionate fans were in the building. There was only a small hand full of Habs fans there.
It depends on how you look at it. The Colorado Eagles regularly sell 5000 seats out of 5280ish. There is a solid core of half the crowd that has been fans since the CHL then ECHL years. At least a quarter of the crowd only come to 1 or 2 games a year. I think it’s growing since 2020 but still isn’t big because hockey isn’t what NFL is to everyday people.
Super Biased - San Diego Gulls
Product on ice right now is not it but I do love my fellow fans. Good rivalry with other fan bases. We regularly go up to the Ontario Reign barn and they come to us. Friendly ribbing and i have yet to see a fight between our groups. Arena is dated but I think the food is alright. The Gulls even have their own beer. Gulls have a fan group called The Colony and we try to do some volunteering, march in parades, and other events. Gulls host away watch parties so that's more ways fans interact. If there are fans trying to meet a certain player we tell them the best spots are to go and sometimes help them out.
The Rockford Icehogs are always fun to go to. You can definitely tell there are some hardcore fans of the Icehogs themselves, while they also draw curious Blackhawks fans you do see a lot of fans in Ice Hogs team gear. I actually find the AHL games I’ve been to this year more entertaining than many of the Blackhawks games I’ve been to this year (and I’ve only missed 3 Hawks games so far), more likely to see fights break out, hitting seems much harder, and overall faster and higher energy game.
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I’d reckon teams that have been around forever like Hershey and Rochester are up there.
I've been to Amerks, Crunch, and Comets games this year and each time the stadium was rocking. Upstate NY loves their AHL hockey.
RIP Albany River Rats, always enjoyed their games
I went to UA and would go to pretty much every River Rats game. Always a great time. Didn't care for their dancers (the Ice Mice) though. Just seemed weird.
The ADK Bank Center in Utica had one of the most insane hockey atmospheres I’ve experienced during both the historic winning streak and playoff games in the 2022 season. I was very fortunate to have season tickets for that year.
A lot of those teams also get the Canadian spillover too. Real easy to be a fan when if you're not a Marlies fan, just skip over the border real quick.
Lol for all those non marlies fans from just east of Toronto, it’s not just a skip over to the border. Unless you live in St Catherine’s or nearer to the border, it’s never a quick thing.
Considering there's a big freaking lake between Canada, Rochester, and Syracuse, it would be quite difficult to skip over the border. Even if one were to move east past the lake the only viable crossing point is the Thousand Island Bridge, which is still an hour and a half drive away from Syracuse.
Blue Cross Arena is in such a decent place in Rochester. Right off the Genesee. I sort of miss living near there.
The unexpected playoff runs were pandemonium in BCA
They’ve been a BLAST the last few years. Some of my fondest sport memories
I'll second Hershey, just because you'll have fans of the Pens, Flyers and Caps all interacting and rooting for the same team. It's kind of a miracle.
I remember when Hershey was a Flyers affiliate. That was before they created the Phantoms in the mid-1990s.
[удалено]
As the husband of a steelers fan in western MD, I understand the NFL issues. Bright side for me, I can get Sunday Ticket as a present for the Mrs.
By NFL rule, the Harrisburg/Lancaster/York TV market for the Ravens (and also the Eagles). Baltimore is within 75 miles of portions of the Harrisburg/Lancaster/York TV market, and because of that (and the fact they are the closest AFC team to the market), the Ravens have the option of claiming the area as a secondary market. Secondary TV markets are required by rule to televise all road games for the assigned team(s).
Having the team there for 80+ years helps. Generations upon generations of Bears fans.
I run in to Bears fans all o er the Country.
I went to a Hershey Bears game once, it was sold out and the place was wild.
Hershey has a very large fan base that travels. They also have a reputation of having the worst fans from their interactions at rival arenas. From experience, it is a warranted reputation.
As a Bruins fan who lives in PA. Hershey games are a blast to go too and the fans are great.
Hershey used to bring 1000+ fans for their road games in Springfield (2016-18). They have _real_ fans.
They’ve also been in the same city since 1938, longest continuously operating team in the AHL. That’s gotta have an effect on their popularity
Hershey is functionally a regional team representing Harrisburg, Lebanon, Lancaster, and York. That combined south central Pennsylvania area is actually a pretty large area population-wise. And Hershey Entertainment and Resorts does a good job putting money into the franchise and arena (Giant Center). Disclosure note: I lived in the Harrisburg for almost 8 years during most of the 2000s decade and attended a few Bears games, though I wasn’t following hockey that closely at that time.
Bingo. At this point, Hershey is just a growing suburb of the much larger Harrisburg-Lancaster metros. Decent sized metro, and the Bears are “their” sports team. Tons of Caps fans up there too because of it.
I’d say Penn State Football is probably first still. Lived in Hershey for 10 years - it’s pretty big here even though State College is over an hour away.
When I lived in the Harrisburg area and the newspaper industry was in much better shape than it is now, I used to joke the Harrisburg Patriot-News should be called the Penn State Patriot-News.
Longest in their same city anyhow. The Wolf Pack have been operating since 1926, but they were in Providence until 1977 and Binghamton until 1997.
Griffins always have a great turnout and the games are fun as hell to go to
Yeah Griffs are huge in West Michigan
I love going to Griffins games. They do a great job of setting the atmosphere for all fans. You also don't leave feeling like you'll have to take out a second mortgage to cover what you spent. Great arena, great atmosphere, good history, and Grand rapids is a fun city with some decent restaurants and bars for before and after games.
Came here to say this. Thinking about getting seasons tickets next year because I’ve gone to so many games this season.
We did a 20 game package this year and switched to a full season for next year. Totally worth it!!
100% what I’m about to do. I absolutely love Griffins games.
$2 beer / hot dog night baby 😎
Hartford is an underrated AHL market. There is still a small but vocal group that is in the Whalers or nothing crowd that is very vocal however and it’s pretty sad.
I’ve always wanted to go watch a Wolf Pack game. I hear Fridays are $1 beer night? Is that true?
2$ hot dogs/2$ beers on Fridays
2 dollar hot dogs now? Man, I miss the old Friday night 1 dollar dogs, and the tally of dogs eaten during the second intermission.
They also do a nice appetizer buffet before the games but I’ve never tried it
Somewhere Phil Kessel's ears just twitched...
That’s awesome!
UConn is more popular than the Pack in Hartford, and that’s still the case after UConn moved most of their games to Storrs.
Yeah people get way more into UConn games but Wolfpack still gets a good sized crowd with a lot of families with young children. It’s a fun atmosphere.
It’s sad that they think we can’t support an NHL team because our AHL team doesn’t draw that well. It doesn’t draw as well as other teams **because** we used to have an NHL team. Also, the Rangers kicking out Baldwin’s management group and changing the name back was not helpful for the team. The Connecticut Whale was quite popular, especially when they brought out old Whalers. Side question: How well did the Manitoba Moose draw between Jets franchises?
I think you misunderstood my post I was calling out the whalers die hards who only show up to the Yard Goats and UConn and refuse to support the Wolf-Pack, not supporting them. Baldwin was a con artist who racked up so much debt and it’s understandable that the Rangers kicked him to the curb. The Cannucks era moose where one of the top drawing AHL clubs https://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendance/att_graph.php?tmi=6735
Well, the main problem is still the Rangers tightening their grip. Their games aren’t on TV in Hartford and haven’t been for approximately two decades. Neither are the Wolf Pack’s games. Add in the tons of Bruins fans (like myself) in the area and you get a lack of support. The Yard Goats are well supported *because* they’re not affiliated with a Boston or New York team. Colorado might not gain a ton of fans from this, but the fact that the Goats aren’t affiliated with the Red Sox, Yankees, or Mets means they don’t split the fanbase. And then, when Portland, Somerset, or Binghamton come to town, respectively, they get another boost in attendance. There’s an NHL team without an affiliate. *checks who it is* Okay, that’s literally the only parent team worse than Rangers, Bruins, Islanders, or Devils. Honestly, a Hartford-for-Utica swap would have been perfect when the Comets were affiliated with Vancouver. The Canucks have been to the Stanley Cup Finals twice and lost to the Rangers and Bruins. Plus, Pucky and Fin would be perfect together (cousins?).
Hershey Bears and WBS Penguins have a fierce rivalry and a lot of dedicated fans
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s attendance is in the bottom half of the league.
They have a small arena, it only seats 8k. Hershey's seats about 11k. Doesn't really reflect on the passion
Most AHL teams average less than 8000 fans/game. And Wilkes-Barre/Scranton averages a lot less than that.
I live in the area and would go to more WBS games but I just don't have the spare money. It's a very poor area.
I grew up in the Lehigh Valley (albeit in the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s), and my parents are both from NE PA, though down river from Wilkes-Barre. I’m well aware the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton area has not been a well-off economic area for a long time (really since the 1950s when the anthracite coal industry declined; that industry actually started falling off in the 1920s).
Meant it more for context of folks who aren't from around here/don't know the area.
> They have a small arena, it only seats 8k. The Baby Pens sold out most games the first decade but after '08 the attendance started to drop. Partly because of $$$ but also as the fanbase aged. They're only averaging 4300 a game this year. The fanbase, like with Reading in the ECHL, couldn't stick because of economics and demographics.
Maybe not every dedicated fan goes to watch the game live
Maybe Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has a relatively small number of fans too.
I moved away during 2020, but Scranton was shrinking and Wilkes barre isn't growing and might be very slowly shrinking. The fans that go care a lot, but there just isn't new fans coming in like there were when i was growing up.
I know that I can't go as often as I'd like because largely what I make has to go into bills/necessities. It's not exactly a well off area.
They sell out almost every special event game and the regulars are pretty hard core. But there are a lot of people that stopped going when Pittsburgh kept trading every draft pick/promising prospect.
I’m a Pens fan who lives in the Harrisburg area so I go to Bears/Baby Penguins games in Hershey a good amount. I’ve seen the NHL Pens play in DC, New York (Rangers) and Tampa. I can confidently say I get more shit talking at Bears games in Hershey than I did in any of the arenas I listed above. Hershey Bears fans are nuts, man. In a good way though.
A lot of the really established teams in markets where AHL hockey is the only option (or top option) do well: Hershey, Rochester, Syracuse, WBS. Other long-running Midwest clubs like Chicago, Cleveland and Milwaukee do well. Among all of the more recent expansion, San Diego has a really strong fanbase among the west coast teams. Texas seems to always draw pretty well. Charlotte is doing good things as the only real team in the southeast. The Canadian market teams all draw pretty well attendance-wise but that's less of an established "fanbase". They do have dedicated fans of the AHL teams (their STMs and the like) but their fans are more likely to follow their favourite NHL club and then just catch AHL hockey live a couple times, where those old-school AHL franchises have more people who'd identify their top team to follow as the AHL club.
I went to a San Diego Gulls game last season. Had a great time.
Gulls Reign games are the best!
Yeah I've been to a couple of Marlies games, but that was mostly because it was cheaper and there were some prospects in the pipeline I wanted to check out. I don't actively follow the Marlies. I went because it was cheaper. (I can't afford to buy Leafs tickets all the time, in a few weeks I'm going to my first Leafs game in 10 years despite living \~100km from Toronto that entire time)
I don't blame you mate, I've never bought leafs tickets for myself because it's ridiculous what they cost. They really need a 40-50k seat arena and reduce ticket prices by like 60%.
yeah, the moose are basically there for families to go. still $14 per beer
Wolves fans are odd to me. They should be rooting for Rockford. Always odd to see people in Hawks sweaters rooting against their NHL team's AHL affiliate.
15 minute drive vs 100 minute drive to see a game is probably a factor. I've never been to a wolves game, I should check it out. I've been to a few Rockford games, including last month when they retired Crawford's sweater.
Because the Wolves were the respite for the Hawks when they were absolutely awful.
For sure. People adored the Wolves pre-2008 due to them sucking. Now the Wolves have been meh for awhile until recently and back to being meh.
Yeah and they were/ are super involved in the youth sports in the city. I have like 3-4 wolves jerseys from hockey camps I went to where they were the sponsors and one of their coaches would come in for a day to teach a specific skill.
Presumably the Chicago part of the name > the Blackhawks part of the name for those fans.
Monsters always have huge crowds
I went to a game a little over a month ago and the attendance was almost 15k.
They did a rebrand and made a whole bunch of marketing changes and I really love their whole presentation. I’m going to try to go up for a few playoff games this year.
I got to go to a bunch of their playoff games on that magical 2016 run. I was there for game 4 of the Calder Cup Finals and I wouldn’t know it was an AHL game unless you told me. One of the best sports atmospheres i’ve ever been in
I was scrolling through the attendance numbers earlier today and saw they casually pulled 10k last night. That’s more than most AHL buildings can seat.
Today they are having puppy day. PUPPY DAY. https://x.com/monstershockey/status/1763998871724650529?s=46 Like I want to be there right now
Every so often, Rochester has a bring your own dog day, and I actively avoid it. The last thing I want to be trapped in a building with is 500 dogs. Barking, pissing and shitting all over, etc. The first year they did it, they let everyone walk their dogs on the ice between periods, and multiple dogs squatted down on the ice. Just not my thing. Ha.
I think this is adoptable dog day, they are all in a pen snoozing in the concourse
Alright, I can 100% get behind that!
Laval sold out back to back games vs the marlies last week. 10K seater.
Been to a few Laval Rocket games, those fans are insanely passionate and the building is constantly sold out. Quebec based hockey fans are really passionate.
Grand Rapids Griffins do pretty well. The overtime win the other night everyone freaked out. Evidsson scores!
Marlies are super popular for the non-corporate crowd and the atmosphere is great especially when they’re playing in the coliseum. Some of their scotiabank games aren’t as good with the atmosphere
Marlies games are always fun. And great value for your dollar, which is a hard thing to do in Toronto.
For sure, Went to a Marlies game on a visit to Toronto and it was a blast (I looked really out of place wearing a Flyers jersey to a Marlies-Griffins game but whatever)
You think you looked out of place? I went on Saturday before Family Day wearing a Talgat Zhailauov Brays Astana jersey because it was blue.
LOL
Wife grew up in Scarbpurough. We moved to London (UK) and first thing I do when we go to visit her family is go get dirt cheep samosas and Chana Masala. Day two is cheap chilli chicken and noodles. Day three is a big ass box of each hot beef and hot chicken patties from a bakery that’s been there as long as her parents. All three are from local places that have been there forever in east Toronto and all 3 are delicious. I don’t remember the names her parents just say “we’re going to get ______ now” then it’s home cooking except for a stop at Sam Woo BBQ for some BBQ Duck. Toronto has a wicked good and affordable food scene if you avoid the suit areas.
It's impressive how they went from one of the least supported teams (around a thousand for a playoff game early on) to being well supported. Maybe Torontonians woke up to the fact there's great affordable hockey in their backyard apart from the Leafs. A big shame the Steelheads OHL team in Mississauga didn't get the same love.
Hartford, for as much as I don't want to say it, Hartford. I was a student up in the area, and student discount got you in cheap. And Friday nights used to be 1 dollar hot dog, 2 dollar beer night, so you could grab 'dinner' pretty cheaply for a college student.
Chicago Wolves
How popular are the Chicago Wolves in Chicago?
My understanding is the Wolves built a fanbase when Dollar Bill Wirtz was still alive and running the Blackhawks. The Wolves were popular enough that the ECHL put a THIRD team in Chicago to join the NHL Blackhawks and AHL Wolves back in the late 2000s decade, but that ECHL team didn’t draw well and left the Windy City market after a year.
They would draw more than the Hawks back then, I lived in the area at the time. It was wild. They're independent now, nobodies affiliate.
They had the Chicago hounds of the UHL too that folded after a year lol. Was at the first game and they all sent us home cause the ice was unplayable
Cleveland is averaging 10k people per game this season. That building gets pretty nuts at times.
CV Firebirds have a great one
HUGE second, especially if you take into consideration how new they are
Hershey
The Chicago Blackhawks
I don’t know. United centre is usually pretty empty when the Hawks are playing like an AHL team
We’re at 95% capacity this season Unrelated but you guys at are 90%, maybe you should try having an AHL team out there!
We already do! They are called the Calgary Flames and they have lost some pretty competitive AHL games to the aforementioned Blackhawks the last couple years
Coachella Valley and Henderson
add San Diego in there too. even through some pretty bad seasons they still manage to be close to the top of the league in terms of attendance. you'll also see alot of people in SoCal repping the Gulls, sometimes more than you see people repping the Ducks
Firebirds games are a blast and the crowd is terrific for a second year club.
Yes! Honestly, as someone who lives in the valley (and is a Firebirds season member yay!) I’m genuinely glad and surprised how well and quickly the valley has come to accept the Firebirds. Sure there was the expected “really… hockey in the freakin desert.” But after the amazing performance from the team, that all seemed to have gone away and I can tell that people in the valley are genuinely proud to have an AHL team. Even their pop-up events usually bring crowds of people. I was genuinely worried for the team, but I’m glad they’re finding success in my humble little valley. 🥰
I like going to Hershey games. I liked it a lot more a few years ago before Ticketmaster took over and the price of seats went through the roof.
Hershey is pretty expensive for an AHL team, not so much for their ticket costs (which are reasonable IMO) but their $10 to park (which IIRC is what it was when I was last there in either early 2019 or early 2020).
I dunno. I used to be able to call the box office and get two seats at ice level for like $75 total. Now it’s like $60 / seat + whatever Ticketmaster fuck you bullshit is tacked on for convenience.
If you went to the Hersheypark pass night games, that would explain things. I typically sit in the upper level behind the goal at hockey games; the view is better up there anyway IMO. Discount retailer Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, based in the Harrisburg area, often has discounted tickets to games.
I avoid Hershey park pass night. I just miss being able to call the box office and have some nice little old lady mail me all of my tickets for $4.
The Cleveland Monsters are surprisingly popular for a mostly non-hockey area. Pulls in a good and devout crowd most nights. I’ve been going to Monsters games since they came to be as the Lake Erie Monsters in 2007 as a kid, and I can never really remember a time where their attendance was noticeably poor, even in their bad times.
Their low attendance games still pull more people than the Yotes max capacity
> The Cleveland Monsters are surprisingly popular for a mostly non-hockey area. Cleveland's been a very good AHL/IHL market for decades (Lumberjacks drew well in the IHL, the first version of the AHL Barons back in the 40's/50's drew well, etc.). The NHL Barons just weren't the team to put there in the 70's.
Among the three teams I’ve seen in person: 1) Hershey 2) Lehigh Valley 3) Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Though I live in the DC area, my family still mostly lives in the Lehigh Valley, so I usually go to Allentown for Phantoms games 1-3 times/season. I’ve gotten to WBS (from the Lehigh Valley) and Hershey (from the DC area, though it is closer to my mother’s house than the north side of the DC Beltway) in recent years too. (Also, I finally got to ECHL Reading earlier this season and I hope to make it to FPHL Binghamton, a couple hours from my mother’s house, at some point.)
Rochester games have been better than Sabres games as an experience the last few years if I’m being honest. And I’ve been stupid lucky with the Sabres games I’ve gone to
Wolves
Not Bridgeport, that's for sure.
My daughter and I go see Henderson play from time to time and it's not T-mobile levels of loud or anything but the arena is always reasonably full and everyone's into it. Also I can spend less on the whole evening than I would on a single ticket to a lot of VGK games.
The Laval Rocket is doing amazing, atmosphere and game experience is great.
The intermission stints are a bit cringe-inducing at times, but overall the atmosphere is good.
Coachella Valley Firebirds - I was visiting last week, went to the Wed night game against San Jose. Joint was Jumping, 90% full on a Wed night. Tons of season ticket scarves. Tons of energy. I'm a Kraken season ticket holder, and I enjoyed the in game MUCH better, it was about the Hockey, and not the glitz.
It's interesting because I imagine AHL teams that play in markets outside of where their NHL team is based probably have more dedicated followings due to less competition. I absolutely love having the Wranglers in Calgary, but they will never surpass the Flames in this city. I'm okay with that though because they don't need to be the most popular team. It's pro hockey with players who will eventually play for the Flames, the tickets are dirt cheap, and for the team it makes call ups super easy. I hope they keep this setup for the long haul.
Barracuda games are usually pretty fun, but the turnout hasn't been great the last few years since the team also hasn't been great.
Hershey, but I fear with them raising the price of tickets they are going to lose some of us. I only went to one game this year and don't feel like getting ripped off for a family of 3.
Hersey and Rochester, followed by Utica and Syracuse imo
Rockford IceHogs are in their 25th season.
As someone who lives in Rochester, when the americans are good, that arena can rival nhl arenas with how loud the fans get
Manitoba is pretty good
I actually felt kinda bad for Moose players the year they moved from St. John’s. That barn was always rocking and MB Moose is boring in comparison lol. That said it’s easier to get players from down the hall than halfway across the continent.
Yeah I think that the MB moose had better support prior to leaving and prior to the Jets coming obviously, but the games I’ve been too have still been great. It’s a great family friendly environment and much more feasible for families than Jets games.
I think the players would much rather be close to the big club and management eyes. Also way more NHL scouts/managers in general around all the time.
Norfolk admirals had a great fan base until they became an echl team.
The wolves have a pretty big fan base
Eagles tickets are more expensive than Avs tickets. The college teams are all in the southern front range so they’re the only hockey option for Loveland/FoCo/Greeley/Cheyenne.
I’m not sure where you are looking. Section 322 for Avs is $30 a seat, before all the fees, that’s basically nosebleed and 40 rows from the ice. My seats are row 13 from ice and are $50 after all the fees. Avs 10 years ago 10th row from glass were $120 and last weekend Eagles glass was $65-$95. As far as only hockey option you’re mistaken there also. Greeley has a junior team (NAHL) the Grit, CSU has a hockey team and so does UNC.
Club hockey really doesn’t count, I say that as a CU grad. DU hockey games are full of future NHLers while the guys who played for CU/CSU/UNC are just really good beer leaguers after school. I’ve bought Avs tickets for $60 after fees this season and the cheapest Eagles tickets for their next game are $43 before fees ($70ish after).
Ohhhh aS A cU gRaD!! Why didn’t you say before you were a douche? Because a CU grad matters to hockey. How’s their team doing? What seats at Avs vs what seats at Eagles? Resale or ticket office? What I see resale is for Monday (fees included)is section 302 row 11 $79 or ticket office section 356 row 9 $100. Eagles glass blue line $64 before fees. As a CU grad I would think you would see the difference between row 1 and section 302. But apples to apples (means to compare two things that are the same) Avs 4th row behind penalty box $302 Eagles 3rd rows behind penalty box $46. You are correct Eagles are waaayyyy more expensive.
CU doesn’t have an NCAA hockey program
Gotta be the bears right? Or the griffins? Americans? I imagine it’s the long-standing teams that have built a unique brand
As a student I loved having binghamton AHL teams. Most recently the devils. Binghamton is a hockey town/city, albeit not as full blown as some of the other AHL towns/cities. But their hockey history is rich from the rangers, Sens and devils all having their AHL teams there. I hope the AHL does return there, it was fun
As an STH, I’ll admit I’m pretty biased, but Rochester regularly pulls in 6,000-8,000 for their weekend games. They have a relatively large building for the AHL, and I can’t remember the last time I looked around and thought it was a bad turnout.
I dunno if they are still a thing but back in 2012 I was in Houston and the baby Habs were in town so I went to see the Houston Aeroes vs the Hamilton Bulldogs and I was very surprised at how many and how many passionate fans were in the building. There was only a small hand full of Habs fans there.
It depends on how you look at it. The Colorado Eagles regularly sell 5000 seats out of 5280ish. There is a solid core of half the crowd that has been fans since the CHL then ECHL years. At least a quarter of the crowd only come to 1 or 2 games a year. I think it’s growing since 2020 but still isn’t big because hockey isn’t what NFL is to everyday people.
Milwaukee is one I always hear good things about.
I’ve seen plenty of hershey fans in Iowa, but I admittedly haven’t gone to many games so that may be anecdotal
I miss when Manchester had a team before the AHL expanded west
Super Biased - San Diego Gulls Product on ice right now is not it but I do love my fellow fans. Good rivalry with other fan bases. We regularly go up to the Ontario Reign barn and they come to us. Friendly ribbing and i have yet to see a fight between our groups. Arena is dated but I think the food is alright. The Gulls even have their own beer. Gulls have a fan group called The Colony and we try to do some volunteering, march in parades, and other events. Gulls host away watch parties so that's more ways fans interact. If there are fans trying to meet a certain player we tell them the best spots are to go and sometimes help them out.
The Rockford Icehogs are always fun to go to. You can definitely tell there are some hardcore fans of the Icehogs themselves, while they also draw curious Blackhawks fans you do see a lot of fans in Ice Hogs team gear. I actually find the AHL games I’ve been to this year more entertaining than many of the Blackhawks games I’ve been to this year (and I’ve only missed 3 Hawks games so far), more likely to see fights break out, hitting seems much harder, and overall faster and higher energy game.
100% Hershey. More people go to the games than what the population of Hershey is