The Fort Erie Falcons have reached an agreement with the city of Grimsby to place their AHL affiliate in Grimsby, Ontario to begin next season.
Initially the team will play out of the outdated Grimsby Memorial Centre but will move into a new 5000 seat arena for 2019-20, called the Grimsby Gardens.
While the team has yet to unveil or jerseys, the Falcons have confirmed that the team will be called the Griffins.
"We are excited to get our very own AHL team, rather than having to share with another organization. We have a glutten of prospects coming over the next few years and we need a place for these players to develop their games so they can join the parent (Falcons) club when they are ready" said Falcons GM Matt Young at press conference.
Young continued by saying that Grimsby is a great location for the team as it is only 45 minutes away from Fort Erie, meaning players could be recalled on an emergency basis pretty quickly; provided the Griffins are not on the road.
Although it is still a year away from coming to fruition, the residents of Grimsby appeared to be pretty excited about the news.
"Of course we're excited. It's pro hockey in our home town. We might have a young superstar like Dylan Strome or Christian Fischer playing minutes from our homes next season. How can you not like it? It's awesome" said Grimsby resident Jimmy Pucker.
A season ticket drive is expected to begin in the next few weeks with fans being asked to put their name on the list, while also bringing in a non-perishable food product to donate to the local Food Bank.
"We know we won't truly be involved in the community for another year on a day-to-day basis, but we wanted to start trying to make a difference as soon as we could. Hopefully, we can make a lot of hockey fans happy with the purchase of season tickets and also get the Food Bank some much needed inventory" added Young before departing to spend Thanksgiving with his family.
No comments:
Post a Comment