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Junior hockey lives despite troublesBy Tony Van AlphenTORONTO (CP) — Like tough wingers bouncing around in the corners, many Canadian junior hockey operators take a financial beating, but except for some grumbling they keep coming back for more.When owners from the three major junior leagues compare notes at the Memorial Cup tournament beginning this weekend in Kitchener, their balance sheets will show the usual reddish hue — with prospects for more losses in the future.But they continue to send teams to the ice in about 40 cities and towns across thecountry, hoping enough fans will come out to the local arena to see their club and future National Hockey League stars perform. '“There will always be junior hockey in some form because the people want it,” says Paul Dumont, president of the Quebec Major JuniorHockey League.And despite the financial pitfalls, there’s usually someone who wants a team. Dumont and Robert Vaughan, chairman of Ontario Hockey League board of governors,say a buyer can generally be found for a franchise if an owner or group finds it too costly.It’s clearly not a business for the entrepreneur who wants a quick return on his investment, Dumont says.“Most of the owners I know are in it first because they like hockey. They’re happy to break even and hope a good year will overcome a few bad seasons. Junior hockey is like a wheel: sometimes you’re riding at the top and sometimes you’re on the bottom.”A survey of .the three leagues shows most teams are at the bottom of the wheel.In Quebec, eight of 11 teams will lose money this season which, Dumont says, is normal. Chicoutimi and Hull willJunior superstars like Pat LaFontaine (centre), formerly of Verdun Juniors in the Quebec League, can mean big bucks at the box office. _ CP laserphototop the list with losses of more than $100,000 each.Vaughan says attendance figures in Ontario indicate 10 of15 teams will end up in the red. In the Western Hockey League, officials say four teams may make money, another four could break even and four others will lose.But even if junior hockey deteriorates to the critical stage, Vaughan says the NHL is unlikely to let it die.“There’s too much at stake,” he said, noting four NHL teams now own junior franchises. “We’re the biggest source of players , for them in the world.”It’s a tough battle for the public’s entertainment and leisure dollar in the 1980s but most junior hockey operators stand by the same basic ingredients to keep fans coming back — a winning, entertaining team or an exceptional star player.Dumont, who managed and operated Quebec Remparts for several years, says Montreal Canadiens star Guy La-fleur almost single-handedly revived a weak Quebec league in the early 1970s.In Ontario, league observers say Brian Bellows, now captain of Minnesota North Stars.turned Kitchener Rangers’ franchise around.Last year, Verdun’s Pat LaFontaine — who starred with the U.S. Olympic team this year before joining New York Islanders — boosted attendance throughout the Quebec league.This season, scoring sensation Mario Lemieux of Laval Voisins was the big draw in Quebec. In the West, Ray Ferraro of Brandon Wheat Kings bumped up attendance around the league as he scored a record 108 goals.But star players, always hard to fnid, have become more difficult to hold on to since the NHL resumed drafting 18-year-old players in 1979. The controversial practice had been abandoned a few years earlier.The loss of young stars has hurt some teams at the gate and in the standings and reduced overall league revenue, junior officials complain.
Newspaper Details
Medicine Hat News
Medicine Hat, Alberta, CA
Fri, May 11, 1984
Page 18
Full Page
Clipped by
Jason P.
USA 04 Dec 2018
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