Sorry Chatham, but you are not getting an Ontario Hockey League team! Well, at least not right now. Instead, the Plymouth Whalers are relocating to Flint, Michigan for the 2015/16 OHL season. The OHL board voted to approve the move today.
This doesn’t come as a huge surprise to most people who follow the OHL. For the past year, nobody was really sure where the Whalers would be playing beyond the 2014/15 season. Attendance at the Compuware Arena has been one of the lowest in the OHL this season. Compuware Arena is also considered to be one of the worst arenas in the OHL from fans who have watched games there. People have complained about the location of the arena, while others have been peeved about how unattractive and hollow the interior of it is, feeling you’re in a gymnasium. That could explain a lot. Having an arena that turns off fans could cause attendance problems without a doubt.
Anyway, Flint has never had an OHL team. They have had other minor league hockey teams though, the first Generals (who played in the IHL), the seconds Generals team (IHL), the Bulldogs (CoHL), the Spirits (IHL) and the Michigan Warriors (NAHL), who still play in Flint. The Whalers, like those other teams, will play at the Perani Arena and Event Center. It was built in 1969 and holds 4,021 for hockey games. I’ve never been to it myself, but based off the pictures I’ve seen it seems like a suitable OHL arena. It appears Flint has done a good job of maintaining it nicely.
Living in a Ontario-Michigan border city, I tend to keep a eye on close by cities in Michigan like I do my own city. Flint is about an hour drive from both Port Huron and Detroit. Saginaw is also a short 30 minute drive away. So it’s in a pretty good location for visiting teams fans too. Of course being up to date on some of these Michigan’s cities, I know with Flint that might not matter. I won’t lie, Flint is a scary place. It has been consistently ranked one of the most dangerous cities in America for having one of the worst violent crime rates for a number of years. I have only driven through there, but I know plenty of people who have told horror stories about visiting Flint.
Naturally when it was pretty much confirmed the Whalers were moving to Flint, I was quite concerned about it. I mean there will be 16, 17, and 18 year old kids having to play in a city like that? I don’t have kids, but if I had a son who was playing in the OHL and got drafted by Flint, as a parent I would be worried. And I know I wouldn’t be alone in feeling that way. The arena is on the outskirts of Flint, close to Burton. As far as I know that isn’t one of the really bad areas there. Not every area in or near Flint is really scary and unsafe. It’s got it’s better areas too. So if the arena and the players’ billets are away from the bad spots, then it could work out okay. The state of Michigan loves it’s hockey! Flint has shown that they can support it with the interest their other teams got too.
Also, last year their violent crime rate dropped 25% in the first quarter of the year compared to the year before. Their crime rate in most categories continued to be lower for the year. That’s a good sign. It shows they might be able to make things safer and a better place to live. Their economy (like all of Michigan) has gone downhill since the auto industry started struggling. General Motors closed and demolished their plants in Flint, and as Flint born and raised director Michael Moore showed in his film ‘Roger & Me’, the city has been in shambles ever since. Of course one little OHL team isn’t going to make up for that big of an economic loss, but it’s better than nothing. Who knows it could be the start of better things for Flint. That would be nice to see.
With any new team one of first things that is discussed is what to name them. MLive.com already has a story on it with a few suggested names. They said the current ‘Whalers’ name, ‘Tropics’, formerly used names ‘Generals’ and ‘Bulldogs’, and the ‘Stones’. So far the other option has the most votes, the ‘Tropics’ are 2nd. Of those suggestions, I immediately fell in love with the Flint Stones name. I know it was put on there probably as a joke but I still think it’s by far the best name on there. Think about it, there’s no other team with a name like it! And seriously who doesn’t love the Flintstones? We all do! I’m not sure what else you could do with it due to copyright concerns, but you could still have a prehistoric caveman or a dinosaur be their mascot. And you could have people dressed up as cavemen, dinosaurs, saber toothed tigers and stone age creatures like that and have races during intermissions like the Washington Nationals’ Presidents race. That would be a riot! It would appeal to people of all ages, so you’ll likely have a fairly good attendance each year if you market well enough.
Okay maybe I got a tad bit caught up in the Flint Stones name, but I still think it’s a great idea! Unfortunately, it seems like the ownership group is leaning towards naming the team the ‘Generals’. They got rights to the name still even though Oshawa also has that name. I really hope that doesn’t happen. It would be incredibly stupid in my view to have two teams named Generals in the same league at the same time. I’m glad that this was mostly before my time, the CFL had the Ottawa Roughriders and Saskatchewan Roughriders in the league from 1910 to 1996 when the Ottawa team folded. That would have drove me nuts! And the Oshawa Generals have a long storied history, starting in 1937. Flint has no moral right to come in and ‘share’ the Generals name with them. I think it’s wrong and the OHL shouldn’t allow it, even if they can legally to so.
So in conclusion, I truly believe the OHL can succeed in Flint. I do really feel for Chatham. I think of them as a small, but hockey crazy community that an OHL team (or any CHL team for that matter) would absolutely thrive in. In my eyes Chatham is exactly the type of city that should have a team. Sadly as cool as the old Chatham Memorial Arena is, it is not a suitable full time home for a OHL team. I’m not sure if the city just isn’t willing to build a new arena at all or if they can’t decide on where it should go, I have no idea. Something is holding it up, since Whalers owner Peter Karmanos answered “hopefully Chatham” when asked where they would be next season. Chatham was obviously his first choice. Why else would they choose Flint over them? Flint had an OHL suitable arena already to go, Chatham doesn’t. They could do what Sarnia did, play in the Legionnaires’ Sarnia Arena temporarily while the OHL arena was being built. That was a condition the Newmarket Royals made with Sarnia in order for the move to happen. Why doesn’t Chatham try that? The Erie Otter considered moving there too, so obviously there is interest. Take advantage Chatham!
