Raleigh Tries for the Big Time

Ken Whichard

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Sep 20, 1996, 3:00:00 AM9/20/96

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Last night, the mayor of Raleigh and a committee formed to support the
project announced that old Raleigh town is going to try to get one of
the expansion NHL teams! While that would make me happy, it kind of
made me mad that they said that they wanted to get a professionsl hockey
team for Raleigh!

While it ain't the NHL, the Icecaps are a professional team and,
sometimes, they play some pretty good hockey!

GO 'CAPS!!!
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Rob Hoffmann

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Sep 21, 1996, 3:00:00 AM9/21/96

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Ken Whichard wrote:

> Last night, the mayor of Raleigh and a committee formed to support the
> project announced that old Raleigh town is going to try to get one of
> the expansion NHL teams!

Oh, now that's funny. :)

The NHL has failed in Winnipeg and Quebec City. It is about to fail in
Hartford. It was marginal in Pittsburgh for years, and may only be
alive now because Mario Lemieux plays there. Larger cities than
Raleigh, such as Charlotte, Jacksonville (to name a couple of ECHL
towns), Cleveland, Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Kansas City are also likely
to apply for NHL expansion/relocation teams. And Dorton Arena is not
even close to being an NHL building.

And the mayor of Raleigh is going to waste his city's time and money
chasing an NHL franchise? I hope the voters remember this in your next
mayoral elections... :)

Robster

Ken Whichard

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Sep 27, 1996, 3:00:00 AM9/27/96

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Rob Hoffmann wrote:
>

Of course you are correct. While I would really like to see that level
of hockey in i\our town, I don't hold out much hope for it.

BTW - the would not play in Dorton, construction has just started in a
21,000 seat building near Carter-Finley Stadium. They would play there
(as will the Icecaps if they are still here).

Ken

Jim Parhamovich

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Sep 28, 1996, 3:00:00 AM9/28/96

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WHo is going to pay for the additional items needed to the 99 million
dollar arena to make it ready for hockey. It seems (according to
raleigh's paper of thursday 26 sept. 1996) that the new arena doesn't
have office space, locker rooms or dehumdifying equipment necessary for
hockey. Perhaps the mayor is joking! Would NHL hockey really go over in
the heart of college (really semi-pro) basketball palyed at NCSU, UNC-CH,
and DUKE. NHL hockey hasn't made it in town with long standing hockey
traditions. Does it stand a chance in Raleigh?

Jim Parhamovich
web...@charweb.org

Ken Whichard (w...@sun1.wayne.cc.nc.us) wrote:

: BTW - the would not play in Dorton, construction has just started in a

Scott D. Rhodes

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Oct 2, 1996, 3:00:00 AM10/2/96

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web...@charweb.org (Jim Parhamovich) wrote:

>NHL hockey hasn't made it in town with long standing hockey
>traditions. Does it stand a chance in Raleigh?

No, and anyone here in the Triangle who actually thinks about the
matter knows that. Unfortunately, there are those who (pardon my
mixed metaphor) can't see the forest for the silver lining. And that
includes Mayor Tom Fetzer.

If the Triangle wants to go for the big time, its best bets are with
baseball and basketball (although the nearness to Charlotte makes that
tricky). If it wants a higher level of hockey -- and I don't see why
it does -- then it needs to pursue either the AHL or the IHL. It
simply isn't ready for the Nat.