I always like to watch the AHL, ECHL, and Juniors. So it saddened me to see the news that the Fresno Falcons shut down out of nowhere yesterday. This could be felt from every corner of not only hockey but the ECHL obviously. To get back to the story at hand, Fresno was a damn fine team. As a matter of fact, they were 18-10-2 before the shutdown. All their players become unrestricted free agents as is what happened when the Augusta franchise last month.
Here is a little more on the story from the Anchorage Daily News….one of the best sources for ECHL news I know…and college north of the 49th parallel. When you see a 35 percent drop in attendance…that is a bad sign folks. Point blank folks…the team is pissed and the fans are even more irate. I feel their pain. The Devils played hopscotch with their ECHL franchises till Trenton and I am very thankful for that.
This is the third ECHL team in California to fold in the last 3+ seasons….first there was San Diego before I arrived in California then Long Beach the year after and now Fresno. 21 franchises does not mean death for the ECHL by any means….so panic should not set in but this is a definite wake up call to the rest of the league. Now the talent pool is going to go up but what are these hockey fans going to do for their fix?
The ECHL was a very affordable way to see games. Ontario and Bakersfield do still exist but that will take a long while for Fresno fans to adjust to. I tip my hat to the players of the Falcons…they were a fine franchise who deserved better. Sure times were tough…..but what do the fans think?
The Fresno fans probably could have shown the owners a thing or two on how to run their team. Just my two cents!!
