After a nine-year absence, professional ice hockey is returning to San Diego and the Valley View Casino Center this fall.
The local team will be the top minor league affiliate of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks of the National Hockey League (NHL), who play their home games at the Honda Center about 90 miles north of San Diego.
Moving to San Diego will be the current Norfolk Admirals of the American Hockey League (AHL), whose home games are 2,702 miles east of the Honda Center.
The much closer distance will allow the Ducks to move players quickly between Anaheim and San Diego, something that couldn’t be done from Norfolk.
“This will be the best hockey ever played in this building,” said Ernie Hahn, general manager of the Midway district arena, which opened in 1966 as the San Diego Sports Arena, home to the San Diego Gulls of the long-defunct Western Hockey League.
The name and logo of the new team will be revealed at a San Diego Hockey Fest on Feb. 22 from noon to 3 p.m. at the arena, 3500 Sports Arena Blvd.
The free event will celebrate the sport’s return to San Diego, a city with a long history of successful teams, most of them named “Gulls,” with a sizable and loyal fan base. The Ducks will set up a full “Hockey Spot” experience, which includes street hockey, a Ducks Jump Castle (bounce house), a photo booth and the Hardest Shot Challenge.
Also planned are autograph sessions with local hockey legends, appearances by the Ducks Street Team and Power Players, live music from San Diego bands, hot dogs and soda. The first 1,000 fans will also receive a T-shirt. The new team already has a website (www.sandiegoahl.com) where fans can place deposits on season tickets for the 2015-16 season, which begins in October. In the first 24 hours after the team was announced, more than 500 deposits were placed.
For decades, the AHL’s teams have been located in the Eastern half of the country, so to make this feasible and control travel costs, it was necessary for the league to create an entire division out West.
After several years of planning, the Ducks and four other western teams in the NHL agreed to purchase their top minor league teams for relocation to cities nearer the parent club’s location.
Besides the move of Norfolk to San Diego, the AHL’s Board of Governors also agreed with the shift of four other franchises to form a new Pacific Division within the league:
-The Calgary Flames affiliate moves from Glens Falls, N.Y. to Stockton, Calif.
-The Edmonton Oilers affiliate moves from Oklahoma City, Okla. to Bakersfield, Calif.
-The Los Angeles Kings affiliate moves from Manchester, N.H. to Ontario, Calif.
-The San Jose Sharks affiliate moves from Worcester, Mass. to San Jose, Calif. “The Western-based NHL clubs have been in dialogue with our league for almost three years, and this announcement launches a new era for the American Hockey League and for professional hockey in California,” said AHL President and CEO David Andrews.
The Admirals, who have been a Ducks affiliate since June 2012, are currently ranked 17th of 30 AHL teams in home attendance, averaging 4,553 per game. League averages range from the Portland (Maine) Pirates (2,799) to the Hershey (Pa.) Bears (9,427).
Formed in 1936, the AHL is the top developmental league for players, coaches, game officials, trainers, executives and broadcasters. Of today’s NHL players, 88 percent are “graduates” of the league and 100 former players are members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The Ducks have a history of promoting hockey among youth in Southern California, supporting programs that allow young players to play the game. Their “Learn to Play” program provides hockey equipment at no cost and puts kids on the ice for lessons from Ducks players.
They have also sponsored the Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League, which has grown from one team in 2006 to its current size of 41 teams. Two of those are from San Diego, one from La Jolla Country Day School and the other made up of players from San Diego Unified School District.
Several other local schools have expressed interest in putting a team on the ice, leading to hope that a San Diego Division of the league may someday compete.