Game 699 of the Frontenacs Held Hostage…

Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008: Saginaw 3, Kingston 1 (a day later, but it’s the City that’s a few dollars short)

You know that beer commercial, where the guy keeps saying, “Expected” over and over again in this been-there, done-that tone? That’s kind of how it is these days with the Fronts.

Members of city council zinging the Frontenacs in the Whig-Standard over their woeful attendance, calling them the “weakest link” in the new facility and describing their marketing efforts as ”amateurish?” Expected.

The Frontenacs sending “a press release urging local media outlets to promote the team’s coming games,” as if it’s their job to make sure people come out? Expected.

Losing in Saginaw the other night, which has helped cut Peterborough’s magic number for clinching the final playoff spot to six points? Expected.

Larry Mavety whining about the ref after that game? Expected.

Belleville having reached 90 points before the Frontenacs cracked 40? Expected. 

The three of us getting an e-mail from an apparent apologist for Doug Springer saying that, “your wrong about the attendance for the Petes, it was 3200, but the Whig put 2283 because the league website had the number of people who came, not the ACTUAL PAID ATTENDANCE.” Someone who’s obviously sucking up to the Springers worrying more about what the media report than the apparent fact that almost 1,000 people who had tickets for a game didn’t show up? Expected.  

So, to the Frontenacs as a whole, “Is there anything you people do that isn’t expected?”

 

3,500 a game? Maybe next year

The Whig-Standard sprung into action after that truly terrible turnout for the Petes game on Sunday.

The city has banked on collecting a $1.50 surcharge from every hockey ticket sold and has budgeted for 3,500 fans at each game, on average. Sunday’s poor showing cost the city $1,800 in lost ticket surcharges alone.

When cities open modern entertainment centres, attendance at sporting events that have moved out of older facilities typically surge, but the surge usually lasts longer than one game.

You don’t say. The story goes on to say that “the city’s business plan requires the facility to produce roughly $1 million a year in profit” and that if it falls short, taxes will have be to hiked.

Does anyone believe there’s a possibility the city might start putting pressure on Doug Springer to improve his operation, or sell it to someone who will? People haved voted with their feet for the past 10 years going to fewer and fewer Frontenacs games because they can’t stand the owner; maybe city council is going to start listening.

 

Game 698 …

Sunday, Feb. 24, 2008: Kingston 7, Peterborough 4

With all due respect to the Whig-Standard, the story is down in the 12th paragraph, where yesterday’s attendance is mentioned — 2,283 fans.

Where’s your 3,000-4,000 fans now, Dougie Springer? One sellout against the Bulls and it’s right back to the kinds of crowds that have become typical at the Memorial Centre. That it was so you could stand in the concourse and hear the coaches calling out instructions from the bench speaks volumes about where you and the genius GM, Larry Mavety, stand in public esteem with Kingstonians. 

There’s not an ill word to be spoken of the players. They had a good game — got up 5-1 after one (Bobby Mignardi scored twice) and then sweated out the final period when all the bad coaching-induced baggage started to rear its ugly head. They’re now only 13 points out of a playoff spot with 11 games left (do the math, it’s not possible).

 

Game 697 of the Frontenacs Held Hostage…

Friday, February 22, 2008: Bellevegas 3, K-Town 2Only losing to Belleville by a little = great success.Actual Whig-Standard headline: “Fronts get A for effort; Kingston provides fans with a good game in K-Rock Centre debut.” And there’s Doug Springer, who didn’t have much to say for a while there, making sure his name gets in the story.If you’re going to lead the band, Dougie, you gotta face the music at all times. No doubt it was a great night; some people have already shared their photos and the building looks awesome — can’t wait to see it, but it’s not like seeing your friends’ new baby, it can wait a while, like until the Fronts get a real team. Let’s be honest here. If the Fronts got an A for effort, it was after D-plus all year long. This brings the grade up to a C-minus.Oh, hush … it was a special night, the kids played hard, they tried, but Belleville’s got a much better team. Congratulations to the local boy, Bulls goalie Mike Murphy, for getting the W (his 31st of the year) in the first game at the K-Rock Centre.Again, it seems smart to be skeptical about Springer’s words about turning the team around … he’s the same guy who got in this 10-year rut.By the way, it’s not for nothing that Belleville’s Matt Beleskey (not Mike, sorry!) got his 40th of the season last night (he had the hat trick). The last guy to get 40 goals in a Kingston uniform also quit the team between the third period and overtime of a playoff game — and Doug Springer welcomed him right back on the team. To think people accuse the Frontenacs of not teaching players accountability!

 

Tonight’s opening night

Well, I got down on both knees tonight and prayed this is when things start to get better for the state of the OHL in Kingston. But let’s level here: This is the equivalent of an unhappy family moving into a bigger house. They’re still dysfunctional, but they have nicer furniture.

The K-Rock Pot will open tonight and the first two games are sold out (presumably it happened over the dead bodies of all the NIMBY folk in Kingston who said they didn’t oppose the arena, just the process — ya, right). It’s way too late for this season, but is this where the Frontenacs start progressing from a team that’s been a laughingstock under incompetent, heavy-handed ownership and outdated management and coaching to a genuine, modern hockey operation?

It’s hard to imagine it turning around as long as Doug Springer and Larry Mavety are around. What they’ve done to hockey in Kingston isn’t criminal; it’s just tragic.

There’s nothing that can be done about it, except. As far as we know, this is nothing like the Portland situation, where the league commissioner has laid down the law because the team isn’t paying the bills and is scrimping on the medical care of injured players (which is despicable — you don’t play fast and loose with the health and welfare of young people).

The league cannot enforce an attitude adjustment. Only the fans can by demanding better. Doug Springer apparently believes that the only reason they were getting less than 2,000 fans in the old building was because it was an old building; it had nothing to do with the sour stench of defeat that’s draped over the entire franchise.

There will apparently be 5,700 people in the house for each of the first two home games. We’ll see how long it lasts. We’ll see.

By the way, did everyone see that the Whig-Standard had a poll to choose fans’ favourite coach in the history of the Kingston franchise? Three guesses who finished dead last, and the first two don’t count: Larry Mavety. 

(Thanks for the link, Simon)

 

Game 696…

Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008: Belleville 4, Kingston 1

Not much to say about the game — it went like most games do against the Bulls, with a tight, well-coached team having scarcely little trouble with a disorganized team which knows it’s disorganized.

The real belly laughs came from that story in the Whig-Standard about the issue with the K-Rock Centre being ready for Friday night’s opener, specifically the issues with the Frontenacs dressing room. No rubber matting in the bathroom area? Stalls too close together?

Wasn’t this supposed to be the rink that would help the players feel like they’re expectected to be part of a winning organization? And basic things like the dressing room are screwed up? It just goes to show doing right by the players is not as the top of Doug Springer’s list of priorities, not even in the top 10 or top 100. Shouldn’t the team have had some say it in the design of the room? It’s their home. What a gong show.

 

Game 695 …

Saturday, Feb. 15, 2008: Kingston 6, London 4

Lord, I apologize … there were some pretty big chill bumps sprouting as the final minutes of the last OHL game at the M Centre ticked down. So much for being made of stronger stuff.

There’s no original way to say it’s the end of an era. From now on, whenever you listen to a Frontenacs home game, you won’t be able to picture what’s happening without the old double-seaters, the big portrait of the Queen, the redolent smell of vinegar, the benches on the opposite sides of the ice and what has to be the world’s only 200-by-92-foot ice surface. (Honestly, it was disappointing to learn the K-Rock Pot will be 200 by 85 like everywhere else.)

According to the message board (sorry, real life got in the way of attending), there were some, uh, issues with the concessions being able to serve a crowd of 3,300. That’s something that will hopefully will be left behind at the Mem Centre with the bad hockey and bad coaching  Kingstonians have been treated to far too often over the past 35 years.

By the way, check out the profile the Whig-Standard did on the legendary Freda Coyle, who’s run the media room flawlessly and professionally since 1990. (If only the GM and owner were as professional as Freda Coyle …)

 

Game 694 of the Frontenacs Held Hostage

February 13, 2008: K-Town 4, ‘Shwa 1

A nice card and some chocolates should be couriered overnight to Plymouth’s Ryan Blake (and maybe a steak, for his face), since he’s the one who woke up Kyle Bochek on Sunday by needlessly — and stupidly — picking a fight with the tough right wing.

Bochek assisted on the first Frontenacs goal, scored a game-winning shortie in the third and added the empty-netter just for good measure. It was a gritty effort. Did everyone see the Generals got a spearing penalty at the final buzzer? It’s either Oshawa is that undisciplined or that the Frontenacs have become a tough team to play against in the new year.  (Cue the quote from Million Dollar Baby: “Tough, ain’t enough.” The Fronts are tough to play against since no one, least of all themselves, has a bead on what their system is … if any.)

That said, everyone should be happy that the players are wringing some consolation out of a write-off season. Devil’s advocate: Would Bruce Cassidy still have his job and would this team still have a shot at the playoffs if Kingston had played like this during the first 13 games?

 

Mav’s a killer! (The Fronts are a mess)

As you saw, Larry Mavety got an indefinite suspension for leaving the bench during Sunday’s game vs. Plymouth.

Hopefully it lasts over a couple weeks. Isn’t this the time of year where guys Mav’s age like to take off to someplace sunny and warm?

It was  stupid that he went on the ice … stupid awesome.

Some people are agreeing that it’s too bad Sunday could not have been the final Frontenacs game at the Memorial Centre. It was a lulu.

 

Game 693…

Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008: Kingston 7, Plymouth 4

It usually takes getting a non-conference opponent playing their third game of the weekend for the Frontenacs to play a game like today, but so what?

This felt like old times: a piles of goals, including a couple sweet efforts from Andris Dzerins, the good guys coming out ahead in the scraps and some chirping back and forth between the benches. Larry Mavety was tossed with 10 minutes left when he stepped on the ice to call on the Plymouth coach, Greg Stefan; say, maybe it is a good idea to have the benches on opposite sides of the ice.

It was fun, but it’s hard to believe that the OHL doesn’t require 2 refs, 2 linesmen for all games. Ryan Hayes, number 10 on the Whalers, is a little agitator, but he could have seriously got hurt when Kyle Bochek had him pinned down and was punching him in the second fight. Actually, Bochek might have hurt his hand on Hayes’ head.

 

Game 692…

Friday, Feb. 8, 2008: Barrie 7, Kingston 3

That’s the old Larry Mavety defensive system that we know and love. The Colts went up by four goals early in the second, then let the Fronts take the play to them for a bit, which made it more interesting for the announced crowd (wink) of 1,864.

What’s there to say? At least Kingston boy Taylor Hall was the subject of a nice writeup on Sportsnet’s website today.

 

Game 691 of the Frontenacs Held Hostage

Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008: Niagara 8, Kingston 2

It’s never good when two guys on the other team score hat tricks in the same game. Next!

 

The Krock Pot…

The best part about the story about how K-Rock 105.7 won the naming rights to the new arena is, of course, that everyone immediately dubbed it the Krock Pot, since everyone will “stew” over the sad truth that Doug Springer and Larry Mavety don’t know what they’re doing.

The second-best part is there might be an attendance clause, where the sponsor would have the right to be paid back or get out of the deal if not enough people attend events. Maybe that puts some pressure on Springer to finally spend the cash to develop a modern hockey operation and do, “whatever it takes.” 

 

Well, someone has to be last!

It’s a far, far cry from the days in the mid-’90s when it was standing-room-only at the Memorial Centre.

A friend e-mailed a link to a website run by a man named Hans Lennier that tracks attendance for junior and minor-league teams. Guess what? The Springer Frontenacs have sunk to dead last in the OHL in average attendance: 1,951 fans.

Actually, they’re 60th of 60 teams out of the three major junior leagues. I knew it was bad, but this bad? This is a city which was a finalist on the CBC’s Hockeyville series, not too long ago.

People in Kingston love hockey, but they don’t love the Springer Frontenacs. They have discriminating tastes.

The attendance will improve in the short run once the teams moves into the new arena (the new, taxpayer-funded arena), but how long is that going to last?

It seems like a lot of people are voting with their feet, staying home and saying they won’t give support to the Doug Springer-Larry Mavety gong show.

Once again, we’re seeing the effects of the lost decade under Doug Springer. It’s 2008, but the Frontenacs as a franchise seem rooted in another era, since their owner doesn’t understand how the game is played and their GM-coach isn’t up with the times, either. It’s not bad luck that conspires in the Frontenacs either missing the playoffs or go down easier than Paris Hilton in the first round. 

Pretty please with sugar on top, Doug Springer, sell the team to someone who’s willing to put the cash into it to give Kingston a class franchise.

 

Game 690 …

Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008: Plymouth 4, Kingston 3 (shootout)

The Frontenacs aren’t playing so bad now that there’s nothing left to play for but personal pride. Granted, with the turnout yesterday in Plymouth on Super Bowl Sunday, it might have felt like a home game, except the empty seats there are a nice, bright blue.

Bottom line, the Fronts haven’t been faring too bad since Jan. 1, but you know what’s strange? How often do they get another team’s A-game? Almost never. It’s impossible for the good teams to fool themselves into believing they have to go all out to beat Kingston.