I’m a huge hockey fan. While growing up in Portland, a city without a professional NHL team, I became a fan of the Portland Winter Hawks. My parents took me to games when I was a baby, and I’ve been going ever since.
Hockey isn’t as popular in the United States as it is in Canada, so some of you may have no idea who the Winter Hawks are. Well, the Winter Hawks are a junior hockey team, consisting of players between the ages of 16 and 20. The players are from the United States, Canada and Europe. Their goal is to get drafted when they are 18, so they can one day play in the NHL.
Years ago, the Winter Hawks were popular in Portland, especially for being a junior hockey team. In 1998, the team won the junior hockey championship, the Memorial Cup. It was a usual occurrence for more than 10,000 people to attend home games. The team was featured all over the news and in the newspapers. This was the case, until recently. So, what happened?
A couple of years ago, the team was bought by a new ownership group and things have been going downhill ever since. The owners immediately started making decisions about players and trades, but they didn’t really know anything about the hockey. So, the team started to play bad. They also got rid of longtime employees and stopped broadcasting games on the radio. These things didn’t go over well with fans. The owners continued to change things and didn’t seem to care about what people or players thought. There were reports that the owners weren’t paying the player’s medical bills. Because of all this, the team has lost many supporters and season ticket holders. On average, about 2,000 people show up for games. The team hardly has any media coverage.
I’ve become fed up. I rarely follow the team anymore or go to games. This is very disappointing because I remember the good ol’ days. How can the Winter Hawks fix their tarnished reputation?
For starters, the team has just been sold. The new owner said how grateful he is to the fans, employees and players for sticking around. This is a step in the right direction because the team needs to rebuild relationships and gain people’s trust back. The community has to be reassured of their importance to the team. Without fans and supporters, the Winter Hawks don’t exist. The Winter Hawks need to hold public events to reach out and bond with the community. They have to get the word out to the media and the public that things are changing.
In the next few months, the Winter Hawks will be put to the test. They better pass.
Read more about the Winter Hawks at: After the Whistle
The hawks will r-e-t-u-r-n! thanks in part to Bill G.