Joey Payeur
The time for beating around the bush is long gone.
Without a significant upswing in attendance, and an emergence of new blood to help with the responsibilities of operating the franchise, Fort Frances Lakers’ president Milt Strachan didn’t mince words last week when it came to the current state of the team.
“We’re in desperation mode,” Strachan warned.
“The community has to show they want a junior hockey team,” he added. “It’s too much for a small group of people to carry.
“This coming year is the telltale year.”
Strachan said the Lakers currently are facing a debt of about $45,000, which only will drop to about $40,000 once final tallies are in after tomorrow’s conclusion of the team’s fiscal year in regards to recent fundraising ventures.
That figure would be much greater if it were not for the Dudley Hewitt Cup held here in 2015.
“The Dudley was a saviour for us,” Strachan admitted. “We paid off our debt and it gave us some money to make plans going forward.
“But just two years later, this is where we’re at,” he noted. “Something’s got to change.”
Strachan insisted the Lakers are running a tight financial ship, with players having to pay half their billet costs monthly and purchase equipment such as sticks from the team itself, which gets them at discount prices due to bulk orders.
“Those are perks some teams in Canada, with wealthier ownership groups, can supply for their kids–it’s night and day for us compared to those bigger community teams,” stressed Strachan, who highlighted the difficulties the lack of those luxuries brings teams in smaller centres like Fort Frances when it comes to recruiting top-end talent.
“Every kid pursuing a junior hockey career more than likely wants to move west, starting at the Manitoba border, because nobody pays to play out there,” he remarked.
“You go the other way, the Maritime Hockey League has that same situation.
“The southern Ontario teams charge their players to play but there’s lots more kids to pick from,” he noted.
“If we had that kind of recruiting pool in our area, we’d be laughing, too,” Strachan said.
“The more local kids on the team, the better,” he reasoned. “That’s why we’re here, so they will have that stepping stone to the next level.”
The Lakers, after three-straight regular-season titles and back-to-back-to-back Bill Salonen Cups as SIJHL champs, plummeted down the standings to fifth place this season.
That free-fall was reflected in the stands, where a frustrated Strachan said the team averaged 325 spectators per game in both the regular season and the playoffs, down from 450-500 in recent regular seasons and higher than that come playoff time.
“You hear all the time about how we’re ‘Hockeytown Northwestern Ontario,'” he remarked. “But we’ve got this bigger rink and it’s never full unless it’s a game to decide who goes to or wins the final.
“Even if it was half-full on a regular basis, that would close the gap to get us to an area of being able to run this thing all square.
“It’s disappointing to me that a lot of hockey people I played with, against, and watched play, who depended on the same things we do when they were a player, don’t come out and support our team on a regular basis,” Strachan lamented.
“You always hear there’s nothing to do and nowhere to go,” he added. “We ask $10 for three hours of entertainment that gives people a chance to come out and see their buddies in the crowd and see the spirit of our town.”
The lack of gate revenue translated into Lakers’ management having its hands tied when it came to making any acquisitions at the Jan. 10 trade deadline, as they had in seasons past.
“To get any of the top guys available would have cost up to the maximum $5,000 range to get, and we were working in the $1,500-$2,000 range,” Strachan revealed.
“I don’t believe we were that far away from making a run at the title,” he insisted.
“But it’s hard to justify bringing in two or three players at the trade deadline when you’re trying to make ends meet.
“We didn’t have the means to go that route, so we avoided it because it would have added another $5,000 debt we don’t need,” Strachan said.
“You can’t win every year but the support from the community is so important to be able to reach that level,” he stressed.
The Lakers’ second-round playoff exit also prematurely turned off a revenue tap that had flowed quite effectively the past three seasons.
“Another round of playoffs would have meant another two or three home games that would have got us around another $10,000 against the debt,” Strachan noted.
“But even playoff crowds this year were a disappointment compared to the past.
“In years past, 550-600 people per game was the rule,” he recalled. “But this year, it was like it was just another regular-season game.
“I think that had something to do with the on-ice performance,” Strachan conceded.
“It’s much different to play in front of 600-800 people than to hear a pin drop with just 300 people in the crowd.”
The other looming issue Strachan said is jeopardizing the team’s future is a lack of fresh faces willing to step in and take over for the current board of directors and other team volunteers.
That core group pretty much has remained the same since the Lakers came into being in 2007 after the Fort Frances Jr. Sabres folded the previous season.
“When we took a tab with making a go of it as a community-run team, that’s always been the idea–it’s not my team, it’s not the board’s team, it’s the community’s team,” said Strachan.
He’s issued a call to people to attend the team’s annual general meeting, which will be held around the end of May.
“You don’t have to become a board member if you come to the meeting, although we would welcome newcomers for that,” Strachan said.
“We need to locate people to help put on our fundraisers, and we need new ideas and thoughts.
“We’re willing to give anything a try, and we want to involve the community to try and make this thing work,” he added.
“People with a background in promotions would be a great addition for us,” noted Strachan.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a weakness of ours, but people with strength in that area would go a long way.
“We’ve been doing the same fundraisers for years now and it’s kept us alive, but it’s not enough and we need to reach out to more people,” he stressed.
Strachan was adamant that, with the town already having lost the Borderland Thunder and then the Jr. Sabres before the Lakers came along, a third dissolution of a local team could be the Fort’s last kick at the junior hockey can.
“I don’t see a wealthy ownership group coming along to run the team anytime soon,” he remarked.
“Under the premise of a community-owned team, the commitment has to come from the community.
“If we lose it under the community-owned premise, it’s probably gone for good,” Strachan warned.
“It’s not something you can just fire up, it takes lots of planning and experience.
“If you don’t get the support this time, then maybe you don’t deserve a team here,” he said.
“I don’t know if deserve is the right word but maybe it is.”
Anyone wanting to get involved can call Strachan at 275-5255.
You also can contact any of the board of directors, whose phone numbers are listed on the team’s website at www.fortfranceslakers.com
