“The tickets are a combination of ones that were let go this year,” Gavin Hamilton, the team’s vice-president of business development, told Kelowna radio station AM 1150. “We had a group that are retired now and are traveling more in the winter time so aren't around for the second half of the year, so that is where a bulk of those came from."
A year ago, the Rockets put 350 season tickets into circulation. That marked the first time season tickets had been available since before the team played host to the 2004 Memorial Cup.
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Meanwhile, in Brandon, the Wheat Kings revealed that they have sold 1,969 season tickets; they had sold more than 2,200 at this time last year.
Last season, the Wheat Kings sold more than 2,900 season tickets; they averaged more than 4,100 fans for home games.
“I always make refence to really it’s Oct. 1 before you know for sure where you’re gong to end up with your season tickets,” Brandon owner and GM Kelly McCrimmon told a news conference, “but when we’re behind like we are, it’s a little bit concerning, and it could be a variety of things: Weather, people away, obviously July and August aren’t months where people are thinking about buying hockey tickets. It’s something that picks up a lot more in September, so again I think (the team is) not alarmed, but just a bit concerned that we need to get moving with those numbers.”
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THE COACHING GAME:
Ryan Marsh is the new lead assistant coach with the U of Alberta Golden Bears, according to Evan Daum of the Edmonton Journal. Marsh, 37, played three seasons (1992-95) with the Tri-City Americans. He then played a season in the ECHL before spending four winters playing for the Golden Bears. He will join Alberta head coach Ian Herbers, who is heading into his first season after leaving the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals. . . . Marsh is the director of the hockey program at the Edmonton-based Vimy Ridge Hockey Academy. . . . Daum’s story is right here. . . .
The QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques have added Eric Landry to their coaching staff under head coach Benoit Groulx. Landry will work alongside fellow assistant coach Guy Lalonde. . . . Landry, who played two full seasons (1993-95) with the QMJHL’s St. Hyacinthe Lasers, has retired after playing the last nine seasons in Europe. . . . The Olympiques open camp Tuesday.
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