On the will-we-get-another-team front: there are two major obstacles at this point. The first one I had alluded to earlier, which is that City Council--which dragged its feet so long in trying to get money for the Big Sandy Superstore Arena that the usable amount left shrank from about $5mil to about $4.5mil due to increased interest rates--has an issue with the Arena now taking the higher bid for seating, which actually met the standards that they were seeking, over the cheaper but less satisfactory bid. Let it be stated that I have no problems with the more expensive seats being used, so long as there is still money left over for everything else--and while keeping in mind that technically all the stuff we want/need is NOT included in the bond money, it has been made fairly clear to myself and others that the Arena very much wants to do some ice upgrades. To be quite honest, I'm amazed that anyone has been able to stand the amount of lollygagging going on with the municipal government; as the saying goes, Rome wasn't built in a day, but this has been dragging on for literally years now.
The second is the annual Minor League Death Pool Silly Season, in which we figure out which shaky teams end up falling apart before next season. This offseason is shaping up to be particularly tumultuous due to recent developments with the Central Hockey League, which I previously had on the shortlist of Places We Should Go. The rumor mill has been all over the place, with sentiment ranging from "keep calm and carry on" to "DEAR GOD THE SKY IS FALLING". Add to that the ripple effects from a potential move of the Phoenix Coyotes back to Winnipeg, and it might be well into summer before we know who will be playing where in what league to even begin to figure where a good fit for us would be. On the bright side, by that time everything with the Arena should be sorted out...
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