Mallards migrate, Flames light in Q-C

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By Craig DeVrieze | Friday, May 25, 2007 12:12 AM CDT | () comments

Dave Arnold still can hear the signature cheer.

“‘Let’s Go Mallards!’ is in the back of my head,’’ said the 12th-year fan of Quad-Cities minor league hockey and the first-year co-owner of a Quad-City hockey team.

Go, the United Hockey League Mallards have.

They have been replaced by the American Hockey League Quad-City Flames.

Arnold and his partners in Quad-City Sports Ventures Inc., which bought the Mallards a year ago, all were bursting with pride at the Thursday news that the National Hockey League’s Calgary Flames will bring their AHL operation to the Quad-Cities next year under the Quad-City Sports Ventures ownership flag.

Terms and costs of the five-year agreement were not disclosed, but Sports Ventures will assume 100 percent of the operating costs and profits and will own a percentage of the franchise in partnership with Calgary.

The Quad-City group also will pay an undisclosed affiliation fee to Calgary. Those typically run between $800,000 and $1.2 million.

In return, the NHL team will provide a Triple-A hockey team featuring players a step away from the NHL, where last year 83 percent of the rostered players were AHL graduates.

“It’s a great day for hockey in the Quad-Cities,’’ said team president Tim Taylor, who engineered the move. “Unquestionably, this is the second-best league in the world next to the NHL.

“You are going to see future NHL stars night in and night out,’’ he said of an 80-game schedule that will open in early October. “We hope our fans are as excited about the change as we are.’’

They are, and they aren’t.

“It will be strange at first,’’ said Mathew Gunsolley, Davenport. “It will be kind of like going back to our roots and starting over.’’

Rachel Friemel of Davenport thinks good hockey will win the day.

“It’s going to be a lot faster,’’ she said. “The AHL is a lot more fun to watch. I think people will warm to it eventually.’’

Joe Engel, a 12-year season-ticket holder from Davenport, already has. He definitely is looking forward to an improved caliber of hockey.

He’s not as excited about the name change.

“I do miss the name,’’ he said just hours after the Mallards became the Flames. “I have always believed you should have a mascot for families. What are you going to do with a Flame? And are Mo and Ima (Duck) just going off to die?’’

Arnold said he expects to have a challenge explaining the whereabouts of those longtime Mallards mascots to his grandchildren, but said he and his partners decided the dramatic name change was an important step.

“That’s the biggest thing I see on blogs and people approaching me,’’ he said of objections to losing the Mallards moniker. “But it’s actually running about 50-50. We just thought this was the best way to start a new program and let people know we are new and improved.’’

Arnold and partners like Dennis Voss were in the stands during the Mallards’ glory days when the team averaged 7,500 fans or more over five straight seasons, won three UHL championships and won 50 or more games in seven of eight seasons.

But Arnold said declining attendance and three straight first-round playoff exits took much of the frenzy out of the Mallards faithful.

“We’re not forgetting our history,’’ he said. “We are just stepping up to the next level. We have been stagnant the last several years. We have to do something to bring it back up.’’

Taylor said the Q-C Flames need to average in excess of 4,000 fans per game to cover an increased operating budget, but all hands are confident they can increase last year’s 3,124 Mallards average by at least that much.

Kevin Murphy, the lead Sports Ventures negotiator in the talks with Calgary representatives, foresees a return to the glory-day crowds of 6,000-plus.

“I would have been hesitant to recommend this deal if I didn’t know what we had in the past,” he said. “Nothing has changed in the community. I think the passion for quality hockey is still there.’’

In with the new

History: Founded in 1972 as the Atlanta Flames, they moved to Calgary in 1980. They won the Stanley Cup in 1989 and lost in the finals in 2004.

This season: Compiled 43-29-10 record, but were eliminated by Detroit in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Top players: Jarome Iginla was the NHL’s MVP in 2002 and has led the Flames in scoring every year since 2001; Miikka Kiprusoff has been among the NHL’s leading goaltenders each of the past two years; Tony Amonte and Roman Hamrlik, like Iginla, each has played in the Olympics twice.

Previous affiliate: The Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights won the American Hockey League’s Western Division title last season with a record of 49-25-5-1, but lost in the first round of the playoffs and finished near the bottom of the AHL in attendance.

Craig DeVrieze can be contacted at (563) 333-2610 or cdevrieze@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.