There is little doubting that Newfoundland, part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, is one of the most beautiful places in North America and possibly the world.

It’s also incredibly remote and that’s proved an issue for professional sports teams.

Since the St. John’s Maple Leafs inauguration in 1991, there has been much uncertainty over whether a professional ice hockey team could sustain itself in Canada’s most easterly province.

The Maple Leafs lasted until Toronto’s General Manager at the time, a certain Brian Burke, decided to move his AHL affiliate closer to home and became the Toronto Marlies in 2005.
There was logic to the relocation as seen by the rest of the NHL following suit and having their farm team closer to home for a variety of reasons that make sense (less travel for call-ups, keep closer eye on prospects etc).

There was then a six year gap without professional hockey in St. John’s until a chain of events in the NHL led to another AHL team in town.

In May 2011, True North Sports and Entertainment, owners of the Manitoba Moose franchise, purchased the Atlanta Thrashers’ NHL franchise and relocated the team to Winnipeg for the 2011–12 NHL season.
It was decided that with the return of the NHL in Winnipeg a new home was required for the Moose and the decision was taken to relocate the Moose to St. Johns, thus becoming the St. John’s IceCaps in 2011.

Their was success on the ice for the IceCaps who made the Eastern Conference final in their first season and made it all the way to the 2014 Calder Cup Final which they lost to Texas Stars despite an extremely hard fought series in which three of the five game series required overtime.

It proved a short-lived love affair, especially for the fans, as the Winnipeg opted to go back on their original decision after four seasons and move the franchise back to Winnipeg as the Manitoba Moose were once more.

The loss wasn’t felt quite as keenly this time around as rumours were abound that Montreal were looking to relocate their franchise in Hamilton out east.

Indeed the rumours had some substance but there was a caveat.
Montreal moved lock, stock and barrel to Newfoundland as the Hamilton Bulldogs took on the name of the St John’s IceCaps but it was little secret that the Canadiens planned to move their AHL franchise to Quebec once the infrastructure and new arena were in place.

The IceCaps lasted just two  seasons before Montreal relocated the affiliate to Laval, becoming the Laval Rocket.

The future for professional hockey on ‘The Rock” was now looking rather bleak with two teams choosing to move on in such a short span of time but there was hope in the form of two rival groups who intended to bring hockey back in differing forms.

The first wanted to try and create a new franchise to compete in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League whilst the other looked to secure an ECHL team.

It was the later group led by Dean MacDonald and Glenn Stafford that prevailed after creating a partnership with the Toronto Maple Leafs who were invested in bringing hockey back to St. John’s and having them become part of the organisation once again.
After a lease issue was settled, the Newfoundland Growlers were born into existence in 2018 and their inaugural 2018-19 campaign would be an historic one.

Despite suiting up a roster full of rookies (albeit on AHL contracts) and enduring a mid-season coaching change due to Ryane Clowe’s unfortunate medical situation, the Newfoundland Growlers became the first ever Canadian team to win the Kelly Cup.
A fairy tale story for those hockey hungry fans but after a short summer of celebration there has been much trepidation heading into the fall.

The future was uncertain as the lease issue reared it’s ugly head again and it looked as if the Growlers second season might be their last at the Mile One Centre and options were thin on the ground elsewhere.

After months of negotiations a ten year lease in principle has been agreed for the Newfoundland Growlers and St. John’s Edge (Basketball) to call Mile One Centre home for a decade.

Sports Editor for the St. John’s Telegram has more on the details here:
https://www.thetelegram.com/sports/local-sports/after-striking-new-mile-one-deal-city-of-st-johns-growlers-outline-the-give-and-take-357359/

For the first time in a very long time, the fans on the east coast have a level of security as far their sports teams are concerned and it’s nothing less than their passion and dedication deserves.

If anyone has any doubt about that then they should only look at the summer celebrations involving the Growlers and the turnout for when the Toronto Maple Leafs came to town as part of their preseason preparations.

Hockey rarely enjoys goodwill stories when finances are implicated but for once their appears to be a happy ending to this tale of what appeared to be impending woe.

I wouldn’t back against the Newfoundland Growlers defending their ECHL championship and going back-to-back. Just imagine the party on George Street…….