ELLINGTON OFF TO MOOSE, KELLY CUP TIX GO ON SALE

Victoria Salmon Kings defenseman Taylor Ellington has been re-assigned by the Vancuver Canucks to the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League.

The Victoria native will join the Moose for his third stint in Manitoba this season, after previously being re-assigned by the Canucks in November and January.

In 13 total games with the Moose this year Ellington has recorded two assists and seven penalty minutes.

The 21-year-old defender has participated in 47 games with the Salmon Kings this season tallying 14 points (3g-11a) while serving 49 minutes in penalties.

Ellington was also selected as one of two Victoria representatives at this year’s 2010 ECHL All-Star Game in Ontario, CA.

Meanwhile, the Victoria Salmon Kings announced today that 2010 Kelly Cup Playoff tickets will go on sale Wednesday.

Discounts on released playoff tickets will be available for fans that order group packages of 10 or more tickets or fans that want to purchase a complete playoff ticket package, which guarantees a seat to every 2010 Kelly Cup playoff home game at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.

The Salmon Kings host the Utah Grizzlies  Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

ATTENDANCE WOES HIT SALMON KINGS

By Paul Seal

Vibrant Victoria

Most Victoria Salmon Kings fans will admit this season has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride on the ice.  The team started out with one win against nine losses in the first ten games before catching fire and winning eleven of their first thirteen games following the Christmas break.

February and March, however, put a damper on the team’s spirit.  The Salmon Kings spent most of the last two months on the road while the Olympics took the spotlight here at home, picking up a 6-8 record, and arrived back in Victoria only to drop all three homes games against league-leading Idaho on the weekend ending March 13th.

But what hasn’t been a wild ride this season are home attendance figures.

They are simply down.

The team has drawn an average of just 4,211 fans at the Save On Foods Memorial Centre, representing a drop of 712 fans each night compared to the previous season.

In 2008-09 the team averaged 4,923 fans.  In 2007-08 the average was slightly lower at 4,871 per night.

Given the median walk-up ticket price of approximately $22 and median season-ticket price at just above $15 per game, the drop likely means a revenue loss of over $300,000 spread over the 36-game home schedule.

Exact dollar figures are hard to come by as most teams do not release full ticket-sale financial figures and the number of complimentary or contra tickets is an unknown but typically added into the attendance figures mix.

It is difficult to attribute the drop on any one factor.

Yes, the last two years were record-breaking, even garnering Salmon Kings ticket manager Devin Mazur a league award for excellence in the ticketing department in 2008, so some might have expected a bit of a drop from those heady numbers.

The drop  could be blamed on the economy, although most Victorians would probably admit we sidestepped economic difficulties more-so than the US teams in the league.  And the ECHL overall is up 5.7% from the same period a year ago (figures from January, 2010).

Full non-smoking rules went into effect at Save On Foods Memorial in September 2008, a rule that does not even allow fans to go outside between periods to smoke.

That could be a factor, as this is the first year season-ticket holders had prior notice before buying.  Or it could just be that the shine has worn off a team now playing in its 5th season at the now not-so-new arena.

Victoria isn’t the only BC pro hockey team with attendance woes.

Abbotsford, a new AHL city entering the league this year, has drawn only 3,300 fans on average, and that’s 34% less than expected.  Notable was the fact that two 7000+ attendant sellouts came when the visiting team was the Canucks’ affiliate Manitoba Moose, and both were held mid-week.

The Salmon Kings affiliation with the Canucks hasn’t seemed to have brought about any uptick in sales since their partnership began in 2006.

The Salmon Kings hope to improve on the numbers with their last set of games March 31, April 2 and 3 vs. Utah.

The team has announced a fairly impressive $5-admission game night for April 3.  With the team fighting several others in the National Conference for a playoff spot, the games might have meaning, and the ticketing department hopes they will improve on their attendance average just a bit as they close out the regular season.

BRANDT REJOINS MANITOBA MOOSE

Victoria Salmon Kings forward Andy Brandt has rejoined the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League on loan.

He rejoins the Moose after initially being loaned to Manitoba on March 4 and participating in three games where he recorded no points or penalty minutes. Brandt rejoined the Salmon Kings this past week for contests in Stockton and Bakersfield.

The 26-year-old forward has played in 59 games with the Salmon Kings this season registering 27 points and 36 minutes in penalties.

SALMON KINGS INK MAGNOWSKI, GET BRANDT BACK

The Victoria Salmon Kings have signed forward Mark Magnowski for the remainder of the 2009-10 season.

As well, Andy Brandt has returned from his loan to the Moose of the American Hockey League.

Magnowski joins the Salmon Kings after finishing 30 games with Princeton University this season scoring 27 points and registering eight penalty minutes. Magnowski also played the previous three seasons with the Tigers where he amassed 60 points in 99 games while serving 48 minutes in penalties.

The 5-10, 160 lb. forward spent two seasons (2004-05 and 2005-06) in the United States Hockey League (USHL) prior to his time at school. In 120 career USHL games between the Green Bay Gamblers and Sioux Falls Stampede, Magnowski scored 37 goals and assisted on 46 others for 83 points with 59 minutes in penalties.

The 26-year-old Brandt rejoins the Salmon Kings after competing in three games with the Moose where he recorded no points or penalty minutes. This was Brandt’s second stint in the AHL this year after dressing for two games with the Lake Erie Monsters last month.

The 6-1, 184 lb. forward has played in 56 games with Victoria this season where he has registered 12 goals and 15 assists for 27 points while accruing 31 penalty minutes.

SALMON KINGS LEND BRANDT TO MOOSE

The Victoria Salmon Kings have loaned Andy Brandt to the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League.

The 26-year old Brandt joins the Moose for his second stint in the AHL this season after participating in two games with the Lake Erie Monsters in January where he recorded no points or penalty minutes. The two games with the Monsters were the forward’s first professional contests outside of the ECHL.

SHARROW BACK FROM RAMPAGE

Defenseman Jimmy Sharrow has returned to the Victoria Salmon Kings after being on loan to the San Antonio Rampage of the American Hockey League where he dressed  for one game and recorded one assist and two minutes in penalties.

This was Sharrow’s second stint in the AHL this year after playing in one game for the Manitoba Moose where he recorded no points or penalty minutes.

Sharrow leads all Salmon Kings’ and National Conference defensemen with 36 points (11g-25a) in 44 games played while serving 36 penalty minutes.

The Salmon Kings head to Bakersfield for a two-game set this weekend with matches on Friday and Saturday.

SALMON KINGS GET ELLINGTON BACK FROM MOOSE

Defenseman Taylor Ellington has returned to the Victoria Salmon Kings.

The Victoria native is under NHL contract to the Canucks and rejoins the Salmon Kings after participating in 11 games with the Manitoba Moose scoring one assist and seven penalty minutes.

Ellington’s time with Manitoba was his second stint of the season after first being re-assigned to the Moose on November 25th. The defenseman played two games in the AHL at that time registering no points or penalty minutes.

LATENDRESSE OFF TO THE HEAT

Victoria Salmon Kings’ Forward Olivier Latendresse has been loaned to the American Hockey League’s Abbotsford Heat.

Latendresse joins the Heat after participating in all 47 of the Salmon Kings’ regular season contests this year where he registered 47 points (16g-31a) and 38 minutes in penalties.

Latendresse’s 31 assists is currently tops on the Salmon Kings’ roster.

The 23-year-old forward has previously played three games in the AHL this season with the Manitoba Moose where he accumulated no points and two penalty minutes.

SALMON KINGS AND HEAT SWAP GOALTENDERS

David Shantz goaltender for the Victoria Salmon Kings has been called up to Abbotsford Heat of the American Hockey League.

He will trade positions with Abbotsford goaltender Leland Irving, a 2006 first-round draft pick of the Calgary Flames.

Forward Eric Walsky has been assigned to Victoria from the AHL’s Manitoba Moose and defenseman Neil Petruic has been loaned to the Binghamton Senators of the AHL.

Irving joins the Salmon Kings after participating in 30 games this season with the Heat where he has registered an 11-15-2 record to go along with a 2.68 goals against average, a 0.909 save percentage and one shutout.

He has spent his entire professional career with the Flames’ AHL farm team (Abbotsford and Quad City). In 77 career professional games Irving has a record of 35-33-4 in addition to a .910 save percentage, a 2.40 goals against average and two shutouts.

Shantz, under contract to Abbotsford, has appeared in 28 games for the Salmon Kings this season posting a record of 18-5-4 while accumulating a 2.88 goals against average, a 0.910 save percentage, and two shutouts. He has also participated in five games this year in Abbotsford going 2-2-0 along with a 0.869 save percentage, a 3.70 goals against average and one shutout.

Shantz is a two-time winner of the Reebok Hockey ECHL Goaltender of the Week this season and started in net for the National Conference in the 2010 ECHL All-Star Game in Ontario, CA last week.

Walsky joins the Salmon Kings after dressing in 32 games this season with Manitoba where he accumulated 11 points (2g-9a) and six minutes in penalties. He also spent five games with the Moose last year in his rookie professional season scoring two assists with no penalty minutes.

The 5-11, 194 lb, Walsky spent his junior career split between the United States Hockey League (USHL) with the River City Lancers and the NCAA with the University of Alaska-Anchorage and Colorado College. In 175 career junior games he scored 39 goals and added 64 assists for 103 points while serving 70 minutes in penalties.

The 27-year-old Petruic will join the Senators after participating in three games with the Salmon Kings this year where he registered one assist and two penalty minutes.

The native of Regina, Saskatchewan has previously played with Binghamton over three seasons (2005-06, 2006-07, and 2008-09). In 189 career games with the Senators Petruic has accrued three goals and 22 assists for 25 points while tallying 182 minutes in penalties.

The Salmon Kings and Stockton Thunder continue their three-game set with contests on Friday and Saturday.

SALMON KINGS LEND SHARROW TO THE MOOSE, SIGN PETRUIC

Victoria Salmon Kings’ defenseman Jimmy Sharrow has been loaned to the

Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League.

The Kings have also signed defenceman Neil Petruic for remainder of 2009-10.

Sharrow join the Moose after competing in 25 games for the Salmon Kings where he led all defenseman in scoring with 21 points (7g-14a) while registering 12 minutes in penalties. He also played in four games to start the campaign with the Wheeling Nailers where he recorded two points (1g-1a) and two penalty minutes.

The 6-2, 198 lb defenseman has played with the Moose for parts of the last two seasons. In a combined 61 games with Manitoba in 2008-09 and 2007-08 he scored six goals and assisted on 22 others for 28 points while serving 30 minutes in penalties. Sharrow also dressed for two games with the Moose during the 2008 AHL Playoffs where he tallied one assist.

The 6-1, 200 lb. Petruic has played in 13 games this season with the Manitoba Moose tallying one goal and one assist for two points while registering eight minutes in penalties.

In 2008-09 he split time between the AHL’s Binghamton Senators and ECHL’s Stockton Thunder. The majority of his season was spent with the Senators where he dressed for 64 games scoring eight points (1g-7a) with 62 minutes in penalties. Petruic also played in 14 games for Stockton last season where he scored two goals and two assists for four points with 12 penalty minutes.

The native of Regina, Saskatchewan spent the 2007-08 season in Italy playing for Bolzano HC. In 32 games that campaign Petruic led the Bolzano defence with 11 points  (1g-10a) while accruing 62 minutes in penalties. That spring he helped lead Bolzano to the Italian League’s RBK Hockey Cup Championship.

The Salmon Kings return home tonight and tomorrow to face the National Conference leading Idaho Steelheads.

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