Newfoundland Growlers to play next homestand in Toronto; after that is anyone's guess (original) (raw)
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Newfoundland Growlers to play next homestand in Toronto; after that is anyone's guess
Brendan Mccarthy, PNI Atlantic
Published Oct 27, 2021 • Last updated Oct 28, 2021 • 3 minute read
This is the Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto will be the Newfoundland Growlers' home rink for at least the next six games, maybe even longer. The building is normally home to the Toronto Marlies, the Growlers' American Hockey League affiliate. — cocacolacoliseum.com Photo by SaltWire Network /SaltWire Network
The easy thing would be to say the Newfoundland Growlers have made temporary arrangements to play outside of the province while an investigation into charges of workplace harassment against team staff is ongoing.
But the question might be how long is temporary?
Locked out of Mary Browns Centre in St Johns by the City of St. Johns, the ECHLs Growlers will play their next six home games out of the Coca-Cola Coliseum, home to their American Hockey League affiliate, the Toronto Marlies. It seems to be the easiest and most logical of immediate solutions. It’s a pro-ready facility; the Marlies dont have any home dates from Nov. 5-14, which is the time frame for those half-dozen Growlers games; teams heading to St. Johns were regularly set travel through Toronto anyway; and the Growlers would be able to take advantage of the close-by resources of the Toronto Maple Leafs, their parent organization.
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“Weve been made aware of the situation between the City of St. Johns and Deacon Sports and Entertainment. Our organization will look to host the Growlers on a temporary basis, said Maple Leafs assistant general manager Lawrence Gilman in a statement.
What would be Newfoundlands second homestand is in early December, but the date-matching at the Coca-Cola Coliseum doesnt work as well then, although there are other rink options in the area, such as the Maple Leafs practice facility, the 1,000-seat Ford Performance Centre in Etobicoke, Ont., and the CAA Centre in Brampton, Ont., which had been home to an ECHL franchise up until 2020.
The exterior of the Coca-Cola Coliseum on the CNE grounds in Toronto. cocacolacoliseum.com
There is also the possibility that by that time, there will be a conclusion to the third-party investigation into what has been called alleged disrespectful workplace conduct. Those allegations were brought by employees of St. Johns Sports and Entertainment (SJSE), which runs Mary Browns Centre (formerly Mile One Centre), against members of the staff of the Growlers and Deacon Sports and Entertainment, which owns the team.
St. Johns Mayor Danny Breen has said there is no time frame for the investigation, but acknowledged the sense of urgency attached to the situation by fans.
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But the return of the Growlers, no matter what the outcome of the investigation or when it happens, may not be a rock-solid given.
On Wednesday, after Breen announced the city was suspending the Growlers use of the municipally-owned arena, Deacon principal owner Dean MacDonald pronounced the relationship between his group and SJSE as broken beyond repair and showed no anxiousness for the Growlers to be back at Mary Browns Centre. Meanwhile, he reiterated Deacons plans to build and operate its own arena complex somewhere in the metro area, but outside the St. Johns boundaries, one that would be home to the Growlers.
But construction of such facilities can take two or more years from groundbreaking. If MacDonald truly doesnt want any more dealings with the City of St. Johns/SJSE beyond the lawsuit he says he will be pursuing, it means his team might be the Newfoundland Growlers in name only for quite a while.
But two weeks, two months, two years no matterthe length of the Growlers nomad existence, there were also immediate issues for the team. Those include finding ice time at other local facilities for practices over the next few days and removing necessary equipment and other items from the dressing room area at Mary Browns Centre. The protocol for that latter exercise think evicted tenant retrieving belongings from a rental space hadnt been worked out, at least not by Wednesday afternoon.
Brendan McCarthy is a reporter in St. John’s covering sports for The Telegram
brendan.mccarthy@thetelegram.com
@Tely_Brendan
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