The commissioner of the WHL told an Edmonton radio station that an announcement on the future of the Kootenay Ice will be forthcoming ‘very soon’.
The interview, conducted by Dean Millard of TSN 1260, involved a conversation with Robison on news around the WHL and included a question about the future of the Ice in Cranbrook.
“We’re going through a process and I think we’ve been very patient, first of all, with the Kootenay market previously with the Chynoweth ownership, which had some difficulty,” Robison told TSN 1260.
“It’s been well publicized over the years and I think the new ownership has come in and done exactly what we wanted them to do, which was commit to that market and to make every effort to get things turned around.
“We’ll be going through an exercise here as we indicated and we’ll be very soon making an announcement as to what the future of that franchise is. But I think that we got to be very conscious of the fact that there’s been some great support in Kootenay over the years and the ownership have done what they can do to try and turn things round.”
Rumours have been swirling for weeks that the Kootenay Ice are on the move to Winnipeg as soon as next season.
A fan committee dedicated to fundraising for season tickets that are distributed to local schools and service clubs recently terminated their activities with the Kootenay Ice, citing a lack of engagement with ownership.
Attendance has fallen from last year, averaging 2,193 throughout the season so far. which is the lowest in the WHL.
