After the worst season in the franchise's brief three-year history, the Squamish Wolf Pack might be leaving town.
Matt Samson, Wolf Pack head coach and general manager, on Monday (Feb. 28) said the Pacific International Junior Hockey League (PIJHL) team has been considering other options after its third straight losing season.
There's other options we've looked at, Samson said, when asked about the possibility of the team moving. It hasn't gone the way we want thus far. I live in the community and want it to work, but we haven't got enough local support back.
Samson added that the Junior B club will continue looking at its options as far as relocation goes, with a final decision needing to be made by May. Samson pointed out that while attendance at Wolf Pack games has been poor, he understands why the numbers have been low.
The attendance is definitely not where we want it to be, he said. Everyone understands that you need to win games to build a fan base, but we haven't done that. We're not happy with the attendance but winning could solve that problem.
Ideally, Samson said that he would like to move the regular game nights from Saturday to Friday, but he said the PIJHL brass would be averse to such a move.
They've told us we can only play home games on weekends, he said, noting that other teams don't want to travel to Squamish during the week.
Finding good local talent to boost interest has also been difficult for the team. Samson added Squamish residents Konrad Sander and back-up goalie Johann Peterson to the club this season and used local player Dylan Mooney, but he said the talent in town is scarce.
We want to give local kids every opportunity to make this team but the quality just isn't there, he said.
