Possibility for puck in Palm Springs? AHL team could call desert home
Palm Springs could be the new home to a professional hockey team.
Still without a mascot name, Seattle’s new NHL franchise is set to debut in 2021 at the new Seattle Center Arena, formerly known as KeyArena.
The location of their AHL team is still to be determined but the future minor league affiliate has reportedly narrowed its choice to two cities, Palm Springs and Boise.
This all according to KING 5 Seattle’s Chris Daniels who tweeted the following:
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/ChrisDaniels5/status/1133772916846235648″,”author_name”:”Chris Daniels”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/ChrisDaniels5″,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;.&#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/NHLSeattle_?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;@NHLSeattle_&#lt;/a&#gt; CEO Tod Leiweke tells &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/Softykjr?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;@Softykjr&#lt;/a&#gt; and &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/dickfain?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;@dickfain&#lt;/a&#gt; Boise and Palm Springs are the markets being analyzed for the Seattle AHL affiliate.&#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/SportsRadioKJR?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;@SportsRadioKJR&#lt;/a&#gt; &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/NHL?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;#NHL&#lt;/a&#gt; &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/AHL?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;#AHL&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;— Chris Daniels (@ChrisDaniels5) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/ChrisDaniels5/status/1133772916846235648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;May 29, 2019&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
Of course if this were to happen there would be questions. Where will the team play? Why have hockey in the desert?
Well, if Palm Springs were to be the new home for Seattle’s AHL team, a new arena would have to be built.
As for hockey in the desert, we have many snowbirds (mostly from Canada) who call the desert home during the colder months. There is a rooting interest in the sport.
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/Benton_Mike/status/1133778624845189120″,”author_name”:”Mike Benton”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/Benton_Mike”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;Mentioned this earlier: 2 locations making sense, logistics or geography.&#lt;br&#gt;&#lt;br&#gt;Boise: established arena (5K capacity) with attached luxury hotel, airport just 10 min away.&#lt;br&#gt;&#lt;br&#gt;Palm Springs: clean slate to build ideal facility, 5 teams within 7 hrs drive or less. &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/zKZpPxuHSb”&#gt;https://t.co/zKZpPxuHSb&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;— Mike Benton (@Benton_Mike) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/Benton_Mike/status/1133778624845189120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;May 29, 2019&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
Not to mention, 5-time Stanley Cup champion and hall of fame goaltender Grant Fuhr is a local resident who would support the new team.
Fuhr texted Sports Director Blake Arthur on Wednesday, “I hope it happens. If they could build a rink that would seat 2,500 people it could be awesome.”
Right now, it’s all just a maybe. It’s a 50-50 proposition. A lot of things have to happen in order for “it” to happen.
But, it is a possibility. A possibility that could bring professional puck to Palm Springs.
Stay with News Channel 3 for the latest on this story as any new information becomes available.
