A Tampa Bay official has confirmed that the club is moving its American Hockey League affiliation from the Admirals to Syracuse, N.Y.
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Julien BriseBois, the Lightning vice president and Admirals’ general manager, said the announcement of the move to New York would be made over the next few weeks, wedging it in with club business that includes the NHL draft, the AHL Board of Governors meeting in Hilton Head, S.C., and the beginning of free agency on July 1.
He sought to quell talk about what an AHL official called “the poorest kept secret in the league” while the Admirals went through the playoffs and, afterward, to allow the club to enjoy the celebration that followed winning the league championship Saturday in Toronto.
The move is being made for geographical reasons, according to BriseBois.
“We have no problem with the city, with the arena, with ownership of the Admirals,” he said. “I think it makes a huge difference in the wear and tear on the players. A good night’s sleep on a regular basis is important.”
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"It's still All In to me dammit." - Felonious Python
We all knew it was coming, but it seems to be getting official now:
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A Tampa Bay official has confirmed that the club is moving its American Hockey League affiliation from the Admirals to Syracuse, N.Y.
Admirals’ owner Ken Young said he believes he is close to an agreement to replace the Lightning with the Anaheim Ducks. Young added that he is hopeful of a deal that would span five seasons, as did that with Tampa Bay.
Good to know for sure now, even though it's been a foregone conclusion for some time. Thank you for the memories, Norfolk - the fans and the city seemed really great. I'd feel worse about leaving town if the AHL wasn't a league defined by frequent wholesale roster overhaul.
On the other hand, I trust that Syracuse will be a good place to land. Operating in the middle of the AHL hub again sounds great (well, now that the FO doesn't consider the farm team to be a nuisance), and it seems the Crunch have a pretty good history of support.
About that new name and logo now...Syracuse Lightning?
Appreciate all of the info and prospect updates from Randy, Adsprincess, and other Norfolk fans over the years. It's been great for someone like me who doesn't watch the games. Sucks the affiliation has to end but at least the last year ended on a special note. Best of luck to you guys in the future.
Well they had to do it at some point in time if they were going to do it. I would guess there is an awful lot of work to be done now that it's official.
They did allow for a celebration with the Cup in Norfolk. Thank God.
Appreciate all of the info and prospect updates from Randy, Adsprincess, and other Norfolk fans over the years. It's been great for someone like me who doesn't watch the games. Sucks the affiliation has to end but at least the last year ended on a special note. Best of luck to you guys in the future.
Crunch expects to unveil new logo and colors in early July. The look will be in line with new parent team, of course.
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Originally Posted by randyc
They moved the celebration up to yesterday. Unveiled the championship banner. Dominoes fell fast after that.
Too many emotions churning around in me right now to post about it. Probably would say something I meant but would regret.
I wouldn't have minded staying with Norfolk but I'm glad we were able to at least give you guys a championship before we left. Thanks for hangin in there through those bad times early on.
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Originally Posted by Hockeyfan02
Appreciate all of the info and prospect updates from Randy, Adsprincess, and other Norfolk fans over the years. It's been great for someone like me who doesn't watch the games. Sucks the affiliation has to end but at least the last year ended on a special note. Best of luck to you guys in the future.
Absolutely. A very big thank you to you two. We were very lucky and I'm very appreciative to have read your updates and inputs here. Thanks for talking and hanging out with us here for the past few years and of course you're both always welcome here.
The rumor that we were leaving has been out for a while. So now that it looks like those reports were right, this then has been something that was done quietly some time ago, way before we won anything. I'm glad we were able to make history and give Norfolk fans the best parting gift we could.
There's still been no official word on that, Bobsled.
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Originally Posted by Still All In
Alright, so it hasnt been announced officially but its pretty much done... the ECHL thing is interesting but I just dont think its us. Timing is all goofy, but hey you never know since the COO was with Amway/Orlando before, so I guess never say never.
A proper and professional announcement coming from the Crunch re new affiliation. Stay tuned. @SyracuseCrunch
Unlike some media members, reporters from Post Standard keep their word. Shame on hacks that don't. @SyracuseCrunch
this was earlier from the Syracuse guy
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PS Syracuse Crunch @PSCrunchHockey
Not the ideal start to TB-Crunch relationship. Crunch had been given assurances it would release the news; instead, TB leaked it. Oops.
Somebody jumped the gun. However it's not like we didn't know from the minute that Dolgon announced a new affiliation and then started following BP and the beat reporters.
Somebody jumped the gun. However it's not like we didn't know from the minute that Dolgon announced a new affiliation and then started following BP and the beat reporters.
Well I'm sure Brisebois had to tell someone in the ownership department that they were moving on and they needed to find a new affiliate. That was probably the leak.
Not like it hasn't been known for like a few months now.
Which of the AHL guys have a lightning contract? I know about the obvious ones in Tik/Janus Aullie/Gudas/Barberio Conacher/Johnson/Panik/Palat/Killorn that's all the young kids and several of them could be with the lightning next year. Who of the others will be coming back?
All teams have confirmed the affliation change now.
Just in case anyone doesn't know, all players and prospects go with Tampa, no matter what level their contract is. Either its an NHL Contract, AHL, ETC, all levels. So even if the Admirals signed them to an AHL contract, they go with Tampa.
Sad to see Tampa go. Even though most of us realistic Admirals fans knew this was a done deal months ago before what they accomplished was accomplished, it still a bummer. The reasoning makes no sense, "Travel time & costs". The Admirals pay for their own travel costs & the players have stated the travel time helped them grow closer.
Anyways, I am not coming on here as an Admirals fan to bash TB for leaving, just wanted to come on here and post, You guys are going to have an awesome team for years to come.
Hello to everyone...I think all of us Crunch fans were waiting for the official/semi-official announcement to drop by. There are a handful of us on the boards here. We'll do our best to keep you updated through the year.
I feel bad for the Ads fans that they didn't get a chance to enjoy the victory for longer before the announcement, I think everyone in both cities knew this was coming, but it still could have waited a week or so.
The Crunch changed colors from Cbus Blue/Red/White to Anaheim Black/Gold/Orange a couple years back. We've already been told it will change again so I'm sure it will be a variant to the Lightning colors. And thankfully we're changing/getting rid of the mascot.
Oh, and if you read anything from Dolgan (Crunch owner), take it with a grain of salt. He's a showman, he likes to stir the pot. We love him here, but he goes overboard on occasion.
Thanks guys for letting me invade your board over the years! And thanks to Tampa on going out with a bang! I will keep track of these guys in the next coming years as they go forward with their careers!
But now I depart for the Anaheim boards... see ya round!
Thank you all for the kind words. It was fun being a part of this board.
Thanks to this year's team who set the bar at a level that will not be cleared for some period of time. I may be back from time to time to follow what the guys from this years' team are doing.
To the Crunch fans, congratulations. You have got a great parent club here.
Appreciate all of the info and prospect updates from Randy, Adsprincess, and other Norfolk fans over the years. It's been great for someone like me who doesn't watch the games. Sucks the affiliation has to end but at least the last year ended on a special note. Best of luck to you guys in the future.
This x 100
I am not a fan of the Syracuse logo. Kind of hope they change it instead of just a palette swap.
All teams have confirmed the affliation change now.
Just in case anyone doesn't know, all players and prospects go with Tampa, no matter what level their contract is. Either its an NHL Contract, AHL, ETC, all levels. So even if the Admirals signed them to an AHL contract, they go with Tampa.
Sad to see Tampa go. Even though most of us realistic Admirals fans knew this was a done deal months ago before what they accomplished was accomplished, it still a bummer. The reasoning makes no sense, "Travel time & costs". The Admirals pay for their own travel costs & the players have stated the travel time helped them grow closer.
Anyways, I am not coming on here as an Admirals fan to bash TB for leaving, just wanted to come on here and post, You guys are going to have an awesome team for years to come.
I thought someone like Dimmen who was signed by the Ads was property of there's and not the lightnings and would stay property of the Ads? I'm not that familiar with AHL contracts so was just asking for clarification.
