Game #3
Niagara IceDogs
Vs
Mississauga Steelheads
TV: TVCogeco (Niagara) Rogers TV (GTA) – Finally! Back to
cvilisation!
Radio: 610 CKTB (Niagara) None - Mississauga
The Opponent
Founded 1996
OHL Championships: None
Memorial Cup Championships: None
The Arena
The Hershey Centre. Capacity 6,000. Built for the
expansion Mississauga IceDogs and opened in 1996. It’s large for the OHL and sits in the
suburbs of Toronto. A nice feature is
the portrait of the Queen, a throwback to classic Jr. barns. Located off
highway 403, but without an off ramp to easily get there. Large parking lots, plenty of free parking, but minimal exits, so enjoy trying to get out of there. Also it is in the middle of big box suburbia, so limited pre/post game options.
The Sweater to be proud of
Wow, this is pretty nice looking. Great colours, classic
look, good job guys…
YOU SHAMELESS BASTARDS
The secret shame
Being a secret in your own community is
pretty shameful.
Alumni
Last season series: Niagara 3 – Mississauga 5
Being in the shadow of the GTA is tough.
So many options
competing for attention and entertainment dollars. Top notch restaurants. All
the top stage shows coming by. NHL, AHL, CWHL, (Central) CHL hockey teams. NBA,
NLL, MLB, MLS, and CFL all part of the sports scene. It’s no wonder the Majors couldn’t draw when
they were in the heart of Toronto. Brampton moved north where there’s no
competition.
So how does the Mississauga team try to break apart from the pack, give themselves a new identity?
“Hey, we need to make this team Mississauga’s own, what
should we do?”
“Eh...get some Maple Leafs sweaters and slap a fish on it”
“But the only fish patch we have lying around is one of a
terrified trout”
“…eh, we won’t be here much longer anyway”
Look at this logo. It’s terrified to be here.
Those eyes.
It gives away the fear.
It knows it’s not long for this world.
Stealing the Maple Leafs look was bad enough but then they
drafted the Leafs #1 pick in the import draft? What a waste of a pick, the kid
is playing the SHL against adults, he would easily be in the Marlies top 6, why
the hell would they send him to the OHL? Coverage in the major papers read in the GTA is non-existent, and the OHL lists no radio partner.
Hopefully when they move to Waterloo or Buffalo they get their own
identity & some attention.
The IceDogs are 0-2 to start the season, that's rough, but it's 2 out of 68 games. No need to panic yet, 'dogs fans. Lots of time for wins. What better way to start than by beating the team that made you homeless?
