The areas of Roanoke and Salem are not totally unfamiliar with ice hockey. There has almost always been a team here since the early 1980s. It started with the Virginia Lancers as part of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League. They bounced leagues until they wound up in the ECHL in 1988. This team then changed names a few times to
Roanoke Valley Rebels and Roanoke Valley Rampage, but was virtually the same team. One notable person was a coach who led them to record seasons in their league: John Tortorella (who is not the head coach of the New York Rangers). Unfortunately, this team folded after the 1992-1993 season.
In 1993, a new team was created. This was the Roanoke Express. During most of the 1990s, it used to sell out the 9,000-seat civic center in which it played. Into the late ’90s, it was dropping to about 50 percent. Then in 2004, the team folded. For the 2005-2006 season another team called the Roanoke Valley Vipers formed and folded too.
There are a couple of main reasons hockey fails in this area. The number one reason to me was the quality of play. I see this a lot since I am a fan of the minor leagues more so than the majors. In the early 2000s, when I arrived at Virginia Tech, I got to watch a lot of the games. For the most part, it was just a goon-fest with people that spent more time in the penalty boxes than on the ice. Fights were more the norm than the exception. This, in my opinion, drives down attendance. In hockey, for fans at least, a fight gets that immediate crowd reaction. But this for the most part only really applies to the people wanting to watch fights. Your repeat customers are there to watch a good game. Those coming for the games are more likely your season ticket holders while the fight watchers tend to be a few-games-per-year type of fans. By having a lot of fights, you turn off your reliable base of fans and only get unreliable fans.
The next reason was the ticket prices. I cannot recall what they are now, but I remember they were a bit high for the level of play. They were more expensive than the Oklahoma City Blazers and Anchorage Aces. I went despite the cost because I love hockey. The only problem is this part of the state is not exactly flush with money, so they were locking out a lot of people who would want to come but couldn’t afford it.
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