Weekes Head Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 According to TSN.ca: Penguins decline Winnipeg's offer Canadian Press 1/9/2004 WINNIPEG (CP) - The Pittsburgh Penguins have officially given the brush-off to the deputy mayor's offer to bring the struggling NHL team to Winnipeg. A Penguins spokesman said Friday that team president Ken Sawyer wrote Dan Vandal to tell him the team would not be looking to the Manitoba capital as the answer to its current financial woes. ``The team president sent a response letter basically saying we're not interested at this time,'' spokesman Todd Lepovsky said in an interview. ``Right now we're in the city of Pittsburgh and as far as we're concerned we're going to be here for years to come.'' Vandal's letter to majority owner Mario Lemieux, sent in December and published in a Winnipeg newspaper Jan. 1, has been the talk of the town and has reignited the debate about whether the city can support an NHL team. Vandal asked Lemieux to ``seriously consider'' Winnipeg as an option as the team struggles in Pittsburgh with dwindling attendance, a poor performance on the ice and uncertainty over a new arena. Winnipeg has been without a team since 1996, when the Jets became the Phoenix Coyotes. Radio call-in shows, online chat groups and sports pundits have jumped on the story. Some diehard hockey fans say bring it on while others say their passion for the league left town with the Jets. http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?ID=67371&hubName=nhl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SueNJ97 Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 I saw the NHL2Nite where the guys took it upon themselves to insult Winnipeg for even daring to think they could make this offer. Apparently Barry doesn't think their weather is nice enough to merit consideration. I kid you not. WTF did Winnipeg ever do to him??? Maybe the NHL will never put another team back in Canada. Maybe Winnipeg has no hope in hell of this EVER happening. But they had no right to just sit there and laugh at these people for making an honest offer. fvck you, ESPN. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westcoastdevfan Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 WTF did Winnipeg ever do to him??? He played there.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SueNJ97 Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 WTF did Winnipeg ever do to him??? He played there.... Oh. Well, then that was something he did to THEM, wasn't it. They could probably sue for torture or something. They had to watch him, after all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westcoastdevfan Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 WTF did Winnipeg ever do to him??? He played there.... Oh. Well, then that was something he did to THEM, wasn't it. They could probably sue for torture or something. They had to watch him, after all. Good point.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'7' Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 well that's good news one of Bettman southern strategy teams should be put in Winnipeg. Give them the Panthers or Trashers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas0nMacIsaac Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 Pittsburgh has a great team and some loyal fans to survive all this, I wish them luck in the future without Lemieux as owner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOTCB Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 I saw the NHL2Nite where the guys took it upon themselves to insult Winnipeg for even daring to think they could make this offer.Apparently Barry doesn't think their weather is nice enough to merit consideration. I kid you not. WTF did Winnipeg ever do to him??? Maybe the NHL will never put another team back in Canada. Maybe Winnipeg has no hope in hell of this EVER happening. But they had no right to just sit there and laugh at these people for making an honest offer. fvck you, ESPN. Amen Sue, F ESPN.....I love idiots like Melrose and other media members who put down places like Winnipeg because of the weather...as a Sabres fan and Bills fan for 20 yrs, I hear that garbage all the time about the weather....its just weather big friggin deal.... Winnipeg im sure has good fans and is a nice city....Melrose, go back to LA with all the gangs on Compton and enjoy your nice weather mullet boy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek21 Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 I saw the NHL2Nite where the guys took it upon themselves to insult Winnipeg for even daring to think they could make this offer.Apparently Barry doesn't think their weather is nice enough to merit consideration. I kid you not. WTF did Winnipeg ever do to him??? Maybe the NHL will never put another team back in Canada. Maybe Winnipeg has no hope in hell of this EVER happening. But they had no right to just sit there and laugh at these people for making an honest offer. fvck you, ESPN. Amen Sue, F ESPN.....I love idiots like Melrose and other media members who put down places like Winnipeg because of the weather...as a Sabres fan and Bills fan for 20 yrs, I hear that garbage all the time about the weather....its just weather big friggin deal.... Winnipeg im sure has good fans and is a nice city....Melrose, go back to LA with all the gangs on Compton and enjoy your nice weather mullet boy! I was going to write a similar response. But both of yours were great ! Screw Melrose and screw Ray Ferraro. Those two deserve to be locked in a jail with minus 50 degree wind chills for their comments on Winnipeg. It's weather. Big deal. Those fans deserve a second chance. When you have teams in non-hockey entities such as Florida, Phoenix, Nashville and Atlanta, why shouldn't a "real hockeytown" get another team??? Ditto for Quebec and Hartford! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOTCB Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 I saw the NHL2Nite where the guys took it upon themselves to insult Winnipeg for even daring to think they could make this offer.Apparently Barry doesn't think their weather is nice enough to merit consideration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek21 Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 Just put both of those clowns outside Bristol tonight with just shorts on..wont be -50....but not that far off!! Cmon!!!!!!!! LOL... ya know, you got a point there. It's probably bitter cold there now. Just force them to be outside for an hour and see how they like it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOTCB Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 Just put both of those clowns outside Bristol tonight with just shorts on..wont be -50....but not that far off!! Cmon!!!!!!!! LOL... ya know, you got a point there. It's probably bitter cold there now. Just force them to be outside for an hour and see how they like it! E$PN can have their boy Stuart Scott report: BOOYAH, we have frozen Chicken Parm outside the NHL Tonight Studio....its Ray Ferraro with a Frozen Mullet right next to him!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas0nMacIsaac Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 I doubt Winnipeg could support an NHL team, Quebec on the other probably could. If only Winnipeg has a city near by, Quebec has Montreal 4 hours away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizDevil30 Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 But now Quebec's team plays in Colorado. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tretyak 20 Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 one of Bettman southern strategy teams should be put in Winnipeg. Give them the Panthers or Trashers. ^7^, official spokesman of hockey isolationists everywhere! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'7' Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 well right now there is a surplus of hockey where there was never any demand, the American South never wanted the sport, they still don't. The faceless "filler franchises" will soon go the way of the original flames & KC Scouts. A team in Florida is fine, but franchises in the backwoods boondocks of NC and Tennessee is just silly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brylin18 Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 what do you mean "the american south never wanted hockey"? what....were southerners supposed to wake up one day and say "yeah today feels like a good day to start liking hockey" and THATS when teams should have begun to move down there? the market for hockey, like any other product, has to be cultivated. there has never been a case of an american city engaging in a grass roots campaign for a local hockey team. hockey had to be brought to them, and bettman did that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'7' Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 what you're supposed to do is plant 1 or 2 franchises in the south and see how much interest they stir up over a 15-20 year period. If a team in florida got people excited in the state and also got people excited in Georgia and Alabama, then you have the potential for growth. with Buttman, we had 5 franchises dumped in there lap overnight, and despite all the fanfare, the minor league uniforms, cheesy mascots and disgraceful dumbing down of the sport in general so that they'd like it, it's STILL a failure! most everybody sees this except for Bettman who clings to his precious southern strategy disasters, the blatant huckster that he is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chort Posted January 10, 2004 Share Posted January 10, 2004 yeh - it's like having hockey in Uzbekistan.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devildude Posted January 10, 2004 Share Posted January 10, 2004 Loook, I live in NJ, but i would love for one of these sourthern teams to go to Canada... They need another team... It would be great for the game and Canada. Screw ESPN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tretyak 20 Posted January 10, 2004 Share Posted January 10, 2004 well right now there is a surplus of hockey where there was never any demand, the American South never wanted the sport, they still don't. The faceless "filler franchises" will soon go the way of the original flames & KC Scouts.A team in Florida is fine, but franchises in the backwoods boondocks of NC and Tennessee is just silly. ...And you're an expert on the south because you've been living in Florida, NC and Tennessee for how long again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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