Blanchard claims Skyhawks here to stay

The rumours of OHL hockey returning to North Bay are getting to the North Bay Skyhawks and the club’s General Manager wants to try and set the record straight.

“The chances of us moving the Skyhawks to Haileybury are the same as the chances of the OHL returning to North bay this fall,” said Blanchard on Tuesday afternoon making the analogy about a rumour that the North Bay Junior “A” team was allegedly already sold to the Temiskaming Shores community.

Blanchard claims that a reliable source close to the OHL has told him that there are a number of stages a group must go through to acquire a franchise.

“I’ve heard they aren’t even at stage one yet,” Blanchard said.

A group headed by Moe Mantha Jr. officially announced in early December that they had put a bid in to acquire the homeless Mississauga Ice Dogs who went up for sale when Eugene Melnyk purchased the franchise with the intent of moving his current club, The St. Michael’s Majors from downtown Toronto to the Hershey Centre which he purchased as part of the Ice Dogs deal.

After three failed attempts to move the team to Niagara Falls in January and February of this year, the rumour mill seemed to be pointing directly at North Bay as the only viable location for the franchise to re-locate.

The speculation got more fuel when CHL commissioner David Branch was quoted two weeks back on the TSN program, “Off the Record” as saying North Bay was the community that most deserved a CHL franchise that did not have one.

The whole process has been draining to the Skyhawks G.M. who says the club is having tremendous difficulty selling season tickets during prime selling time. He says it’s also been a huge distraction on the ice with players uncertain of their future and questioning what they are really playing for.

“The only thing that is for sure this fall is the North Bay Skyhawks,” said Blanchard.

“I don’t know where these rumours are coming from and who is making all these speculations but anybody that has any type of credibility behind this has nothing to say. I’ve personally done some research on my own and it’s not even close to being at first base yet never mind a homerun with this thing.”

Not Dead Yet?

However sources close to the Mantha group claim negotiations are in fact still ongoing but due to the confidentiality of the bargaining process no details can be released at this time.