Mantha still upbeat despite Niagara Falls OHL bid

It’s official, Moe Mantha Jr. has competition for the purchase of the Mississauga Ice Dogs.

At Niagara Falls city council Monday night officials with Capital Sports Management Inc., a company owned by billionaire Eugene Melnyk; listened to a plan that could potentially see the Ice Dogs sold to a Toronto based group which would re-locate the team to the Honeymoon Capital for the start of the 2007-2008 season.

Toronto Investor Tom Bitove is working alongside arena designers Stadium Consultants International in hopes of purchasing the Ice Dogs from Melnyk and then reaching a deal with the city of Niagara Falls to build a 35 million dollar sports and entertainment complex for the team to play in.

Mantha Jr., put in a bid to purchase the team from Melnyk back in December in hopes of moving the franchise to North Bay for the start of the 2007-2008 season. Despite the news of the Niagara Falls bid, Mantha believes his North Bay bid is still very much alive.

“I’ve got no official word from the league or Mississauga about the direction they are going,” Mantha told BayToday.ca Tuesday afternoon.

Although there was a lot of interest in buying the IceDogs,
The Mississauga News is reporting that Capital Sports CEO Roy Mlakar claims they only received three bids for the franchise and unfortunately for Mantha it appears they are leaning heavily towards the Honeymoon Capital.

"The most logical place for us is Niagara Falls," Mlakar told the Mississauga News.

"The only reason they don't have junior hockey here is because they have no facility. It's a growing region that needs a facility."

Among those presenting the proposal to Niagara Falls politicians last night was David Branch, president of the Ontario Hockey League.

"A lot of work has to be done but it is an intriguing proposal," Branch told reporters after the meeting.

Still the one thing the North Bay bid has that the Niagara Falls bid doesn’t have currently is an arena.

“They are going to ask the taxpayers to pay for that thing,” Mantha Jr. said about the Niagara Falls arena proposal.

Unlike North Bay’s Memorial Gardens, the aging Niagara Falls Memorial arena is 56 years old and is considered too small by the new OHL standards.

Niagara Falls city council has created a committee to examine the proposal and they will have to move fast because many feel the sale will need to be complete by the end of January before the next OHL Board of Governors meeting.

Melnyk purchased the Mississauga Ice Dogs this summer with the intention of moving the other OHL team he owns; the St. Michael’s Majors, to the Hershey Centre for next fall. The league has told Melnyk that he must sell one franchise but there are still rumours flying that the Ice Dogs may still play out of the Hershey Centre next fall.

Despite the Niagara Falls and North Bay bids, some hockey insiders believe that the Buffalo area will be the club's true destination as the OHL allegedly wants to break into the state of New York before the QMJHL does.