The United States Hockey League finds itself in a position that makes it the envy of almost any league. Recent expansion teams in Lincoln and Green Bay have helped the USHL shatter attendance records, while the caliber of amateur hockey in the country is growing at a rate that can support regular expansion.
Even with the Sioux Falls Stampede set to join the league in 1999-2000, the question for the USHL is not whether to expand again in the near future. Instead, the question is where to expand.
The two cities that should be the top candidates are as different as night and day. One of them has a strong hockey tradition, a city where hockey is part of the culture. The second is known more for ice storms than ice sports. Regardless, no matter how you look at it, Duluth, Minn. and Kearney, Neb. should both be leading candidates for a USHL expansion franchise.
Both cities have been rumored to be in line for expansion teams. The Twin Cities Vulcans and Rochester Mustangs played a regular season game in Duluth on Oct. 24, a game that could be taken as a "feeler" for the Duluth market. The rumors surrounding Kearney started in the middle of last season. A television broadcast on a Lincoln television station and a story in the Omaha World-Herald indicated that the Tri-Cities area (Kearney, Grand Island and Hastings) could join the league in the next few years.
Duluth is in the American heartland of hockey. Many USHL players hail from Duluth and surrounding towns such as Cloquet, Proctor, and Superior, Wis. The local interest factor is certainly there. Although that may be true about the Twin Cities, where the Vulcans have struggled in attendance, there are several key differences between Duluth and the Twin Cities.
In the Twin Cities, going to a game is a major effort. Depending on where one lives in the metropolitan area, one could be 45 minutes or more away from the arena. In a city where high school hockey takes place virtually every night of the week, many residents elect to follow their local high school instead.
Duluth is a much smaller community than the Twin Cities. Although the metropolitan population of 242,000 is certainly large enough to support the USHL, the city is small enough that they will not have to compete head to head against high school hockey every night of the week. It would be very easy for Duluth residents to support the University of Minnesota-Duluth, the city's excellent high school programs such as Duluth East, and a USHL team.
Duluth is hockey-crazy enough to support a USHL team in addition to college hockey. UMD draws strong crowds to the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center, and the DECC is ideally suited for USHL hockey. The arena, which is part of a convention center complex and is connected to downtown hotels and offices by a complex system of skywalks, seats 5,355. The seating is very steep, offering excellent sight lines, comparable to the Sioux City Auditorium.
Kearney is not as familiar with hockey, but once again, the chances of success are excellent. Kearney is a college town about 120 miles west of Lincoln. Although the city does not have a hockey tradition, it has a solid sports tradition. Sports at the University of Nebraska-Kearney and area high schools have traditionally been well supported. With a large portion of the city's residents being college students or recent graduates, chances are the local population will be more than willing to try something new.
It's not like the Tri-Cities area is completely foreign to hockey. Area residents have traveled to Omaha and Lincoln for several seasons to support their closest hockey teams. And the existence of the college campus draws in people from other parts of the state, such as Omaha and Lincoln, which have about two-thirds of the state's population when combined. As a result, many people have been exposed to hockey, and would likely adopt a local team.
When the pieces of the puzzle are put together, it makes sense for the USHL to expand to Duluth and Kearney. With the growth of amateur hockey in the United States, the time appears to be right to proceed with further expansion.
