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Warriors staying, fans overjoyed

West Kelowna’s hockey team staying put but has work to do to attract more fans.
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West Kelowna Warriors fans react to the announcement the team is staying put.

West Kelowna Warriors fans aren’t the only ones happy the BCHL club is staying put — Penticton Vees president, coach-general manager Fred Harbinson is too.

“It’s great for us,” said Harbinson, as they are just 45 minutes from their rival. “In my 10 years in the league, it’s always been a good rivalry. It’s great for us for them to be there. Hopefully the new group coming in there understands the work that has to go into the off-ice part of making a junior hockey team work. Their coaching staff has done a great job with having a great hockey team.”

Now that the Warriors are staying put, the man who organized a last-minute rally to help save the team says the work is really about to start. Larry McLean, an ardent supporter of the team since day one 10 years ago, said with local investors stepping it’s up to the fans to get out and support the team.

“That’s going to be crucial,” said McLean, minutes after hearing the announcement by team director of business operations Alex Draper that the Warriors will not be moved.

There was concern after first a deal was said to be done to move the team to North Delta, and then, after that appeared to fall through, fear it could be moved to Quesnel. But team owner Mark Cheyne was successful in finding local investors willing to help keep the team in West Kelowna. Cheyne has been losing money with the team each year — reported to be as much as $250,000 per season — and was looking to sell the team. Despite winning the national junior A championship last season, the team has struggled at the gate, drawing crowds of around 800 to 900 to Royal LePage Place for regular season games.

Team officials say average crowds of closer to 1,200 are needed to make the team a viable business operation in West Kelowna. Royal LePage Place holds about 1,500. Harbinson hopes that with the drama created, there will be people who realize they don’t want to lose the team.

“I think hardly anybody questioned their die-hard fans,” said Harbinson. “One of the issues was there wasn’t enough of them. The people that are there, are passionate about their team as anybody else. I sure didn’t want to see them move to Delta.

“I think for them to be sustainable down the road, like a lot of teams in our league, they know they have got to find ways to get a few more people on a consistent basis because they have had a great team,” he continued. “They do things the right way. They are out there doing things in the community. Sometimes it takes something like this to kind of jar a few others to realize what they have there. Hopefully with the great fans that they have got, now there will be a few more that jump on board.”

McLean said while he had a feeling the city would get to keep the team, but he was still nervous.

But those nerves turned to delight when he heard Draper say that when the puck drops this September for the start of the 2017-18 season, it will do so at Royal LePage Place.

Another excited fan at Friday’s game was West Kelowna Mayor Doug Findlater.

He called the announcement that the team was staying “great news,” both for the fans and for the community.

“(The team) means so much,” said Findlater, adding Friday’s announcement means he will be buying season’s tickets.

Findlater said the team’s players are great role models for kids in the city and the team has an economic impact on the local economy of about $4 million.

When Draper made the announcement from the ice during the first intermission Friday, the 1,124 on hand for the game jumped to their feat and cheered loudly.

One fan, Celine Lapointe, admitted she was close to tears.

“I’m so excited,” she said, decked out in her special-edition pink and white Warriors jersey.

For other fans, the news was just as welcome, even if they did not show as much emotion.

Dave Cutler said he was worried prior to hearing the announcement and felt the team would leave town.

But he said he was pleased to hear it was staying.

“It’s wonderful,” he said above the prolonged cheering of the crowd.

-With files from the Kelowna Cap News.