Will fans be cheering for the Mustangs? Havoc? Hammers?
Hamilton’s incoming American Hockey League (AHL) team is set to announce its new name and logo at a Thursday news conference at TD Coliseum, where the team will play starting this fall.
In late March, the AHL board of governors unanimously approved the Bridgeport Islanders’ relocation from Bridgeport, Conn. — where they’d played since 2001 — to Hamilton.
As CBC Hamilton reported, a company linked to the New York Islanders NHL team applied for three Hamilton hockey trademarks — Hamilton Havoc, Hamilton Mustangs and Hamilton Hammers — on April 17. The Bridgeport team is owned by the New York Islanders. Each NHL team has an affiliate — or farm team — that serves as a development source for player prospects.
At the time, the New York Islanders did not confirm whether the trademark applications were for potential names.
The new team will train at a renovated Harry Howell Twin Pad Arena in Hamilton’s Flamborough area.
“For our players and their families, it will be cool,” Mitchell Payne, general manager of the Wentworth Gryphins, the senior AAA hockey club based at that arena, told CBC Hamilton early this month.
“We’re really excited to see what they do there and potentially learn a little bit from how they operate.”
Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath will be at the news conference, as well as New York Islanders executives, the president of the AHL and the president of Oakview Group Canada, the arena company that renovated TD Coliseum.
A new PWHL Hamilton team will also play at that arena starting this fall. It was formally announced May 14.
According to its website, the arena is taking deposits for private suites and “premium” seats and advertising season tickets. The venue says AHL and PWHL schedules are expected to be announced in the summer.
Nick DeLuco, general manager of TD Coliseum, previously said single-game AHL tickets are expected to sell for about $30.
