Glacier Nationals leaving Havre

Three years ago, the Glacier Nationals of the North American Tier 3 Hockey League decided to move to Havre and make it their home.

Now, after just three seasons, the Nationals are relocating again, following the sale of the franchise by general manager and owner Butch Kowalka. The Havre Ice Dome, which housed the Nationals for the last three seasons will now be void of junior hockey, at least for the 2017-18 season.

The agreement is to sell the team to a group of buyers representing the Butte Amatuer Hockey Association. The team will be called the Butte Cobras and will play in the Mining City next season. According to Kowalka, he has not yet received payment, so the sale is still pending, but should be finalized soon.

"I certainly think that there were a lot of positives out of it," Havre Youth Hockey board member Brett Patrick said of the Nationals stint in Havre. "When they first started talking about bringing a junior hockey team to Havre, I wasn't exactly sure how it would work or how versus some of the other cities that have had junior teams, and I think what we have learned is that junior hockey would work in Havre. I think there is a really good base of fans here. I think the Nationals came down to not getting enough players and getting enough good players and winning some hockey games."

The Nationals, who played in the Frontier Division, won only a handful of games in each of their three seasons in Havre. The team won two games this past season and at one point went more than a year without finding the win column.

"I think it was a little bit of everything," Kowalka said. "We weren't totally short on players, but we were two or three short all the time and playing well, then running out of gas. It's losing a close game because we have one or two less players because of the billeting and more because of the small town situation. In three years in Kalispell, we had a waiting list for billets, in Havre we were short on billets every year."

Patrick agreed that billets were an issue, but said billets are going to be a problem wherever you go.

"I think it's hard situation to have someone accept a strange person into their home as a family," Patrick said. "It's a big commitment, and so I think that's something that's going to be difficult for any junior hockey team no matter where it is."

Prior to the Nationals coming to Havre, there was an agreement for three years between the team and Havre Youth Hockey. The two sides were looking to renew it through 2021, but according to Kowalka, a $15,000 increase in yearly ice fees requested by the board in its first proposal, was unaffordable.

"Almost double, was not manageable," Kowalka said. "Plus, they no longer wanted to work the games as volunteers. So our off-ice costs would have more than doubled as well - double not manageable."

Patrick confirmed the amount, but also said the board awaited a counter offer, only one never came. Next they knew, interested buyers were calling and the team was on its way out of town.

"I think that (Butch) would have liked to have continued on the same agreement for a few more years," Patrick said. "There was a little hesitation, we would have liked to see the fan base continue to drive and people continuing to show up to the games and stuff. But it was a surprise that he was seeking out other options without coming with a counter to the proposal.

"He took our revised proposal after the three years what we were looking at going forward and never really communicated with us after that," Patrick added. "We found out from some people from Sidney, who were calling and wanted to get some information on the Glacier Nationals, so that's when we initially found out that he wasn't going to counter and he was going to leave Havre."

"They (the board) said they were going to have to make too many repairs to the facility to continue to operate us," Kowalka said. "Their solution was to add the $15,000 to our yearly bill and that's why we were looking to move the team to Whitefish or sell to Sheridan, Wyoming. Then the Butte opportunity came and we wanted to keep the team in Montana if we could."

While the first go around with junior hockey in Havre ended abruptly, according to Patrick, there is some interest in attracting another team, one that has more of a connection to the community.

"There has been some interest," Patrick said. "So there is the potential for junior hockey coming back here, and there are some local people that have a pretty strong interest. And with a winning product and a really community-driven team, one that can put a face with a name and really get out in the community like Northern, just like Havre High School, I think there is a really good opportunity that it can be successful in Havre. And I think there are some people that are feeling out the waters and seeing what it's like. Some people would like to try and hurry it through to try and not have to take a year off, but at this point, it's so far behind the eight-ball with recruiting and trying to get everything put together, it's not going to happen this coming year. But I do think there is some potential and some suitors and some local people that are interested in making it a truly local team."