George Ferguson Column: Hoping junior hockey comes back some day

And just like that, they’re gone. That is the case of the Glacier Nationals and, for the foreseeable future, the case of junior hockey in Havre.

Last week, The Nationals announced they are being sold to a group in Butte, and they will move for the second time in just four years. Glacier came to Havre just four summers ago, following a stint in Whitefish.

And while I always thought junior hockey would work in Havre bacause I feel like, and have written many times that, Havre is now a hockey town. The Nationals just didn’t work.

Of course, there are always reasons why things don’t work out, and sometimes there’s no reason to assign blame. Things just don’t go the right away, or according to plan sometimes, and in many ways that was the story for the Nationals during their three seasons in Havre.

I, like many here, was excited when I first got off the phone with Nationals owner Butch Kowalka upon finding out that the Nationals were relocating to Havre. So many things Kowalka had planned for Havre, it was hard not to be excited. And besides, a very good level of hockey, the NA3HL and the Frontier Division, were coming to the Havre Ice Dome.

Three years later, I think about that phone call and the first story I wrote on the Nationals coming to Havre, and I have to admit I have been left wondering, what happened? Again, I’m not really interested in assigning blame, and I’m certainly not here to rag on the Nationals. Butch Kowalka is a good guy and he worked hard to try and make the Nationals go in Havre. But from a sports writer’s perspective, and for someone who does love really good hockey, it just seemed like everything I thought the Nationals were going to be never really materialized.

I thought the Nationals would be a product that Havre would really rally behind on the ice, and for a short time, Havre did just that. However, and again I’m not being critical here as I’m certainly no hockey player or a coach for that matter, when you don’t win, eventually fans really have nothing to rally around, and in the end that certainly happened to the Nationals.

Off the ice, I thought Glacier would have a much stronger presence around town, too. That’s not to say the Nationals weren’t involved in the community, but it wasn’t the type of presence I thought they would have. I also thought the franchise would have a much more profound effect on Havre Youth Hockey. That seems to be the case in places like Great Falls, Billings and Helena, but that didn’t seem to be how things unfolded in Havre.

When Glacier first arrived in Havre, I, as the sports editor at the Havre Daily News, had big plans for covering the team. I wanted to do full game coverage, which we always did, but also feature stories, off ice coverage and even more. But for a myriad of reasons, that became more and more difficult to do as time went on. Again, no blame, it’s just how things go sometimes.

Now of course, I won’t get the opportunity to cover the Nationals anymore. Now, I won’t get the chance to see just how much junior hockey could have succeeded in Havre. And now, Havre and Nationals fans are left with a lot of empty Friday and Saturday nights inside the Havre Ice Dome this coming winter.

But I’m also left with the idea that junior hockey can certainly work here. We have the facility, we have the fan base, we have the support, and I believe we even have a town who can provide the billets needed to host a franchise.

And that’s why I’m excited to hear that local hockey aficionados like Brett Patrick and others are looking into getting junior hockey back in Havre in the future. I think it’s a great idea, and with the right people involved, I don’t think junior hockey would just work out in Havre, I think it would be a raving success.

But before we get to that point, I’d like to make a few suggestions, and the people reading this and the people interested in making junior hockey come back someday, probably already know these things. But I’ll say them anyway.

First, whatever franchise comes to Havre, whether it’s locally owned, or a team that wants to move here, please call them the Havre Ice Hawks. It’s the right and sensible thing to do. Havre has long been associated with that name, and it would bring an instant local feel to the team, no matter who owns it, who’s coaching and where all the players are from. I also think directly linking the junior hockey team with HYHA would have such a much more positive impact on the rest of the Ice Hawk’s teams, and the association itself.

The other suggestion would be to be much, much more prominent in the community, off the ice. I know the Nationals did community service work from time-to-time, but I’m not just talking about community service, and players who attend Havre High or MSU-Northern. No, I’m talking about marketing. I’m talking about promotion that goes well beyond the stories I and Chris Peterson write, or the publicity from the radio. I’m talking about marketing the team to the community, about trying to draw in young fans, and not just kids who already play as part of the Ice Hawk’s program. I’m talking about posters around town, I’m talking about meet and greets with the players, I’m talking about making merchandise available, having hockey camps and more.

As I see it, that’s the way to go. I know all those things cost money, and money doesn’t grow on trees. I know all those things. But as I see it right now, it’s been tried once and it didn’t work out the way many of us had hoped. So, the next time around, if someone’s going to do junior hockey in Havre, let’s go all the way with it.

After all, Havre is truly a hockey town. I believe Havre would fully get behind the right junior hockey situation. For a time, Havre already did with the Nationals. I still believe Havre is the perfect place for a junior hockey franchise, whether it’s in the NA3HL or another league. I think the Havre Ice Dome is a great place to watch and play hockey, and I think the Havre Youth Hockey Association is a great organization that does many great things here.

So to me, it’s a no-brainer. Junior hockey can work in Havre, and if it’s done right, it can be something this community will have to call its own for many, many winters to come. I’m going to miss junior hockey in Havre until that day comes. I enjoyed having the Nationals in Havre, and I thought they gave a new element and a new diversity to our sports section. Even though things didn’t work out, I’m glad the Nationals came here.

So here’s to hoping that junior hockey happens in Havre again someday.