Call me a skeptic, but when True North Sports and Entertainment announced it was bringing back the Manitoba Moose, I didn’t really see how that would work.

Twenty years ago, Winnipeg wasn’t big enough to house one professional hockey team, let alone two, playing in the same arena.

This must just be a stop-gap solution for the organization, with a master plan of moving to Thunder Bay, or some other destination, in the works. Or so the thinking went.

That thinking was clearly wrong.

The American Hockey League team’s first season back in Manitoba was an unqualified success for the organization, even while the young team struggled mightily on the ice.

Not only did the Jets have almost immediate access to their farm team, which moved 4,800 kilometres east from St. John’s, Nfld., last off-season, but the people of Winnipeg embraced the AHL team heartily.

The Moose finished ninth out of 30 teams in the AHL in attendance, with 7,285 fans per game, even though they were 28th in the standings.

Perhaps most important though, was the effect the move had on the players.

“We went through the Moose exit meetings here a couple of days ago and we asked every player that had the experience with St. John’s and Winnipeg about the pros and the cons, and to a man, they talked about the fact that they felt like a unit of 50,” Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said this week. “They basically felt they were one of the Jets organization as opposed to someone that was so far away and only seen and heard of when there are call-ups.

“That was very refreshing to hear because I know, as a guy who has been through the minors on the management and player side, it’s important for the players to know and understand that they are there for a reason and that people are watching. That was a real positive thing.”

The Jets made 23 recalls from the AHL club during the season, many down the stretch, when injuries wreaked havoc on the NHL lineup. Strict rules about call-ups after the trade deadline, made things tricky, but the Jets found a way to get most of the recalled players some NHL playing time. Solid prospects like Josh Morrissey, Chase de Leo, Scott Kosmachuk and JC Lipon all made their NHL debuts.

“It wasn’t like we were calling people up and sitting them here,” Cheveldayoff said. “We made a conscious effort to make sure that guys were always playing, whatever level they were going to be at. If you have a seven-hour flight you are just not going to be able to make that happen.”

If the Jets still had their farm team in St. John’s, those 23 call-ups would have represented over 110,000 kilometres of travel, on top of an already rigorous AHL road schedule.

“The wear and tear on the players’ bodies just over the course of the year travelling for the road games is bad enough,” Cheveldayoff said. “Our travel from a Manitoba standpoint is better than what it was out there, so logistics of it just in terms of wear and tear allow you to practice more and worry less about the recovery time as well.”

While the Jets popularity hasn’t waned much over five years back in the city and exorbitant ticket prices haven’t scared the fans away, there was still a market for a different brand of hockey and True North tapped right into it.

“Internally when we modelled the thing using the different focus groups that had been done over the years with respect to the demographics of our Jets crowd, there was obviously a void when the Moose left here,” Cheveldayoff said.

“The group that was not being served included the real young kids and the families. The vibe at the Moose games is a fun, exciting time with a lot of families there and a lot of parents that are just kinda kicking back and letting the kids be kids. It’s a good niche to be able to fill from a family entertainment standpoint.”

Any thoughts that True North might be using Winnipeg as a stop-gap solution for the farm team were quashed when the organization began work on a multi-million dollar upgrade to the practice facility at the IcePlex, which includes both Moose and Jets dressing rooms.

“We want to house both teams for years to come,” Cheveldayoff said. “It’s a multi-multi-million dollar commitment on the part of True North to ensure the sustainability and the development side of both franchises.”

Skeptics bedamned.

AHL ATTENDANCE

Top-10

Average per home game