AHL Attendance Up Nearly 5%; Hershey Tops League Gate For Sixth Straight Season

The AHL, considered the triple-A level of North American hockey, saw its teams average 5,638 fans per game during the '11-12 regular season, up nearly 5% from last season. The Hershey Bears led all teams at the gate for the sixth straight season. The club saw attendance rise slightly this season, marking the seventh straight season of gains at Giant Center. Eleven clubs saw double-digit percentage gains at the gate, led by the Rochester Americans, who saw a 44.5% jump. The Milwaukee Admirals saw attendance rise 7.4% at Bradley Center for their best average since the '01-02 season. The Bridgeport Sound Tigers had the club's second-best attendance mark since it was founded in '01, with average gate up 17.7%. Only seven of the 30 clubs saw attendance decline this season. The Connecticut Whale saw the sharpest drop, down 19.7% at XL Center in Hartford. After moving from Winnipeg following last season, the St. John's IceCaps ranked ninth in league attendance during the team's first season in Newfoundland. Listed below is team-by-team attendance for the '11-12 AHL regular season, with comparisons to last year (THE DAILY).

'11-12 AHL REGULAR-SEASON ATTENDANCE TEAM GMS TOTAL AVG. PREV. % +/- GMS ('10-11) Hershey Bears 38 375,146 9,872 9,800 0.7% 40 Chicago Wolves 38 300,550 7,909 7,453 6.1% 40 Lake Erie Monsters 38 298,096 7,845 6,568 19.4% 40 Providence Bruins 38 297,037 7,817 7,324 6.7% 40 Houston Aeros 38 278,299 7,324 6,326 15.8% 40 Grand Rapids Griffins 38 275,632 7,253 7,241 0.2% 40 San Antonio Rampage 38 271,083 7,134 6,411 11.3% 40 Charlotte Checkers 38 257,189 6,768 6,312 7.2% 40 St. John's IceCaps* 38 239,299 6,297 n/a n/a n/a Milwaukee Admirals 38 236,579 6,226 5,796 7.4% 40 W-B/Scranton Penguins 38 229,053 6,028 6,360 -5.2% 40 Manchester Monarchs 38 216,622 5,701 5,461 4.4% 40 Rochester Americans 38 212,605 5,595 3,872 44.5% 40 Toronto Marlies 38 208,223 5,480 4,694 16.7% 40 Texas Stars 38 207,855 5,470 5,340 2.4% 40 Peoria Rivermen 38 205,726 5,414 5,196 4.2% 40 Syracuse Crunch 38 199,354 5,246 5,154 1.8% 40 Portland Pirates 38 195,997 5,158 4,655 10.8% 40 Norfolk Admirals 38 194,521 5,119 4,490 14.0% 40 Bridgeport Sound Tigers 38 185,236 4,875 4,140 17.7% 40 Hamilton Bulldogs 38 184,232 4,848 4,257 13.9% 40 Adirondack Phantoms 38 175,982 4,631 3,575 29.5% 40 Connecticut Whale 38 173,788 4,573 5,695 -19.7% 40 Worcester Sharks 38 167,292 4,402 4,068 8.2% 40 Rockford IceHogs 38 161,286 4,244 4,360 -2.7% 40 Oklahoma City Barons 38 140,008 3,684 4,155 -11.3% 40 Springfield Falcons 38 139,050 3,659 3,717 -1.6% 40 Binghamton Senators 38 135,950 3,578 3,652 -2.0% 40 Abbotsford Heat 38 134,715 3,545 3,807 -6.9% 40 Albany Devils 38 130,529 3,435 3,114 10.3% 40 AHL TOTALS 1,140 6,426,934 5,638 5,380 4.8% 1,200

NOTES: * = Franchise relocated to St. John's, Newfoundland, following last season after the move of the Thrashers to Winnipeg. The Manitoba Moose last season averaged 8,404 fans per game, which is factored into the league's '10-11 average.