NHL lockout has little impact on minor league crowds

Randy Miller, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

TRENTON, N.J. - Walking hand-in-hand with dad, a little girl with blond hair and a hooded winter jacket smiled her way from the Sun National Bank Center concourse down a flight of steps to a fourth-row, center-ice seat.

Laurel Breschia, 4, already loves the Philadelphia Flyers. But with no NHL this season, she has had a blast watching the Trenton Titans play ECHL games.

"As soon as we go home, she says, 'When are we going to the hockey game again?'" Steve Breschia, a Flyers season ticketholder from Burlington County, N.J., said before their fourth Titans game of the season.

One section to the right of the Breschias, Jason Smith purchased Row 2 seats for him and 6-year-old son, James, after driving in from Toms River, N.J.

"There's nowhere else to go for hockey," said the father, a 31-year-old former soldier who fought in Iraq. "And it's nice paying only $23 for me and $12 for James to sit up on the glass."

The Breschias and the Smiths seem to be in a minority getting in hockey fixes during a season in which there has been no NHL because of a lockout that has canceled games through Jan. 14.

Instead of receiving a boast in attendance from area fans missing hockey, Titans crowds are down 1.5% even though Wells Fargo Center, home of the Flyers, is 37 miles away. The Titans averaged 3,013 for 36 games last season, and this season they're at 2,969 through 14 home dates.

"Some people think because there's a lockout, we can open the doors and (people) just show up," said Rich Lisk, President and CEO of the Titans, who play in a state-of-the-art, 13-year-old arena that holds 8,100 for hockey. "We're waiting to see if the lockout really is ending. That's going to be the tell-tale sign. I think when there's no NHL season, you might start seeing a difference."

Maybe, but few minor-league teams are benefiting from the lockout. ECHL attendance is up, but just 2%, and American Hockey League crowds are down 7%.

Meantime, both Flyers' minor-league affiliates are struggling. The Titans are 19th among 23 ECHL teams in attendance, while the Adirondack Phantoms, who are based in Glen Falls, N.Y., are averaging an AHL-worst 3,413 even with Flyers young stars Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier in their lineup.

A Dec. 14 crowd for the Titans' 4-2 victory against Wheeling was announced at 3,143, but it appeared that fewer than half that actually was in the building.

"I look at our game sheet at the end and our attendance is like 3,200, and there's no chance that many people came to the game," said Titans left wing Marcel Noebels, a Flyers' 2011 fourth-round draft pick and one of their top prospects. "I played (juniors) in Portland last year (in the Western Hockey League) and we had like 10,000 every game. Now I'm playing in front of 2,000 or 2,500. It's kind of shocking. I thought there was going to be more fans in Trenton, especially because there's no hockey in Philly and no hockey in New Jersey and there's not really an AHL team close to here."

The closest is the Hershey Bears, the AHL's hottest ticket for years. A Washington Capitals affiliate, the Bears are leading the league in attendance for the seventh season in a row, but even their crowds are smaller, dropping from 9,872 last season to 9,209 for 15 games this season.

The Titans have a good excuse for their crowds with current ownership 17 months removed from purchasing a dying franchise that had 232 season ticketholders and announced plans to suspend operations for 2011-12.

An expansion team in 1999-2000, the Titans were among the league's top draws in their early years, topping out at 7,082 per game in their debut season, but fans started staying away when the New Jersey Devils bought the franchise in September 2006 and renamed the team Trenton Devils for 2007-08.

Lisk was with the Titans in the beginning and GM in 2005 when the franchise was ECHL champions. He left when the Titans became the Devils (initially to work for the Arena Football League's Philadelphia Soul) and returned last season after putting together an ownership group.

With Lisk running the show again, the Devils were renamed the Titans in July 2011 and the new owners opted to play last season despite having just 10 weeks to put together a front office, coaching staff and roster. When attendance climbed a tick beyond 3,000 per game, a first for the franchise since 2007-08, Lisk set a goal for 2012-13 to beat last season's total. With 21 home dates to go and the best drawing months ahead, he's optimistic.

"People say, 'Just call up the people who were here in 2005.'" Lisk said. "Well, those people in 2005 aren't the same people in 2012. You've got to go find 2012 people. Lockout or no lockout, it's going to take time. I think four or five years down the road, we can settle in at 4,000 or 5,000 a game again."

For the time being, Lisk appreciates the Titans' small loyal fan base as well as the occasional paying customers such as Steve Breschia and Jason Smith - Flyers fans who really miss NHL hockey.

"I'm certainly mad about the lockout, but it's really out of the fans' control," said Breschia. "If I want to see hockey, I gotta come here to Trenton or go out to Hershey. I'm thinking of going to see the Bears play next week. I love the game so much I'd go watch 5-year-olds."

Randy Miller also writes for the (Cherry Hill, N.J.) Courier-Post