“It hasn’t been indicated to me that this is just a stop-over,” Diamond said Friday, before the announcement.

“Glens Falls has had a terrific history with the American Hockey League and will be an ideal location and environment for the development of our prospects,” said Flames General Manager Brad Treliving in the press release. “When we announced on April 15th our discontinuation of operations in the City of Abbotsford, we had a few options available to us and there was much speculation about Glens Falls. There has been a high level of interest demonstrated to ensure the AHL remains in that market. We look forward to finalizing details and beginning this new partnership.”

There have been many rumors of teams looking into and potentially moving to Glens Falls during the past few years.

“We didn’t give up; there was a lot of criticism,” Diamond said.

“It’s challenging because of the size of our community, our building is a little bit older. The quality of life in terms of player development, I think that means a lot to a NHL team — get them ice time, less distractions and get them up to the NHL as fast as possible. They knew there was a dedicated fan base out there.”