Maybe you should talk to the front office, and find out how good ticket sales are going. And quit being such a tool!

Scott:
What front office isn’t going to say, “We expect great ticket sales. We expect fantastic crowds in Oklahoma City”? If they didn’t believe that, they wouldn’t have even moved the franchise here.
This is going to be a wait-and-see situation.
Jenni

Jenni, I enjoy your articles very much. I believe you’re really tough, why? You stand up to these guys & don’t waiver, good ideas, good thoughts, great facts & you believe in yourself as well as what you’re putting on paper.I Need a little help here, I grew up in Springfield, Mass. & at that time the hockey club was called the “Springfield Indians”, Our high school hockey team practiced at the same arena & we would hang out after practice with a chance to meet them, so I am REALLY EXCITED that they are moving to OKC. two names that I think would be great 1) OKC INDIANS 2) OKC CHIEFS I tried to get to the hockey web address but it was wrong. I would appreciate it if you could submit those names for me, thank you

the oklahoman is little to non existent when it comes to hockey. you have nobody who knows nothing about the game. the AHL will bring better quality of hockey to the city. also the refereeing will be higher caliber, than the mickey mouse type we were subjected to for the seasons 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 seasons one name jumps out is maraconda he could’nt referee a farting contest god forbid and i pray that this fella is not asked to be a linesman in the AHL he sucks. and the oklahoman had better pick up their socks and and show more coverage of the AHL or it will be the oklahoman’s fault the team not staying here. there are canadians living here in and around the oklahoma city area starving for hockey and the ones i know say the same thing the oklahoman sucks in coverage in hockey.

Oh gosh — Would the Oklahoman please put their “time” where their mouth is…..
AHL hockey is back and our first editorial is challenging the team???? Suggest you pull out the Oklahoman archives from 1965 -75 especially the 60s about OKC hockey. In particular you will see a paper with journalists WHO COVER HOCKEY!!!!! or more importantly OKC sports.

The Oklahoman for who knows what reason removed even a hockey tag on the sports web site???? Why? Pretend it doesnt’ exist? The fact is OKC has hockey fans — the attendance for not only the last 17 years but the 65 – 79 years validates it even more so — and this with AAA caliber teams.

What — fans “like the players” — yes, but they will love the players of the AHL. I’ve been to 8 of the AHL cities and their games — great hockey, great skills — tremendous entertainment.

Now — would the Oklahoman PLEASE do a littel civic duty and help facilitate stories about hockey instead of putting them on page 9 or 10. Better yet — assign a reporter and photographer to the games.
Again, take a look at the exceptional coverage of the 60s and you may learn some more fair and balanced civic journalism.

I wish the best for ALL OKC sports franchises — stop pitting them against each other.

Go OKC Blazers or Storm or LIghtning!

A couple things:
1. I guarantee that the success or failure of the AHL team will have little to do with how much we cover the team. They will succeed based on product quality and ticket pricing.
2. We don’t have tags for several pro sports. Do you see one for baseball? For football? We don’t have those tags either, so we’re not slighting hockey.
3. Why is there an assumption that we won’t staff the games? We staffed the Blazers games. Why wouldn’t we do the same with the AHL?
4. We had hockey on the front of the sports section the day after the announcement. It gets off Page 9 or 10 when it deserves to get off Page 9 or 10.
5. We aren’t pitting the franchises against each other. It’s simply the facts that people only have so much disposable income and freetime. It is more divided now with the NBA than it was before. That’s a fact, not some drummed-up controversy.
– Jenni

Well,
I guess I just don’t agree with the “tone”. Someone does something positive for OKC, families and kids and the “freedom of the press” for who knows why — has to bring up “they better do more than crank up the Zamboni”. My gosh, have you ever heard of given someone a honeymoon or a chance… A week or two, a month.
Oh and yes, you are slighting hockey…. there is a tag for the NFL and the MLB. Maybe I am calling those tabs (tags) incorrect. But you DO have NFL, MLB — Why not an NHL?

And finally, I just plain don’t agree with your comment on which page to put the local hockey team on. If you go back to your papers from 65 – 68 you will find more front page coverage, headlines. For years I watched what I would call minimal coverage of the recent Blazers — minimal. I have traveled in Hershey PA, Norfolk VA, Wichita KS, Tulsa OK, to name a few and gone to AHL and CHL hockey games and then picked up the paper the next morning and almost ALL of them had better local hockey team coverage. THAT IS A FACT!
Please I beg your staff to go look at The Daily Oklahoman Coverage of 66, 67, – 73 etc… It is a FACT — the local sports received more press on the front pages — why? Because the local paper helped suppor the local teams. Now, I know you will “say” that that is not what the readers want and your survey says. Well, sometimes to be civic minded you have to provide a positive tone of assistance! I hope the Oklahoman reconsiders their approach to coverage of the AHL in their coverage. This is all many hockey fans ask.
I love freedom of the press and freedom of speech.
”Your right to ask the question on what 48, 72 hours after the announcment — will we spend enough to support the AHL?
My bet is the OKC metro hockey fans will!

Jenni, I know what you mean about the fans, because I WAS one. I was a total Blazers fan, especially during the nineties. The second year the Blazers were here my wife and I had a long weekend. We were in Dallas for two nights, and then in Tulsa for a conference the next two nights. We had tickets to go see the Dallas Stars AND the Blazers vs. Oilers in Tulsa. At the Stars game she thought I’d be so awed by the game that I pee my pants or something. She couldn’t understand that it just made me MORE excited to get to Tulsa and see the Blazers game?! I explained to her; “I don’t know any of the Stars players. I don’t live here, The blazers are MY team! Guy Giraurd, Steve Simoni, Allen Perry, etc… THOSE were MY players.

Who wrote this, Jenni Carlson or Brad Lund?

John:
I stand corrected on the tabs on our website. I’ll bring that up with our editors; we really should have one.
One other thing: if anyone thinks we’re following the template that we did it in the 60s and 70s, I regret to inform you that things have changed. We don’t cover high schools or colleges or pros or anything the same way we did then. Minor-league hockey’s place has changed in Oklahoma City. Are we going to cover it? Yes. Are we going to consider it one of our premier sports? I doubt it.
The sports landscape here has changed, and our coverage has to reflect that.
Jenni

And there you have it
Low civic interest
Just worried about their ratings
Maybe a liitle pride in local sports isn’t so bad?
Good to see you admit that there was no tab but that in itself is evidence that no one in the sports sept really gets interested in hockey ….
Because if they did they would realize the hole in their web coverage.
Hope the Oklahoman “turns a page” andkust tries to put coverage a little more tpwards the front … Just another customers input like above