Lowell seems to be off to a pretty decent start
attendance-wise in their new building. The one
thing that is lacking to this point is the support
of the student body. With two more home games
against strong opponents, hopefully that will
change and we'll see a good strong student section
next season.
 
Its too bad the opening game was such a snoozer
... but Lowell was likely to get many converts
from the largely VIP audience that night anyhow.
 
Up to now, Lowell's strongest support has cetainly
come from the community as well as large visiting
team fan numbers. Lowell should continue to have a
strong presence in the youngster market ... riding
their strong "Young-Star" program from recent
years at Tully.
 
What remains to be seen, however ... is what
impact the new AHL team will have on Riverhawk
attendance. One of the major disadvantages the
college game has in such challenges is the ban on
alcoholic beverages at all NCAA events. You know
the Lock Monsters will be selling a good deal of
beer!
 
The New York Islanders have recently announced
that the Lowell Lock Monsters will be their #1
affiliate. Furthermore, the Islanders are going to
bring their training camp to Tsongas next year as
well as some NHL exhibition games. Islanger GM
Mike Milbury was recently in town to make these
announcements and he said a big fan interest could
be the intra-squad games that will available.
Asked about the make-up of these intra-squad games
and Milbury commented that all you had to do to
imagine what these games are like is to think of
60+ players vying for 20 or so NHL roster spots
... "put it this way" he said, "the puck won't be
in the corners very long without a good deal of
company".
 
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