The Springfield Falcons are forcing their public to confront whether this team really matters. It is too early to clear a spot for the Calder Cup in the team's trophy case. It is not too early to start believing these Falcons are different than a decade's worth of drab, bedraggled outfits that gave their own fans no reason to...
The Springfield Falcons have given their fans little to cheer about for several years, but this year's team might be the class of the AHL.
The Springfield Falcons are forcing their public to confront whether this team really matters.
It is too early to clear a spot for the Calder Cup in the team's trophy case. It is not too early to start believing these Falcons are different than a decade's worth of drab, bedraggled outfits that gave their own fans no reason to get excited.
Dominated for years, they continue to play like a dominant team. Over the weekend, Springfield won twice at Norfolk, an opponent that had been 6-1 at one point.
It was the type of road trip where Springfield had crumbled over the last several years. The Falcons left Norfolk with the best record in their conference, and they are flirting with the best record in the entire 30-team AHL.
If the NHL ever solves its lockout, Springfield will lose players like every other team, but there is no reason to expect they will be gutted. They would not lose Curtis McElhinney, who has been the best goalie in the AHL.
A decade of losing is not forgotten in five weeks. But the team's 10-2-2 start and its revealing 49-23 scoring edge over opponents is erasing the argument that it's business as usual at the MassMutual Center.
A great myth exists that Springfield was once a fertile, thriving hockey market that collapsed only recently. In truth, it's amazing hockey has survived here this long.
When the Indians won three straight Calder Cups in the 1960s, and were arguably the seventh best team in the world, the crowds were mediocre. There was a pocket of passion in the late 1960s and early '70s, when Butch Goring and Billy Smith were in town for the Kings.
In the 1990s, the team reorganized as the Falcons and briefly averaged more than 5,000 fans for the first time in the city's hockey history. Otherwise, Springfield hockey has struggled to draw fans since the Great Depression.
Lately, there have been years where the Falcons have bordered on the unwatchable. The differences this season include depth and scoring punch, which was lacking in other years when the team played competitively but could not score.
As fans hunker down for a long lockout that could wipe out the NHL season, the Falcons will get a longer look. Opening Night was a hit, and the team drew 5,653 for another, well-promoted Saturday night game against Connecticut.
The Sunday crowds and some others have been subpar. It is understandable that some fans would hesitate to look at 14 games as proof that a decade of misery is done.
But wouldn't it fun to find out? Nothing is more energizing that having your team, which has pushed around for years, show the muscle and skill to start pushing back hard.
A team and its fans co-exist with a bargain. The team counts on its fans to hang in there during tough times.
The fans expect the team to put its best foot forward and minimize the drought periods. For many years and for many reasons, the Falcons have not held up their end of the bargain, giving the fans reason not to hold up theirs.
Even with a hot team, it's not an easy sell. The competition for a shrinking entertainment dollar in a tough economy now includes staying home with computers and other modern toys, where no dollars are spent at all.
There is no local attachment to the Columbus Blue Jackets. And for all its woes, Springfield is not the only Northeast AHL market struggling to draw fans.
But this is a new season and a different team. People who gave up on the Falcons are beginning to take another look out of the corner of their eye, or at least they ought to be.
The Falcons return home Saturday night. That is when we will begin to find out if the fans turned away from the Falcons because of all the losing, or if that was only an excuse to tune out a product the market didn't really want, anyway.
As a hockey fan and a Pioneer Valley resident for almost all my life, I know which answer I hope is true.