Winter's coming, but fear not. The heat is on again.
OK, admittedly, that's a cheesy way to get into this hockey column. But the Lancers are back where they belong, and there's a certain retro energy they bring with them back over the river.
Back where they belong? You can certainly argue that. The Lancers belong in Omaha, where they built a loyal fan base — a loyalty that in some cases was destroyed by their move to Council Bluffs. But now that old feeling is being repaired at the Civic Auditorium, an old-time hockey barn that should revive this town's quirky love for what critics like to call “high school hockey.''
They opened the season at the Civic on Saturday night. It looked and felt so right that even the team president had to admit it's been the right thing to do.
“I have heard it 1,000 times this summer,'' Ben Robert said. “People said, ‘When you guys left, I stopped. Now that you're back, I'm back.'
“I've told people, I have a lot of begging for forgiveness to do because this (moving to Council Bluffs) was a mistake — well, it is what it is. We're fixing something. There are people who come up and say ‘thank you' and it's like, wow. This team meant a lot to this city.''
Here's the thing about Omaha: it's not “hockey town.'' It's a big-event town, it's an amateur sports town, it's a beer town. But hockey town?
Certainly, there's a large faction of hockey heads in this city with a deep passion for their sport. There's a long, proud history here. We love our hockey more than most cities our size and in this region.
And now there are two big reasons why hockey should be better than ever in Omaha.
1. The Lancers are back in Omaha, playing in a classic hockey building that hockey fans love.
2. The University of Nebraska at Omaha seems bent on a hockey revival, having hired one of the top coaches in college hockey, who aims to transform UNO hockey into a major player not only in the nation, but in this community.
And that's the thing. There is an unmistakable energy around the Mavericks and Lancers. It's one thing for folks in the hockey world to call Omaha “the junior hockey capital'' or the “amateur hockey capital'' of the U.S. It's quite another thing for folks in Omaha to talk hockey, period.
But if Dean Blais wins like we think he's going to, and the Lancers touch that old-time hockey nerve (though with a 4,000-seat capacity, there's some reviving to do) that used to live and breathe at Ak-Sar-Ben, then stand back. Winter weekend nights are going to be a blast downtown. And Omaha will be the best “hockey town'' it could ever be.
And that's saying something, for the good folks who can remember the energy and noise of packed houses at Knights games at Ak-Sar-Ben and how much that meant to the city. For many, the Knights and hockey were every bit of Omaha's identity as college baseball or horse racing, if not more.
Things are in place to surpass those days, if only because there's something about amateur sports in this burg. The tie is so strong that the American Hockey League chose to leave here, even with the Lancers drawing so-so numbers over in Iowa.
“I couldn't agree more,'' said Mike Hastings, the former longtime coach of the Lancers now an assistant for Blais at UNO. “The AHL came in and it was very good hockey. Same for the basketball team (Racers) that was here. The numbers were down. The thing (about amateurs) is, you're not playing for a paycheck. You're playing for something bigger. The city loves that.''
When UNO started its program in 1996, I thought that would be bad for the Lancers. No wonder they left town, right? But the reality is, there's room for both. They are two different kinds of hockey, two different levels, yet they can and should complement each other. The Lancers can send players to the Mavericks.
As fans, you can choose who you want to watch. Or watch both. That's what Robert has in mind. He's talking about giving UNO fans discounted tickets to see the Lancers. He's looking at ways to stage doubleheaders. For instance, Feb. 13, the Lancers host Chicago while UNO hosts Michigan, both at 7 p.m. Robert has moved the Lancers' game to 4 p.m. His doors are open to orange and red.
“I grew up in Montreal and we used to have a thing called ‘Hockey Night in Canada,'” Robert said. “I want to call this “Hockey Night in Omaha.''
It's got a certain ring to it.
Contact the writer:
444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com
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