The Manchester Mountaineers amateur men's hockey team will not entertain McCall ice hockey fans this winter.
Aging players, sponsorship woes and dwindling attendance have put the kibosh on the team, possibly for good.
"It's definitely going to have a financial impact on the arena," Manchester Ice & Event Centre Rink Manager Jason Williamson said. "We really did count on that, and we already have felt the impact from poor attendance last year."
The team has played hockey in McCall since 2004, providing winter residents with exciting hockey against teams from around the western states.
In its inaugural season, the Mountaineers won the USA Hockey 30 & Over National Championship in Tampa, Fla.
This year, the Mountaineers lost in overtime of the finals, player/manager Scott Davis said.
The team lost its main sponsor, Whitetail Resort, and lost hotel sponsors that put visiting teams up for the home game weekends.
The Mountaineers and their families were using condominiums in McCall as a place to stay when the team began, but that fell through, Davis said.
The players, who consisted mostly of retired Idaho Steelheads hockey players, were also getting older. Their children were getting older and more active, too, said Davis, 36.
"When you put it all together we have a regular life that we need to give attention to," Davis said.
"It was problematic for the core group of guys who all live in Boise to come up to McCall to play hockey on the weekends. We don't get paid to play Mountaineers hockey."
The Mountaineers packed the ice rink in their first two seasons, Williamson said.
The team would bring in $4,200 per game when it played during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons.
But the 2006-07 season saw attendance drop off dramatically. The Mountaineers' final home game only brought in $600. The team played eight to 10 games in McCall per season.
"It was quite a drop-off," Williamson said.
More programs planned To fill the revenue gap, the privately owned arena will diversify its offerings, he said.
The arena will look to attract more youth and adult hockey tournaments. Local curling, youth and adult hockey and figure skating programs are all growing, Williamson said.
He also plans more non-ice shows this summer. During the summer, the arena stores the floor covering from Qwest Arena in Boise, and will use it to cover the ice to hold more shows like the home and garden show held last summer, he said.
"I think we'll be able to make up the difference," Williamson said.
The Masters World Cup Nordic skiing event to be held at Ponderosa State Park in March will have its headquarters located at the arena. For that event, the ice will be melted which will give the arena a chance to do some maintenance work.
"We had a good run," Davis said. "It was fun to win the national championship, but real life beckons. It was amazing that it happened at all. McCall was a great place to play."
Davis believed that there might be a way to pick up a different type of hockey program that will fit with McCall
"There are lots of good opportunities you have in McCall," he said.
The ice rink is owned by the private nonprofit Richard J. Sabala Foundation, which completed the $6.2-million facility in 2003 using mostly private donations.
