'The start of something big': Looking back at the St. John's IceCaps, 10 years after their debut
CBC
Ever since the night of Oct. 14, 2011, St. John's hockey fan Dwan Street has viewed her seats in Section 102 of Mile One Centre as her second home.
It was the first home game for the St. John's IceCaps, a team stepping onto fresh ice in front of 7,000 fans for the city's first professional hockey game since 2004. Street says she'll never forget the energy in the building as a light show featuring the team's logo danced around the ice, and Thin Lizzy's The Boys are Back in Town played over loudspeakers.
"I think that the place was packed from Day 1," Street said. "There was definitely an energy for a fan base that had been kind of hockey-starved at that point."
The first game was a moment seven years in the making, beginning when the Toronto Maple Leafs' St. John's affiliate — affectionately known as the "baby Leafs" — left the city after 14 seasons.
Following a brief stint with the St. John's Fog Devils of the Quebec Major Junior League, from 2005 to 2008, fans saw AHL hockey return to the province in 2011.
Street remembers getting the news that Danny Williams had bought the Manitoba Moose and was moving the team to St. John's like it was yesterday.
"My partner at the time must have thought I was nuts," Street said. "I ran out. I was just jumping on the bed, I was like 'Danny bought the Moose! Danny bought the Moose!'
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