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Post by mlh01 on Jan 23, 2014 21:36:28 GMT -5
Barrie - you had asked in another thread if a National Senior hockey forum would be a good idea. I believe Wade responded that there were enough Senior forums.
I respectfully disagree. There may be forums but not many people are aware. This holds especially true in Ontario. There may be approx 20-30 regular contributors from Ontario to this forum.
The Allan Cup League (Ontario Senior A) does not even have a link to any forums or chat rooms.
This site used to be affiliated with the old Major League Hockey site but no longer seems to be. Again, there is not an available ACH forum.
Many fans in Ontario would love to have a forum to debate Dundas, Whitby, Brantford, etc. But frankly there aren't any. And not enough people know about this site. Many days go by without a single post.
Would love it if you were to pursue a forum for all of Senior hockey. If a sponsor could be found, even just a small banner in each Senior rink, advertising the site in the programs, etc would generate interest.
I find the CFL, specifically Bob Young and the Ticats have embraced this medium. They have one of the best fan websites and fan forums in North America. And I know for a fact it has helped them tremendously with ticket sales....the more people are talking Ticats, the more interested they are in watching and attending games.
This most certainly would also hold true for Senior hockey across the country.
Senior hockey is truly a great sport. The talent level is growing every year. Unfortunately not enough people are aware.
A well publicized National Senior hockey forum would go a long way towards growing the sport.
Look forward to your thoughts Barry... and by the way your Newfoundland forum is terrific.
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Post by naitch on Jan 24, 2014 8:48:03 GMT -5
This very forum should be the place that fans come to get their Senior hockey fix. The best teams in the nation are AAA & this is where everyone should come together for discussion. Why not have the fans of their A, AA teams come here as well for discussion.
Yes, getting the word out is key. I believe the traffic on this forum went way down when the link was taken down from the allancuphockey.com page. How about Hockey Canada pitch in with the marketing and advertising costs associated with getting this message board a little more exposure? Get the teams on board across the nation & make them aware of this effort? However, this would involve competent & collaborative people making decisions...i fear this may not happen.
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Post by barrywheeler on Jan 24, 2014 13:01:05 GMT -5
naitch / mlh01 - I'm open to do something. I'm in a position where I have my own internet servers and a passion for hockey in general. I don't want to take anything away from what people here contribute or do anything that would be detriment for the survival of some of these grass root sites. As for having Hockey Canada pitch in to cover the costs - not necessary. I've funded the site I run now for quite some time and with millions of page views each month, the costs of running it is the least I can give back for what this game has given me in years of enjoyment.
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Post by mlh0w on Jan 25, 2014 13:11:41 GMT -5
Munzie - I agree with you. Doug's site has been around forever and there is no one who covers Senior hockey countrywide as well as he does...maybe he and Barry could collaborate.
The piece that is missing, that everyone agrees with, is traffic. It's no offense to this site but very little people are aware. The traffic does pickup in April during the Allan Cup but other than that, there is no driver to get people here.
Spoke with a few people at the Brantford-Dundas game last night and they didn't know this site still existed...as you said the link is gone from the ACH page. They mentioned they would love to have a forum to talk Senior hockey.
Years ago with Cambridge in the league it was not uncommon to have 10-20 people on and discussing at the same time. Now again, as mentioned, days go by with no posts.
On that note, Barry if you could work with the ACH and all other Senior leagues to simply have a link to your page (or to this page), it honestly would be huge for the sport...bigger than you may think. If NF has that much traffic, just think how big a site could grow with the Chinook league, Quebec league, Allan Cup Hockey League, etc all linked together...do people in NF even know that Matthew Barnaby and Jay McKee are playing Senior...likely not. Same goes for players out East and West...the discussions could be huge.
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Post by barrywheeler on Jan 25, 2014 15:21:03 GMT -5
Munzie - I agree with you. Doug's site has been around forever and there is no one who covers Senior hockey countrywide as well as he does...maybe he and Barry could collaborate. The piece that is missing, that everyone agrees with, is traffic. It's no offense to this site but very little people are aware. The traffic does pickup in April during the Allan Cup but other than that, there is no driver to get people here. Spoke with a few people at the Brantford-Dundas game last night and they didn't know this site still existed...as you said the link is gone from the ACH page. They mentioned they would love to have a forum to talk Senior hockey. Years ago with Cambridge in the league it was not uncommon to have 10-20 people on and discussing at the same time. Now again, as mentioned, days go by with no posts. On that note, Barry if you could work with the ACH and all other Senior leagues to simply have a link to your page (or to this page), it honestly would be huge for the sport...bigger than you may think. If NF has that much traffic, just think how big a site could grow with the Chinook league, Quebec league, Allan Cup Hockey League, etc all linked together...do people in NF even know that Matthew Barnaby and Jay McKee are playing Senior...likely not. Same goes for players out East and West...the discussions could be huge. I have no difficulties in creating something, would love to collaborate on something. NL Hockey Talk has grown since it's inception and has become somewhat of a beast to manage. This month alone so far I've broken over 100,000 visitors so far with a weekend of hockey to go. My focus has up until now been the NL Senior Hockey scene. What are we looking at in terms of other senior leagues out there? Does one exist in each province? As for traffic, I work in search engine optimization and can get some organic traffic from search, but I also have no difficulty looking to the leagues / teams themselves for links from their site. Heck, I'd throw all this together just to promote the game that I love.
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Post by munzie1 on Jan 25, 2014 17:29:06 GMT -5
Munzie - I agree with you. Doug's site has been around forever and there is no one who covers Senior hockey countrywide as well as he does...maybe he and Barry could collaborate. The piece that is missing, that everyone agrees with, is traffic. It's no offense to this site but very little people are aware. The traffic does pickup in April during the Allan Cup but other than that, there is no driver to get people here. Spoke with a few people at the Brantford-Dundas game last night and they didn't know this site still existed...as you said the link is gone from the ACH page. They mentioned they would love to have a forum to talk Senior hockey. Years ago with Cambridge in the league it was not uncommon to have 10-20 people on and discussing at the same time. Now again, as mentioned, days go by with no posts. On that note, Barry if you could work with the ACH and all other Senior leagues to simply have a link to your page (or to this page), it honestly would be huge for the sport...bigger than you may think. If NF has that much traffic, just think how big a site could grow with the Chinook league, Quebec league, Allan Cup Hockey League, etc all linked together...do people in NF even know that Matthew Barnaby and Jay McKee are playing Senior...likely not. Same goes for players out East and West...the discussions could be huge. From Munzie: May be just be a typo and maybe was intended as a responce to naitch rather than me. I have to date not made any imput or comment to this thread or this subject. Good chance when/if time permits I may join in later because I do have quite a few thoughts. In the meantime while I'm already here, I find the disscussion is interesting. Seems to be moving along at a rapid pace. With definitely no intent to offend, I am surprized somewhat that Barry W. would seem to have limited knowledge of other leagues in other provinces. Perhaps I am over stating and perhaps it is not that significant, and most certainly I'm not opposed to change if it is meaningfull. In the meantime this form appears to have had somewhat of a face lift in the last few days and admittedly I have not had time to study it. I have not yet for example found private messaging or the listing of members. I'm not sure if mlh01 & mlhOw are the same person or two different members. Not even sure if this post will make it's way to print. Obviously I have some catching up to do, while I watch my first 24 hour taste of first place slip away from Dundas tonight if Brantford Blast do the expected when they visit the Welland Whalers.
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Post by barrywheeler on Jan 25, 2014 17:48:27 GMT -5
No offense taken with regards to my limited knowledge of other leagues in other provinces.
I follow the senior circuit here in NL, have for some time. Follow the Allan Cup since the Royals won in 1986.
The focus of my site has been entirely the NL league, and hockey general for Newfoundland and Labrador. It's grown in leaps & bounds and keeps me (and a small group of volunteers), extremely busy at times.
I have checked the governing provincial hockey bodies & the Hockey Canada site to gauge what kind of scope such a site would have. That was the reason for my question. The information is limited across the board & I think this speaks volumes for why such a site would be a great focal point.
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Post by mlh01 on Jan 26, 2014 11:01:32 GMT -5
Hi munzie...yes meant I was replying to naitch. I had read one of your posts from another thread and used your name here.
Hopefully something can be worked out. Barry and Doug both seem to have the expertise. Doug's site is great and Barry knows how to drive traffic. Whether it's a new site or not, just have it linked to every Senior teams webpage...that is the key driver. Team webpage to League webpage to the forum.
Used to love the banter between Cambridge, Brantford and Dundas fans.
Again. Now 99 percent of people at the game do not know about this site and have nowhere to talk about the game they just attended.
As mentioned, go on the Ticats page before, during or after their game...literally 100's of posts. Senior is not at that level (25-30k fans per game) but do have fans who want to discuss hockey (on a forum that EVERYONE will know exists).
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Post by barrywheeler on Apr 9, 2014 14:23:06 GMT -5
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Post by enogca on Apr 9, 2014 15:35:55 GMT -5
This site has certainly kept me informed as to what's going on for senior aaa hockey. I have learned a lot from the posts. My local newspaper usually only publishes something if it pertains to the Blast. Thank you everyone. And Barry Wheeler, thank you for the link you posted.
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Post by ac on Apr 9, 2014 21:18:24 GMT -5
Great site Barry. Very well organized into provinces. Hopefully you and Doug can work together and post links to each other's site. Will help drive traffic to both.
Also, as someone mentioned, you should ask every Senior league in Canada if they'll post a link (same goes for this site Doug).
Hopefully by this time next year, there will be 100's of people posting, and talking Senior hockey.
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Post by barrywheeler on Apr 9, 2014 22:13:25 GMT -5
Have been reaching out to the leagues, contacts, provincial bodies etc over the last 24 hours. It's a work in progress. Have some twitter action going & working on the search engine optimization aspect of the forum to show up in the ranking. I love giving back to the game I love ..... If we don't get senior hockey more recognized and get the fans to appreciate the game more, the future of this level of hockey is in trouble. Any suggestions or comments / help that anyone wants to make - send them my way! Thanks for the great comments.
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