Managers for the Bloomington Bison hockey team consider their first season a success even if the team's on-ice goals came up short.
Bison coach and general manager Phillip Barski said the objective every season is to make the playoffs. He said it’s the first time in his career he’s missed the postseason.
“You have to say it was disappointing from that standpoint, from a results objective,” Barski said in an interview on WGLT’s Sound Ideas.
The team ended its inaugural season in the ECHL on Sunday with 31 wins, 35 losses, 4 overtime losses and 2 shootout losses. Extra-time losses count for one point in the standings.
Barski said the Bison did many things well, building the foundation for a successful team on the ice and in the community.
“You start seeing that we did accomplish some special things, and there’s a lot of positives that came out of this year and a loft of things to be excited for the trajectory of this organization,” Barski said.
The Bison met their obligations to the City of Bloomington for attendance and food and beverage sales, according to city officials.
More than 100,000 fans came to Grossinger Motors Arena. The team’s average home attendance of more than 2,600 fans exceeded the city’s minimum requirement of 2,000 fans, though the team ranked 26th out of 29 ECHL teams for attendance.
The city’s agreement with the Bison would have required the hockey team to make up the financial difference to the city.
Andy Zilch, the team’s broadcaster who was named Bison team president on Thursday, said fans seemed to appreciate the higher quality of play in the ECHL, a league with NHL affiliates, compared with previous hockey teams that have played in Bloomington.
“From my seat, it was everything that we wanted,” Zilch said. “It was entertaining hockey. The Central Illinois area realized the quality of hockey that’s on the ice. These are future NHL [players].”
Zilch said fans came for the hockey, but kept coming back for the full-game experience.
“Fans were walking away [saying], ‘I had a great time on the dance cam, I did an intermission game, I can’t believe that lucky hat shuffle and I picked number 2 and I won a coupon to a local restaurant,” said Zilch, adding the Bison plan to be out in the community even more this year.
It may help that they won't be building a roster from scratch this time.
Barski said it should be easier to fill the roster next season. He said since the Bison were new last year, there was no track record or current or previous players who could help recruit other players.
“People didn’t know where we were. They thought we were in Bloomington, Indiana,” he said. “People don’t like uncertainty.”
Barski said the Bison will likely keep its affiliation with the NHL’s New York Rangers next season, but its alliance with the Carolina Hurricanes may be in doubt as the ECHL plans to expand to match the 32 franchises in the NHL.
The ECHL already has added the 30th franchise for next season, the Greensboro [North Carolina] Gargoyles.
