STOCKTON, Calif. — The Calgary Flames officially announced Monday that the Stockton Heat will be moving to Calgary, Alberta, Canada beginning in the 2022-23 season.
The decision has come following the approval of the American Hockey League (AHL) Board of Governors at an official board meeting last week announcing the plans for relocating the team.
The Stockton Heat, a minor league affiliate of the Calgary Flames, has played at the Stockton Arena since 2015.
The Calgary Flames purchased the city’s previous long-standing team, the Stockton Thunder, and after 10 years of playing, the city's hockey team was relocated to New York. The AHL then moved the Heat to Stockton in its place.
Now, following a string of unconfirmed rumors of the Heat’s departure, Stockton is officially once again saying goodbye to its local hockey team.
“Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation have appreciated the partnership with the City of Stockton since our arrival in 2015,” said Heat General Manager Brad Pascall. “We especially would like to say thank you to the Heat fans who loyally supported the team and continue throughout the 2022 AHL Playoffs.”
Details regarding the team’s departure are still being finalized.
At the arena box office this afternoon, long time fan Rich Gregorius scored himself a pair of tickets for game two of the playoffs versus Colorado, but he knows time to see the team is running out.
Gregorious has seen games since the Thunder arrived here in 2005. He said attendance has dropped dramatically and blames it possibly in part on COVID.
"When we first started coming out, a lot of people would come and you would see the same faces. And, maybe due to the pandemic, people found other stuff to do, because you couldn't come here and associate with other people," Gregorius said.
Next door to the arena, the University Plaza Waterfront Hotel is sure to take an economic hit. It rented rooms to visiting teams during the year.
Timm Quinn, CEO of the Stockton Chamber of Commerce, said it's sad to see a family friendly sports team leave.
"They were big employers, maybe not the front office locally, but the arena has a lot of staff there, and that's going to be a lot of empty nights at the arena for the concessions and people that all work there, tickets and security and things like that," Quinn said.
In a statement, the City of Stockton, which owns the arena, wished the team well and said, in part, "These last two years have been challenging for all businesses. COVID restrictions have made it difficult for fans to come out and support the team, and the Heat has shared that without the ability to play and engage with fans they have suffered financially."
If you want to catch one of the last professional hockey games in Stockton, the first game of the Heat's best of five Pacific Division playoff series versus Colorado is at 6:30 p.m. Monday.
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