Is Canucks owner looking to buy WHL team and move it to Lower Mainland?

The Aquilini family owns two hockey teams, but how about a third? If rumours are true, the Vancouver Canucks ownership group may be looking into it.

Local Canucks insider Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV reports that he’s hearing the Aquilinis could be looking into buying a WHL team and moving it to Chilliwack.

The Winnipeg Ice are on their “last legs” in Manitoba according to a report in the Winnipeg Sun, after the team’s owner was unable to secure a suitable arena for the major junior team. The team’s current arena on the University of Manitoba campus holds just 1,600 seats, and the Ice ranked dead-last in WHL attendance last season.

The rumour that the Ice could be moving to Chilliwack isn’t new, but the Canucks’ potential involvement is.

“Out of the blue yesterday, a lot of people reached out to me hearing rumours again about Winnipeg moving to Chilliwack… A lot of people feel the Aquilini family may be involved. Sources in the Western Hockey League and the BC Hockey League have heard the same,” Dhaliwal said on Monday’s edition of Donnie and Dhali.

Dhaliwal added that the 5,000-seat Chilliwack Coliseum, which is owned and operated by the Chiefs Development Group, “could also be a part of the deal.”

Is Francesco Aquilini close to adding another sports team to his profile?

The guys talked about a rumour floating around in our opening segment.https://t.co/h4e2SKLzpb pic.twitter.com/7JiTkx4ys6

— Donnie & Dhali (@DonnieandDhali) June 5, 2023

There are a number of potential stumbling blocks for such a deal, most notably that Vancouver Giants owner Ron Toigo would have to approve a new team moving to Chilliwack.

The Giants have co-existed with a WHL team in Chilliwack before, though when the Chilliwack Bruins played in the Fraser Valley from 2006 to 2011, the Giants played far away at the Pacific Coliseum in East Vancouver. Toigo’s team has called the Langley Events Centre home since 2006.

The Giants weren’t exactly a box-office hit last season, finishing 15th out of 22 WHL teams in average attendance (3,462).

The hockey landscape has also shifted in Abbotsford since the WHL left Chilliwack 12 years ago, as the Canucks-owned AHL team now plays out of the Abbotsford Centre. The Abbotsford Canucks averaged 5,051 fans per game last season, which ranked 20th among the AHL’s 32 teams.

Are there enough hockey fans in the Fraser Valley to support another team?

According to the 2021 Census, Chilliwack was the second-fastest growing census metropolitan area in BC, as its population grew by 12.1% to 113,767. The Abbotsford-Mission census metropolitan area grew by 8.4%.

Consider too that the BCHL’s Chilliwack Chiefs had the fourth-best average attendance (2,258) in the league last season.

In addition to NHL and AHL franchises, Canucks Sports and Entertainment owns the NLL’s Vancouver Warriors, as well a pair of esports teams in the Vancouver Titans (Overwatch League) and Seattle Surge (Call of Duty League).

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