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The Dawson Creek Rage (aka DC Rage) were a Tier II Junior A ice hockey team, based out of Dawson Creek, British Columbia. Formed in 2010, they played in the North American Hockey League's West Division for two seasons. Their 2010–11 season included a six-game win streak, though they ended the season fifth in a six team division with 24 wins in 58 games. The 2011–12 season included an 11-game homestand in which they only won 2 games, and a last place finish (in their division) with only 12 wins overall. With losing records in both seasons, the team did not make the playoffs in either season. Despite attracting better than average attendance for a NAHL team, high travelling and operating costs resulted in the team ceasing operations in April 2012. The Rage played in the 4,500 seat EnCana Events Centre where their first win came on September 24, 2010, against the Alaska Avalanche. Their final home game was a loss to the Wenatchee Wild in March 2012. The team's name and symbol was intended to represent an outward expression of passion and internal desire to dominate other teams. The Rage players, all aged between 15 and 20 years old in accordance with league rules, were active with charities and within the community. Prior to the team's formation, the ownership group attempted to establish the team in the British Columbia Hockey League but were refused with the league citing the lack of a competitive base for a northern division. The group also attempted to establish the team in the Alberta Junior Hockey League but that league was not interested in expanding or re-locating teams at that time. Another unsuccessful attempt at moving the team to either of those league was made before their dissolution. ==Formation== Dawson Creek was last home to a Junior A hockey team in the 1980s when the Dawson Creek Kodiaks of the Peace-Cariboo Junior Hockey League spent time at the equivalent level. While the Kodiaks ended operations in 1990, a new Junior A team was proposed in 2006 by Global Spectrum, the contracted management company responsible for operating the city's new South Peace Community Multiplex which included the EnCana Events Centre, capable of hosting ice hockey events with a seating capacity of 4,500 people. The objective was to create an anchor tenant which could help fill the Multiplex's schedule with several dozen home games per year. The company recruited several Dawson Creek-based businessmen to form a non-profit society (eventually named the DC Rage Society) that would fund the start-up of the team.〔 To add credibility to their application, Dawson Creek resident Rob Bremner, who was the head coach of the Junior A-level Vernon Vipers when they won the 1996 Royal Bank Cup, was appointed the General Manager of the team and tasked with recruiting potential players. The group first approached the British Columbia Hockey League with the intention of creating a new franchise for the 2007–08 season, which came with a $400,000 expansion franchise fee.〔 While the Multiplex arena was well over the BCHL's minimum requirement of a 1,500-seat arena, the Society estimated the franchise would need an average attendance of 1,200-1,500 tickets sold to cover operational costs.〔 At the same time, the group pursued entry into the Alberta Junior Hockey League, which had a $250,000 franchise fee, even though AJHL communicated they had no intention of expanding until at least 2011. As the BCHL also communicated they were not interested in expansion at that time, the group additionally pursued relocation of an existing team to Dawson Creek. However, at a late-2006 meeting, the BCHL board of governors voted to not accept the Dawson Creek application as a potential site for a team, citing delays with the construction of the Multiplex arena and a question over compensation for the expenses of visiting teams. On appeal, the BCHL reversed this decision two months later and actively considered both Dawson Creek and Wenatchee, Washington, as possible sites for a requested relocation of the Williams Lake TimberWolves. The BCHL noted two concerns with a Dawson Creek team: the cost and time of travel required (at the time the league's most northerly team was the Prince George Spruce Kings) to reach the city and the lack of a rival team.〔〔 To address these concerns, the Society attempted to initiate a Fort St. John team, as well, who would be a rival to Dawson Creek and enable a northern division within the BCHL.〔 At their 2007 meeting, the BCHL board of governors rejected moving the Williams Lake TimberWolves to Dawson Creek, but then voted to allow the move if the Burnaby Express (who was also seeking relocation) moved to Fort St. John. However, the Society was not able to recruit sufficient support in Fort St. John to form an ownership group and the Burnaby Express re-arranged its management and ownership so that it could stay in Burnaby. The Williams Lake TimberWolves, after one year of dormancy, relocated to Wenatchee, Washington. Efforts at relocating an Alberta Junior Hockey League team were also unsuccessful as no team expressed interest in moving at that time. Over the next year, still seeking a league, the US-based North American Hockey League, which was looking to expand, was approached as a possibility. In an April 2009 announcement, they accepted the Dawson Creek franchise, which would be the only Canadian team in the league and the first since the Fernie Ghostriders left the league in 2004 to become a Junior B team. The ownership group agreed to pay the $400,000 franchise fee with the team entering the league for the 2010–11 season with 31 home games to be played in the Multiplex each season. The local government, the City of Dawson Creek, agreed to contribute $675,000 over 3 years to help establish the team as a reliable tenant for the Multiplex which was operating at a loss due to the lack of events.〔 The team, now known as the Dawson Creek Rage, selected Scott Robinson, a former BCHL coach of the year, to lead the new team as its general manager and head coach. To recruit and evaluate potential players (aged 15–20), they held Spring 2010 try-out camps in Princeton, Abbotsford and Dawson Creek which attracted about 200 players. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dawson Creek Rage」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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