Skip to content

Nanaimo Clippers close to announcement about hockey club’s future

BCHL team has ‘sense of optimism,’ calls press conference for Monday morning
web1_clips_IMG_6343
The Nanaimo Clippers have called a press conference for Monday morning when the team is expected to announce a game plan to try to keep the junior A hockey club in the city. (NEWS BULLETIN file)

The Nanaimo Clippers are close to coming up with a way to stay in the city.

The B.C. Hockey League club has called a press conference for Monday morning when the team is expected to announce a game plan for remaining in Nanaimo.

Mike Vandekamp, Clippers coach and general manager, said there is “a sense of optimism” as the team nears an April 1 deadline to find local ownership.

“We’ve been working hard on trying to come up with a solution, a model that will work to be able to keep the team in Nanaimo right now, but also create some stability and viability in the market, too,” Vandekamp said. “Not just a short-term fix, but a long-term plan to try to have the team be more financially stable moving forward.”

He said the plans are “still kind of a work in progress,” but the team will have a clearer picture by Monday. He said the deadline that the team has been facing has created a tight timeline, but said it’s been necessary.

“Corporate sponsorships, season tickets, player recruitment, all of those things have been somewhat on hold, for obvious reasons,” Vandekamp said. “We need to be either moving forward or doing something different and that’s why it’s necessary to have this publicly announced by Monday and allow us to go forward from there.”

For previous articles about this subject, please click here and here.

sports@nanaimobulletin.com