Low player turnout for road games and poor fan attendance for home games has limited the South Island Knights’ Senior Men’s AA hockey schedule to the bare minimum.
The Knights did not make a previously-scheduled weekend road trip to play the North Island Capitals after taking a severely shorthanded lineup into Powell River during early November.
Despite a huge working roster, it’s also been a problem getting enough guys to commit to travelling.
“I cancelled it a while ago, we had such few guys against Powell River,” captain Jon Hollett said of the North Island outing. “We had to minimize our games if that’s the case.
“I was excited to play them,” he added. “We need people to show up to cover expenses.”
The only game the Knights have played since that time was Nov. 25 at Fuller Lake Arena when they defeated the Powell River Regals 5-2.
Mattias Schmitt and Chemainus product Cole Whitelaw each scored twice in the solid team effort, with Nick Hui adding a single. Dan Currie was superb between the pipes.
The whole situation with the Knights is very disheartening for Hollett, who organized the team a year ago and hoped the team would catch on with people in the region starved to watch some high-level hockey.
“If I keep running it, it will be a minimum of required games,” he said.
The minimum for playoff qualification is six by Jan. 10.
Hollett is unable to do anything more on his own. “I don’t have the time and I don’t have the help,” he said.
The Knights’ last regularly-scheduled home game this season will be on Jan. 13, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. at Fuller Lake Arena against North Island. A game planned the next day against the Vancouver Island University Mariners has already been cancelled without the strong enough gates to cover costs on a Sunday.