The Future of AHC, from the mouth of the owner
I just personally had a nice long conversation with Ken Murchison the GM/Owner of Anaheim Hockey Club regarding it’s future. Because of all the rumors about the place closing as of January etc., I sent him an email last week. He actually took the time to call me and make sure he gets the word out to stop the rumors. It is true that the building is up for sale that much is true. Ken owns the company, and of course not the building. The owner is showing the building. AHC does have quite a bit of time left on their lease ( I don’t recall whether he said a year or two). When the lease is up and if he were to have to pay market value.. He obviously wouldn’t be able to do that. But as of right now they are good there. They are looking at other locations to move the facility, the owner of the building is assisting Ken in the search. From what he said the owner and Ken have a good relationship. And as soon as something happens he would know first thing. It’s not just going to be lights off, doors closed without warning like other places lately. He stated that he has been spending allot of time, money , and effort to improve the rink (especially lately). With adding hockey monkey to run the pro shop, fixing the locker rooms, getting the ducks involved in kids programs. He said if he had any idea that the place was going to kick them out soon, he wouldn’t have put that energy into it. He says AHC is doing really good right now, and sees a bright future, especially involving the kid’s leagues and getting kids into roller hockey. He feels roller is on it’s way back up to what it used to be. They are working with the ducks to get kids involved. If/when the building is no longer being used by AHC, he’s confident that AHC will be relocated. He is very confident that everything is going to be fine and AHC will be around for a while, whether it’s there or another building. The fact that he took the time to call, and tell me personally all this tells me that everything will be fine there.. He could have blown off my email, or just replied to it with a generic answer. No, he called and chatted for a good 10 min with me about the future of AHC and roller hockey in general.. He said he really appreciated my email inquiring on what’s happening, instead of just continuing the rumor mill. Really good guy, I remember watching him back when I had Anaheim bullfrog season tickets in the early 90’s.
