Tuesday, January 22, 2013

USHL Attendance Hits High Marks

Press Release

The United States Hockey League is making some noise in 2013 and even more noise is coming from packed arenas throughout the League as attendance numbers are reaching high levels.  Over the past weekend, nearly 48,000 fans attended USHL games.

The Green Bay Gamblers had the highest single-game attendance of the weekend as 5,507 fans watched their Friday night matchup against the Sioux Falls Stampede.  It was their biggest crowd of the season and the highest single-game attendance mark in the USHL this season.

The Fargo Force had two big nights during the weekend as the welcomed near capacity crowds topping the 4,600-mark on both Friday and Saturday, including a season high 4,696 for Saturday’s matchup against the Tri-City Storm.

A new team record was set by the Chicago Steel when they welcomed a standing room only crowd of 3,478 on Saturday night against Green Bay.  It broke the team’s previous high, which was set four seasons ago, by more than 60 fans.

The Lincoln Stars and Omaha Lancers played a home-and-home series in front of capacity crowds in both cities.  A crowd of 4,348 saw Friday night’s contest in Lincoln, the largest home attendance for the Stars this season.  On Saturday, the Lancers hosted 4,043 fans to set the highest single-game attendance mark at the brand new 3500-seat Ralston Arena.

Another rivalry game took place on Saturday as the Waterloo Black Hawks hosted the Dubuque Fighting Saints and Waterloo welcomed a standing room only crowd of 3,174 for their third-highest total of the season.  Just down the road, the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders also had their third-highest attendance mark of the season as they hosted 3,108 fans for their contest against the Sioux Falls Stampede.  It was the second consecutive night of crowds surpassing the 3,000-mark for the RoughRiders as they topped that total for Friday’s contest against Waterloo.

The Muskegon Lumberjacks earned their second-highest attendance mark of the season as 3,090 fans watched their matchup against the Indiana Ice on Saturday.  The Dubuque Fighting Saints hosted their fourth-highest attendance of the season with a near capacity crowd of 2,933 in Friday’s game against the Chicago Steel. 


(Nathan can be reached at nathanfournier@mainehockeyjournal.com)

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