The Nighthawk Chronicles: The Birth of a Franchise

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The Nighthawk Chronicles: The Birth of a Franchise

By Christopher Miller

 

Located at the very Southern point of Sweden, Malmo is a well-populated city that has been searching for someone to believe in.  The Redhawks of the SHL have simply been a middling team that has frustrated local population and given the smaller scale of the Swedish Hockey League, fans had lost their passion and started to not populate their arena.  Enter the Malmo Nighthawks, the Victory Hockey League’s newest team and one that has been making a lot of waves already.

 

Born with an experienced General Manager that has managed the New York Americans for fourteen seasons, the Stockholm Vikings for seven seasons and the Cologne Express for one season, the Nighthawks have taken the build of their team very seriously.  Miller had this to say about the choice to own the team and also manage it: “I have always had an interest in owning a VHL franchise and to help develop a brand-new team in our great league.  I have had the opportunity to manage quite a few times to quite a bit of success and I definitely intend on using that experience to make Malmo a competitive threat.”

 

The locals in Malmo have shown quite a bit of excitement since the news broke with quite a few reactions hitting social media.  One local said, “This is the push that this city needed as we hope to finally see a successful team grace us.  I want to be able to cheer for a championship team and I feel Miller could bring that attitude to this team, given his experience.”  Others have shown interest by buying season tickets early, with Malmo easily reaching their ten-thousand season ticket goal that they set prior to the announcement being made.

 

There are many though that are concerned that the Swedish curse will continue and that the lack of success that Vasteras and Stockholm had, will continue on to Malmo.  Of course, this is despite both the Iron Eagles and Vikings being a part of a different franchise.  The Iron Eagles won just two Continental Cups over their team’s history, with one of them coming in the Inaugural campaign of the league.  The Vikings were successful in being a competitive playoff team that could win quite a few games but were unfortunately unable to ever capture a Continental Cup during their team’s history. 

 

“I am aware of that concern by some of our locals and I’ve heard it brought up in the media as well.  With that being said though, I don’t really understand why some get worried about it.  We are a different franchise with no association to them and we are going to have a very young and exciting team that will be able to compete with everyone else in the Victory Hockey League.  With that recipe for success I have the utmost confidence that we will be a definitive threat to the rest of the teams in our league.”

 

And what does Miller have to say to those concerned about his team’s future success? 

 

“Just sit back, support the team and watch us do our thing.  It may not be immediately, but we will be an absolute juggernaut in our league if I have anything to say about it.”

 

Edited May 1, 2019 by Advantage