SAN JOSE – A loud, enthusiastic, and near-capacity crowd erupted as Gilroy-born goalie Dustin Wolf made a game-winning save just before time expired, clinching the AHL All-Star Challenge title for the Pacific Division team while also putting a tidy bow on the two-day event at Tech CU Arena.
“It was awesome,” Pacific Division coach Trent Cull said of Monday’s atmosphere. “For me, that was my first time. I really enjoyed the last two days.”
Now if only the San Jose Barracuda, the Sharks’ AHL affiliate, could replicate that energy — and the crowd size — for its home games for the rest of the regular season.
After seven seasons at SAP Center, where average attendance went from 4.432 in 2015-16 to 3,512 in 2019-20, the Barracuda moved into Tech CU Arena — located right next to Sharks Ice — soon after the building opened in 2022.
But crowds approaching capacity at the gleaming and intimate 4,200-seat facility have largely not materialized, with average announced attendance for Barracuda home games this season at an AHL-low 1,867, per HockeyDB. That’s down from an average of 2,169 last season.
Nevertheless, AHL president and CEO Scott Howson said he’s bullish about the future of the Barracuda, even though the franchise in nine years has mostly struggled to gain a foothold in a crowded Bay Area sports market.
“I have very little concern about what’s going on here,” Howson said Monday before the start of the crowd-pleasing 3-on-3 showcase. “There’s a lot of reasons why NHL teams are in certain places and one of the things that we’ve seen over the last 10 years is a gravitation to the NHL markets.
“You just don’t measure it by attendance. You measure it by a lot of other things, and I have no concern that this team, the Barracuda, will be successful.”
Hockey fans watch the Northern Division versus the Central Division in the first period of Game Three of the 2024 AHL All-Star Classic Game at Tech CU Arena in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
The Sharks in 2015 relocated their top minor league affiliate from Worcester, Mass. to the South Bay following the creation of the AHL’s Pacific Division.
The move was key from a personnel standpoint, as it allowed the Sharks to easily recall and reassign players to and from the AHL. The front office is now also able to keep a closer eye on various prospects.
Announced attendance numbers, though, have continued to go in the wrong direction, so much so that the Barracuda’s average attendance so far this year is more than 900 less than that of the Belleville Senators, who are 31st in attendance at 2,793 per game.
There was a slight uptick in attendance last month. For the team’s six home games in January, there were two announced crowds of over 3,000, and two more of fewer than 900, for an average attendance of just over 2,000.
Maybe it’s all moot. The Barracuda are here to stay for the foreseeable future. It’s just a matter of getting more hockey fans interested.
“I think people are working very hard to try and make it a success,” Howson said. “I think we see certainly periods of success, and I think (Barracuda officials) would be the first to tell you there are things that they want to keep working on.”
An improved on-ice product wouldn’t hurt.
There was hope within the Sharks organization before this season started that the Barracuda would be a playoff team. But at the AHL All-Star break, San Jose was last in the 10-team Pacific Division with a 14-22-7 record. Injuries to the Sharks and Barracuda have thinned out both team’s rosters to some degree.
But barring a second-half rally, San Jose will miss the postseason for the third straight year.
The Pacific Division plays the Central Division in the first period during the 2024 AHL All-Star Classic Game at Tech CU Arena in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
“It’s a factor,” Barracuda president Jon Gustafson said about the team’s record affecting attendance. “It’s not everything, but … it takes time for kids to develop and (the Sharks) have been so good for so long, now it’s kind of our turn.”
The Sharks’ prospect pool has improved in recent years and it’s possible that as soon as next season, high draft picks such as forwards Will Smith, Filip Bystedt, Cam Lund, and defensemen Mattias Havelid and Jake Furlong will be in the AHL.
“You’re going to start seeing some of those kinds of high-end draft picks that we haven’t had,” Gustafson said. “I’m excited for that.”
An improved AHL team will not, though, change the fact that the Barracuda competes with the NFL, NBA, college sports, and other events — including Sharks games — for the public’s attention and dollars.
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“It’s fighting for your space,” Howson said. “It’s a lot harder in a market like this because there’s so much else big league going on. That’s a challenge and the costs are a challenge too. In a bigger market, there are higher costs.
“You just have to find your own niche and make sure that you’re appealing to a certain segment of the population.”
There were some empty seats for the AHL All-Star Classic, both for Sunday’s skills competition and Monday’s 3-on-3 tournament between the four divisions. But Gustafson said that every seat available was spoken for, and added that the massive storm that brought high winds and more than an inch of rain to most South Bay locations Sunday likely affected attendance.
“It’s a process,” he said. “It’s much better here at Tech CU in comparison to SAP. We can create an ambiance. It’s exactly where we kind of expected it to be.”
Hockey fans watch the Northern Division versus the Central Division in Game Three during the 2024 AHL All-Star Classic Game at Tech CU Arena in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
