AHL approves relocation of Flames affiliate

May 5, 2014 - 11:45 PM Springfield, MA (SportsNetwork.com) - The American Hockey League Board of Governors on Monday approved the relocation of the Calgary Flames' affiliate to Glens Falls, NY.

The news comes almost three weeks after the Flames revealed they decided to discontinue their AHL farm club operation with the City of Abbotsford, British Columbia effective at the end of the regular season.

Glens Falls Civic Center hosted the Adirondack Phantoms for the past five seasons, but the town lost the club as ownership had finally completed a new arena in Allentown, PA which will be ready to host the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for the 2014-15 campaign.

Abbotsford had drawn the second-lowest average number of fans of all 30 American Hockey League teams in 2013-14, at slightly over 3,000 per contest. Only Portland, which left the Cumberland County Civic Center in a dispute for the smaller Androscoggin Bank Colisee, ranked lower.

The Post Star of Glens Falls reported in March that a Flames official visited the town located at the foot of the Adirondacks and the Civic Center to assess its viability for relocation.

The Adirondack Red Wings called Glens Falls home from 1979-99 and won four Calder Cups. The region then had to wait 10 years for the AHL to return, after the Phantoms were uprooted from Philadelphia due to the impending demolition of the Spectrum.

Calgary's AHL affiliations have switched cities five times since 2003, from Saint John, NB to Lowell, MA, then Omaha, NE, Moline, IL, Abbotsford, BC and now Glens Falls.