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It’s the second time in five years the team will be idle; the team took the 2005-06 season off as it awaited completion of Santa Ana Star Center after playing its first nine seasons at Tingley Coliseum. The team lost $1 million in its three seasons playing home games in Rio Rancho.
A few days earlier, Coach Randy Murphy had bid farewell to the team after accepting the job as head coach of the Huntsville (Alabama) Havoc of the Southern Professional Hockey League.
 Randy Murphy, seen here with a bobble head from his playing days, announced early last week that he would take a job with the Huntsville Havoc in the Southern Professional Hockey League. His decision came a few days before the Scorpions announcement that they will not play in 2009-10. |
Murphy, who played for the Scorpions from 1999-2001 and again in 2004-05, joined the coaching staff as an assistant in the 2006-07 season, the team’s first in Rio Rancho. The past two seasons, the Scorps’ Hall of Famer led the team to a record of 61-57-10.
“It is with mixed emotions that I made this decision,” Murphy said. “I want to thank first and foremost the fans for continued support throughout the years, and the ownership for the opportunity to start my coaching career here.”
“Randy was very loyal to the Scorpions organization and we wish him the best on this next step,” said Dave Ellett, Scorpions owner/president. “Under the current circumstances it was the right move for him and his family.”
The Scorpions aren’t the only CHL team that will be idle this season: The league announced last month that the Rocky Mountain Rage (Broomfield, Colo.) requested and were granted approval to suspend operations for the 2009-10 season, and on the same day the Scorpions’ announcement was made, the CHL said the Oklahoma City Blazers would also take the year off.
Strangely, Oklahoma City led the league in attendance after averaging more than 5,900 fans a game.
The Scorpions, who drew 4,000 or more fans in each of the nine seasons they were at Tingley, attracted an average of 3,217 fans to the Star Center per game in 2006-07, 2,979 per game in 2007-08, and then dropped off to 2,529 a game in 2008-09, 12th in the 16-team CHL.
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