Newfoundland losing the Fog Devils

[TheQuietOne]

I've read on another message board that the St. John's Fog Devils will be leaving the province, moving somewhere into Quebec. The news article was in French, and I can't recall the name of the town they were moving into. The other board is also temporarily down.

Has anyone else heard this? Can someone find a link to an English article?

Could mean that Newfoundland players are now once again eligible for the OHL draft.

[skatee]

from st johns telegram.. posted this a.m. (tuesday):

being back in St. John's may also mean the team will have to deal first-hand with speculation over the future of the franchise.

With the Fog Devils' racking up significant debt through their first two-and-half years of operation, governor Brad Dobbin has been entertaining purchase offers for the franchise, including one serious bid that would likely see the team move from St. John's. However, the club is also in the midst of lease negotiations with St. John's Sports and Entertainment (SJSE), which operates Mile One on behalf of the city. Dobbin says the team is willing to function on a non-profit basis in order to remain in St. John's, but needs downward adjustments on its lease rate, along with some indication of improved attendance, to have any hope of doing so.

To date, the Fog Devils are officially drawing 3,352 per game, but paid attendance is far less than that. Even then, the official figure represents just slightly more than half of Mile One's capacity for hockey.

[TheQuietOne]

I've found a link. The new location is purported to be Verdun. I've never heard of it, but I guess it's a Montreal suburb.

http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=468693

There's a link in there to an RDS story. Anyone able to translate from French?

[WellandDogsFan]

So, if this is true, does that mean that Newfoundland is now an open province?