After a long, meeting-filled day at the Memorial Cup in Kitchener, WHL commissioner Ron Robison picked his words rather carefully when he was asked for an update on the situation in which the Portland Winter Hawks’ franchise finds itself.
The embattled Winter Hawks, who are coming off a season in which they had the WHL’s poorest record, have had something of a messy offseason. Of late, the accounting firm KPMG was contracted by the WHL to conduct an audit of the team’s finances and, earlier this week, former head coach Mike Williamson filed suit against the team, alleging breach of contract.
Last night, Robison would only admit that things are “at a very sensitive stage” and that “our focus is on one thing — to keep the franchise in Portland under the ownership that we expect.”
After all, Robison added, Portland “could have the strongest fan-base of any hockey market in the U.S.”
Asked about the status of the audit, which KPMG began last month in the Winter Hawks’ office, Robison said it is “near completion.”
He added: “We expect to have that wrapped up very soon and we’ll be making an announcement, I would say, within the next week on the entire matter.”
Robison is well aware that only three months remain before his league’s 22 teams open training camps and the tone of the his voice left little doubt but that there won’t be an announcement regarding the Winter Hawks until everything is able to be cleared up.
As for the lawsuit filed earlier this week by Williamson, Robison said: “I can’t really comment because we’re not party to it. So . . . really no comment.”
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While he wouldn’t admit it, you can bet that the mess in Portland has put something of a damper on what otherwise would have been a glorious week for Ron Robison. After all, he’s the WHL commissioner and his league’s representative in the Memorial Cup — the Spokane Chiefs — is 3-0 and will appear in Sunday’s final.
“It’s been a real good week with the way Spokane has played,” he said. “They just kept rolling and have gotten better and better since that Tri-City series.
“They’re playing with a lot of confidence and have real good leadership. Inside the room, they seem to be so strong overall. (Head coach) Bill Peters has done a heckuva job.”
If the Chiefs win Sunday to finish off a perfect week, you can bet that Robison will be wearing a big smile, at least for a while.
