Manitoba Moose

The American Hockey League will be hosting its annual meeting today, in which franchises commit to ice a team for the 2010-2011 season.

Moose owner Mark Chipman will be there, and sign the papers committing to have an AHL franchise in Winnipeg next season.

“That’s correct, that everybody makes this commitment by the spring meetings.” said Chipman.

“The spring meetings are also the time for conference alignment talks and to see a preliminary schedule format, meaning who you play and how many times. We’re expecting to play next year. This (meeting) is just a routine part of the business of our league.”

So for all fans waiting for the Winnipeg Jets to hit the ice at the MTS Centre, it may take 1 more year.

However, when questioned, Chipman did give one tiny glimmer of hope.

“Does it preclude us from not playing next year?” Chipman said. “There are lots of situations in my history in the AHL where teams didn’t play and eventually paid the (franchise) suspension fee. Edmonton and Calgary come quickly to mind, so that’s kind of a non-event.”