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Buyers promise “fresh start” for Kootenay Ice, Cranbrook

Mar 29, 2017 | 6:22 AM

CRANBROOK, B.C. – A pair of Manitoba businessmen say they look forward to a fresh start for the Kootenay Ice and the city of Cranbrook.

Greg Fettes and Matt Cockell have reached an agreement to buy the WHL team from the Chynoweth family, pending approval of the league’s board of governors, who will meet April 27 to look over the application.

If the sale is approved, Cockell will take over from Jeff Chynoweth as president and general manager, responsible for hockey and business operations. Cockell says his family will join him in Cranbrook.

“Our family is looking forward to becoming an active community member, and we are excited to engage directly with some of the greatest fans in the entire Western Hockey League,” Cockell said in a news release.

Fettes is the founder of 24-7 Intouch, described as a global customer service outsourcing company with more than 8,000 employees. Cockell has worked for the company as chief customer officer, and was most recently vice president of corporate partnerships for Winnipeg Jets owner True North Sports and Entertainment. He played for four WHL teams during three seasons, and has also worked with Hockey Canada, Hockey Manitoba, and the Brandon Wheat Kings.

The Chynoweth family has owned the team since it first began play as the Edmonton Ice in 1996. Longtime former WHL president Ed Chynoweth served as the team’s president until his death in 2008. The Ice played two seasons in the Alberta capital before relocating to Cranbrook.

According to the website hockeyDB.com, the Ice had the lowest average attendance in the WHL during the 2016-17 regular season, 1,754, down from 1,957 the previous season and a peak of 3,635 in 2000-01.