A junior hockey team from Morrisville is relocating to Oswego.
Since it was formed in 2011, the Syracuse Stampede have called Baldwinsville and later Morrisville home. Now the North American 3 Junior Hockey League team is coming to the Anthony Crisafulli Rink, or "The Fort," in Oswego.
General Manager and Coach Mike Beavis says the new location is a better fit for their 25 players.
"Moving to a city like Oswego is going to open the doors for a lot better situation for living for players to get part time jobs and to take some classes locally as well," Beavis said.
Beavis says Oswego is also more advantageous geographically because the team plays in cities like Rochester, Binghamton, Boston and Pittsburgh.
"It kind of puts us in a spot where it's easy access everywhere," Beavis said. "With the new hotels in Oswego, it's going to help us. There's plenty of restaurants for visiting teams so when they come into town for 2 or 3 days, they will have things to do as well."
Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow helped arrange the deal for the newly named Oswego Stampede. He says this will be great for tourism and Oswego's status as a hockey community.
"Bringing the Oswego Stampede to Oswego will only further help define Oswego as the hockey town that we are and certainly have always been," Barlow said. "We really should be the hockey capital of central New York and bringing in a team like this, I think, does that."
As part of the arrangement, the Oswego Stampede will share the Fort rink with Oswego Youth Hockey and the Oswego High School's teams.
The city will make some minor upgrades to the facility and it will require Department of Public Works personnel to put in more hours, but the Stampede will pay for the rink time they use and split ticket sales revenue for their games with the city.
