What's Kingston's problem?

Below Neate links to an editorial by the Kingston Whig-Standard that suggests that long-suffering Kingston Frontenacs' fans should take hope from the recent run of play of their biggest OHL rival the Belleville Bulls.

After all the two franchises share a lot of similarities. They are both small-town markets in Eastern Ontario smack-dab in the heart of hockey country. But, to an average 16-year-old kid, neither city has a great deal of sex appeal and as such they must find other ways to attract top prospects to play there.

Belleville has done that by bringing in quality coaches and management that have developed the Bulls into one of the most consistent programs in the OHL. During the last 10 years, Belleville has won 14 playoff series and played in two Memorial Cup tournaments. As a comparison, Kingston has won one playoff series during the past 10 years, missing the playoffs five times.

Kingston hopes to use its new building, the K-Rock Centre, to help turn the corner.

Thing is, the two teams have another thing in common--Larry Mavety, who has been involved with one or the other of the two teams since the Bulls entered the league in 1981.

In the years that Mavety was with Belleville, the Bulls had a record of 467-439-60. In non-Mav years, Belleville’s record is 459-339-74. I’ll let others more intelligent than I draw their own conclusions.