Premier Kathy Dunderdale spoke to the media for the first time about the province’s stance on helping to bring an AHL team to the province, and explained that the province needed a much more comprehensive analysis and economic plan to warrant truly considering the application. “What we received was a letter of request that was accompanied by several letters of support, (and) an exit survey that had been done at Mile One after some event, where people were asked what they would like to see in terms of professional hockey here in this province. Now, we can’t do any kind of analysis on that scant amount of information.” Dunderdale said that she is open to reviewing a strengthened proposal by St. John’s Sports and Entertainment, but did warn that government policy to date has been to concentrate on supporting amateur, and not professional, sport. For his part, former premier Danny Williams dressed up in a Gonzaga hockey jersey to say “It’s there laying before us. I can take a horse to water but I can’t make her drink.”
