Marquette Rangers sale made official

The Marquette Rangers of the North American Hockey League have announced the team has been sold and will relocate within Michigan for the 2010-11 season.

"Since the introduction of the Marquette Rangers to the central Upper Peninsula back in 2006, we have kept our promise in terms of bringing entertaining hockey to Marquette, providing local U.P. kids the opportunity to play closer to home, and moving players onto college rosters", said Rangers president David Saint-Onge. "Unfortunately, we could not successfully combat the negative effects of the economy and that is very unfortunate given the success of our organization."

This season, the Rangers won their first North Division regular-season title in the team's four-year history. The organization also moved over 30 of its players onto NCAA and professional hockey during its time in the NAHL, including forward Jake Hauswirth, who signed with the NHL's Washington Capitals last year.

"David's enthusiasm for the NAHL and the Marquette community, along with his commitment to the success of every one of his players, will be sorely missed," Mark Frankenfeld, NAHL commissioner, said of Saint-Onge. "He's brought a lot to our league over the years and we can't thank him and the entire Rangers' ownership group enough for helping make the NAHL the best junior league in North America."

Pending business matters associated with the sale and relocation of the team dictate that details of the team's new ownership and home will be announced in the coming weeks.

"We are committed to helping the new ownership group and the NAHL with a smooth transition," said Saint-Onge. "We understand this is a surprise to many, especially our players and recruits, but we will do all we can to ensure the team remains successful."

The team's try-out schedule has been modified to reflect the re-location. As such, the first try out date has been scheduled for May 14 at the Flint Iceland Arena.

The open try-out scheduled for Suburban Ice in Farmington Hills May 21-23 will remain, while the two try-outs scheduled for Marquette in July have been cancelled.

New information on the team will be posted on the NAHL website as it becomes available.