Last night's Lightning-Coyotes game drew 11,994 at America West Arena, the smallest crowd in the franchise's history, according to Tim Tyers of the ARIZONA REPUBLIC. While attendance is down 7% this season, Coyotes President Shawn Hunter said, "I'm not bummed out. I don't like to see empty seats, either. But I think this (Thursday) will be the low point and attendance will start changing for the better next week. There will be renewed interest in the team, and we are starting a more aggressive marketing approach and advertising campaign" (AZ REPUBLIC, 12/15). PIPER DREAM: In Raleigh, Luke DeCock reports that the third game of the Hurricanes' new seven-game ticket plan, which saw the first two games sell out, is also expected to be a sellout for tonight's game against the Sabres. Five hundred tickets remained as of yesterday afternoon. Hurricanes Exec VP/Business Operations Doug Piper "brought the idea of the incremental ticket plans" with him from the Oilers, where he "rebuilt their season-ticket base by similar methods." Piper was not "sure what to expect trying the same thing" in NC, but he said that sales -- about 1,500 total ticket plans, with about half being seven-game packages and the rest for 14 or 21 games --are "in line with what he had hoped." Piper: "We're a little bit ahead of where I thought we would be." But "outside of the two sellouts, attendance has stagnated," as the Hurricanes are averaging 12,816 fans this season (NEWS & OBSERVER, 12/15).
