In case you missed it, a second ECHL franchise folded yesterday, bringing the number of teams in the third tier minor-league to 21 from 23 three months ago. And some of the remaining franchises aren't too happy that the Fresno Falcons went belly up.

The best coverage on this is coming out of Victoria, where the only Canadian ECHL franchise is located on Vancouver Island. Here's Victoria Salmon Kings president Dave Dakers:

"I have no sympathy for these guys [Falcons ownership]," said the Salmon Kings president.

"They operated and managed things poorly in a hockey market that can be successful and they’ve left the rest of the conference just hanging."

Dakers said a franchise bailing like this hurts everybody.

"I’m very disappointed. There is no excuse to leave mid-season," he said.

"They should have worked harder or they should have known over the last off-season that they couldn’t make a go of it and not played this season. We work hard to put out a good product in the ECHL and they’ve left the rest of us hanging. They put together a competitive team [first in the Pacific Division] but had issues on the financial and management sides."

A folding team makes the entire operation look bush league, unfortunately, which isn't the case in many ECHL markets. The majority outdraw the weakest AHL markets (Lowell, Quad City and Toronto), and ECHL attendance overall is about 3,900 per game, 500 less than AHL teams that have the advantage of future NHL stars on their rosters to sell.

There's some interesting speculation in the Times-Colonist story about ECHL teams joining the AHL en masse, giving the league its strongest markets, many of which are in the west. It makes a lot of sense, as many Western Conference NHL teams struggle to find affiliates that are a short distance away. 

Why did the Falcons fold? Well, part of the reason is certainly the economy, as this was a very strong team and attendance had dipped close to 30 per cent, but the other factor was that the troubled ownership group was unable to sell or move the team without city approval.

Given $5-million in arena upgrades had recently been completed by Fresno, it's unlikely that approval was coming — even if there was a buyer — and ownership simply chose to close up shop. The city may now sue.

There's no question this was a team on the bubble before the economy went sour.

The Falcons have been around for more than 40 years, and many in the league felt the team would finish the season. The decision being made three days before Christmas is a heart breaker for the team's staff and players, the majority of which are Canadian and cannot collect unemployment.

Finding another team midseason will also be difficult.

Here's the team's coach and GM, Matt Thomas, who ripped ownership for the move:

"After all the hard work we put in, the lack of commitment from ownership was disheartening," Thomas said. "I don't know if we're in a great depression right now, but it definitely feels like it.

"It's tough to swallow. Upsetting, just because you hope things would be dealt with honestly, and it didn't happen. Our owners guaranteed me three different times last summer that we'd finish the season. And we didn't. Is that a lie? Maybe.

"The marketing of this team was terrible. And we didn't get any media coverage so we could get the casual fan interested in us. It was like nobody cared."

There are a lot of good stories in the ECHL, some solid players who actually dream of playing in the AHL and catching someone's eye in 'the show'. This is tough, for the league, for the players and for people like Thomas who have worked hard to build a contender — and a life — in Fresno.