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Drive to 13 complete: Winnipeg season tickets sell out in 17 minutes

NHL in Winnipeg

Hockey fans celebrate at Portage and Main in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, after reading a report in The Globe and Mail newspaper that an NHL team might be moving to Winnipeg, Thursday, May 19, 2011. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly and True North Sports and Entertainment denied a deal has been reached to sell the Atlanta Thrashers to True North, which would relocate it to Winnipeg. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, John Woods)

AP

To little surprise, the Drive to 13,000 season ticket holders was completed once tickets became available to the general public today. The more amazing part was the rapid speed in which it happened: Winnipeg fans reportedly only took four minutes to scoop up the 5,842 (or so) tickets that remained, while it took 17 minutes to process all the orders.

True North Sports and Entertainment is now compiling a season ticket waiting list for fans who weren’t able to get tickets. One cannot help but wonder if those waiting lists will rival the tradition of highly-contested ticket deals that Green Bay Packers fans are famous for in Wisconsin. (Pension Plan Puppets’ Chemmy said that they already have 4,000 fans on their waiting list, but that’s not an official number.)

One of the biggest questions for eager fans revolved around how well the Drive to 13 site would handle the huge rush of traffic that would hit its Web site around noon central time. ChrisD.ca reports that it was Ticketmaster’s Web site that ran slowly, instead.

With their stated goal of reaching 13,000 season tickets now a reality, we wait for True North to back up their promise by announcing the new team’s name. We’ll let you know the verdict once it is announced. In the mean time, here’s a quick statement from True North.

“The success of the campaign is a key ingredient to ensuring the sustainability and long-term viability of NHL hockey in this province,” said Jim Ludlow, President & CEO, True North Sports & Entertainment. “We look forward to seeing everyone this Fall at MTS Centre for opening night of regular season NHL hockey in Winnipeg.”

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was impressed with the speed of the sale.

“While I had no doubt the ‘Drive to 13,000' would reach its destination, the remarkable speed at which it got there certifies the fans’ hunger for NHL hockey and their commitment to True North’s initiatives.”