The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
With a little more than three weeks remaining before the first ever Battle of the Hockey Gladiators, event organizers have pulled the pin on Minneapolis and are announcing a move to Winnipeg. The event will still be staged August 20 and 21. CEO Darryl Wolski says he had a falling out with the new owners of the Target Center and was left with little choice but to move the event. Tickets go on sale Saturday morning through Select-A-Seat and will cost about $20 each. According to reports, the event is moving north a few weeks after the Target Center in Minneapolis asked organizers to reschedule the slugfest or move it to a different location to make way for 'a major seat renovation', says Wolski. For his part, Wolski says there has been no communication with Target Center officials in the last week and he notified the arena of his plans to move via fax on Wednesday afternoon. Kevin Donnelly, President of Winnipeg Enterprises, says Hockey Gladiators is a lot like the WWE (wrestling). "I couldn't find a reason not to proceed with it." "We're not expecting anything like a Nickelback sellout; but if we had 7,000 people per night, that would be substantial," says Wolski. Thirty-two fighters, including four Manitobans and several semi-pro and former NHL players, will go toe-to-toe for the chance at winning $100,000. The event, believed to be the first of its kind, has generated a heap of publicity around the world and will be available on pay-per-view in Canada and the U.S.
