I met Shmuel Farhi more than 20 years ago when I was the city hall reporter for the St. Thomas Times-Journal and he, recently arrived from Israel, was buying up historical buildings right and left in St. Thomas, Cambridge and later London. He also was involved, along with a St. Thomas housing developer and former mayor, with a team called the St. Thomas Wildcats in a defunct semi-pro league called the Colonial Hockey League.
Now the largest landlord by far in downtown London, he's set his sights on being a hockey owner again, apparently buying a professional team for his son, Ben, a business school student and former minor hockey player in London, to help run.
Not in London, mind you. California. In the 11,000-seat rink the San Jose Sharks once used.
It's a franchise in the ECHL, whose letters used to stand for East Coast Hockey League. (Now, in an odd marketing decision, the league's initials officially stand for nothing. But I digress.)
What's more Shmuel thinks owning the ECHL San Francisco Bulls could be a stepping stone for ownership of and NHL franchise, according to a story in The London Free Press.
Not in London, of course. But someone's got to own that second NHL franchise in the 905 area of Toronto when the NHL inevitably approves it. Who knows? Ten years from now, it might be Shmuel.
Now the largest landlord by far in downtown London, he's set his sights on being a hockey owner again, apparently buying a professional team for his son, Ben, a business school student and former minor hockey player in London, to help run.
Not in London, mind you. California. In the 11,000-seat rink the San Jose Sharks once used.
It's a franchise in the ECHL, whose letters used to stand for East Coast Hockey League. (Now, in an odd marketing decision, the league's initials officially stand for nothing. But I digress.)
What's more Shmuel thinks owning the ECHL San Francisco Bulls could be a stepping stone for ownership of and NHL franchise, according to a story in The London Free Press.
Not in London, of course. But someone's got to own that second NHL franchise in the 905 area of Toronto when the NHL inevitably approves it. Who knows? Ten years from now, it might be Shmuel.
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