Newfoundland Growlers mark their territory

The b'ys are back in town and on the ice.

After a year-long break from professional hockey in St. John's, the ECHL begins its run in the cityFriday night at Mile One Centre.

The man at the centre of it is happy to be home and admits this season opener will be different from past experiences at the rink.

• Ryane Clowe building a Newfoundland hockey team, one Growler at a time

"I've had home openers at theNHLlevel, [I've] had home openers as an assistant coach and it's been pretty standard. I haven't really been nervous," CoachRyaneClowesaid after the team's final practice before its inaugural game.

"This is probably the first time in a long time I've had some butterflies."

Latest pro team for the city

The Newfoundland Growlers are the third professional team to call Mile One home ice.

The return of pro hockey is abig win for fans, but also for the ECHL.

"I think it's absolutely amazing. We're really excited about it. St. John's is no stranger to minor league hockey but to have them in the ECHL kind of puts a new flavour on our North Division," ECHL Commissioner Ryan Crelin said.

"I'm excited for the crowd and excited to have hockey back here."

Before they even signed a player, the teamstarted making news for the logo on itsjersey.

"A perfect fit, and it's pretty sharp in terms of colours and design. Certainly this community embraced it but it really swept the, I won't say the nation, I'll say the continent because it resonated across all markets," said Crelin.

• Newfoundland Growlers reveal jersey design

But it's the names of the players on the backs of the jerseys that matter most to Clowe, not what's on the front of them.

While Bonavista's Adam Pardy won't be in the lineup for the home opener, there is a lot of talent on the Growlers' bench.

"I keep stressing the number one thing here is development, but I also believe you can win and develop at the same time,"Clowesaid.

"We've got some guys up front that are very young, fast and quick.That's kind of our foundation and whatwe were trying to do here."

With nearly all of the available 5,800 tickets sold for the first-ever ECHL home game at Mile One Centre, the players wearing the Newfoundland Growlers will get a warm welcome to St. John's.

"All the players are really excited about it. A lot of these guys have never played here and never had the experience of a crowd here,so hopefully it's electric and hopefully we will give them something to cheer about," Clowe said.

The Newfoundland Growlers take the ice at 7 p.m. against the Florida Everblades.

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