Rob Esche Says No AHL Team At The Utica Aud, Yet

Reports that an AHL team has signed an agreement to move to Utica and it's memorial auditorium are not true, yet, according former NHL goalie Rob Esche.

Esche is behind the effort to bring a team to Utica, but denies reports that a deal is in place to move an affiliate of the NHL's Calgary Flames to upstate New York.

"Nobody signs an agreement at this time of year, they're still playing," Esche said. "So, that's definitely not true."

But Esche said it was 'realistic' to believe a team could be playing at the AUD as early as the fall of 2013.

"The reason I'm so adamant about the AHL is...we've made sense of it - from a financial point of view, business point of view and a player development point of view," Esche said on WIBX First News with Keeler in the Morning on Monday.