The fate of the Chilliwack Bruins was sealed on Jan. 13, but set in motion more than a year earlier, according to the former owners of the Western Hockey League franchise. No longer bound by confidentiality agreements, those owners and WHL commissioner Ron Robison offered up contrasting takes to media on the demise of the club after its announced sale Wednesday.

In 2009, Robison told the league's board of governors that the WHL might try and move the next team up for sale to Victoria. Meanwhile, in Chilliwack ticket sales had been sagging ever since the Abbotsford Heat moved in next door. In 2010-2011, the team would lose money--although how much, and why, is up for dispute. Worse, there were rumblings that there was a possibility that the Heat could become the minor league affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks, which would dramatically increase that team's middling fortunes.

Bruins president Darryl Porter began looking for a way to decrease the club's expenses over the long-term. Porter asked the operator of Prospera Centre, the Chiefs Development Group (CDG), to give them a substantial deal on the team's lease. CDG, owned by Moray Keith and Jim Bond, also had a 25 per cent stake in the Bruins, but the two parties couldn't agree. Keith said the team was asking, essentially, not to pay rent.

Porter also went to the City of Chilliwack and asked for a subsidy.

Keith and Porter differ on how much of an impact the lease had on the franchise's viability--and how much money the team lost. Keith said it turned a substantial profit for four of five years. Porter says the team is in the red. "On a cash basis we've been going backwards for the last two and a half years," he said.

Keith also said the Bruins paid $125,000 per year, in line with league guidelines and close to the $95,000 the Chilliwack Chiefs paid when they used the arena. But Porter says there were additional costs, from security to seating to the scoreclock. He said the building cost about $250,000 a year to operate. And while the private-public partnership that was used to fund and operate the building sounded like a good deal when it was first proposed, Porter said the P3 was ill-equipped to deal with the need to change the business model of a hockey team. Porter said that fans, sponsors and the team's owners "were all victims" of an inflexible arrangement.

Keith, though, says Porter's managerial style was more to blame for the club's sagging ticket sales than either the lease or the competing Abbotsford Heat.

"In meetings with two different groups of Chilliwack business people," Keith said he heard that "we were having trouble in the way the team was being managed.

"We didn't give up $400,000 of ticket revenue to the Abbotsford Heat. That didn't happen."

Porter, though, said that corporate sponsorship never decreased during the Bruins' five years in Chilliwack. He said he's built many good friendships with sponsors and said attacks on his management of the club stemmed from the dispute with Keith.

"I take it as criticism to me and my entire staff," said Porter.

In early January, Keith says that Bruins president Darryl Porter met with Robison during the World Junior Hockey Championships in Buffalo, N.Y.

"Robison told [Porter] point blank that if they wanted to sell, they had to sell to Victoria," said Keith.

Shortly thereafter, on Jan. 13, owners Brian Burke, Porter, Glen Sather and Jim Bond participated in a teleconference. What happened over the phones is disputed.

Burke and Porter were adamant that there was unanimous approval to sell the team and negotiate solely with RG Properties, which wanted to buy the team and move it to Victoria. "I went home to my wife and said 'Our life just changed,'" Porter recounted Wednesday.

But Keith told the Times that Bond came away not thinking a decision had been made and no vote was taken. He also said CDG had a standing offer to buy the club dating back to November 2010. Porter said that he knew of no such offer and that there was no ambiguity as to CDG's willingness to sell.

Robison also said the agreement was unanimous. "It was agreed by the ownership group and the league that it would be in our best interest to relocate the franchise if the franchise was going to be available for sale."

In March, Porter told the Times that the owners were weighing "multiple offers." The owners were, however, negotiating with only one other partner. On Wednesday he apologized for the misleading statements, saying that he was trying to respect a confidentiality agreement and that there was still a possibility that the team wouldn't be sold to RG Properties.

"I still had some belief that we would be enticing other offers," he said.

He was, however, unhappy that news of the team's sale became public before a deal had been concluded.

"I think this was very unfair to stakeholders," he said. Porter said the news, as it was released, worried staff, but that "they've stuck together as a group." He said that, ideally, the deal would have been kept under wraps until the sale of the club was announced. Asked if that would have blindsided staff, Porter said "we stick together."

"It's been a very frustrating couple of months because we've been unable to comment . . . and we've taken bullet after bullet after bullet," said Porter. He said he was hurt by criticism of his management of the team. "It's been very difficult on my family, and the last two months have been the worst two months in my life."

Robison also admitted to fudging the facts in March, when news of the team's pending sale first broke. At that point, he said the league hadn't been notified that a sale was in the works.

On Wednesday he conceded that they had. "We can't be in a position where we're releasing all that information. If it's an inaccurate comment, I'll take responsibility for that but, we were bound by confidentiality agreements."

Robison was also asked if fans of other WHL teams should be worried about their team's stability.

"If a market's not performing and we can't envision it to be viable, there's always a possibility of relocation," he said.

Still, even as the Bruins prepared to leave, the WHL was indicating that it would like to bring another team to Chilliwack. While no one will confirm it on the record, it's widely known the team in play was the Prince George Cougars, which has been bleeding money for years. As they did in the sale of the Bruins, the league has been the focal point through which the talks have taken place.

Keith, though, says that the league hasn't been negotiating in good faith. (The same charge is flying the other direction.) Again the lease is the stumbling point.

"We would welcome a team, but we're not going to give them free rent," said Keith.

"I really got the impression that it was more to say 'We offered them another team.'"

"I think the door has been closed pretty succinctly with the WHL."

There are also concerns about the owners of the Cougars, the Brodsky family, who have taken blame inside and outside of Prince George for mismanaging their team and chasing away fans.

Robison confirmed that the sides haven't been able to agree upon a lease.