And you thought I'd forgotten about this all

I'd fallen off the ball about three stories, but I'm by no means done. Went back to the microfilm a couple weeks ago, been doing some odd websearches here and there and found that there is a corner of former governor Gaston Caperton's collection at the State Capitol about the Blizzard. Checked this out last week, and used it as an excuse to check out Southern Kitchen before it closed.

I noticed a mention of a Huntington Stars in a column of Ernie Salvatore's from my brief microfilm search; this inspired me to dig some more into that corner of things. I hit a goldmine--turns out THIS was the first hockey team in Huntington; the Aces was in fact the name of Huntington's entry in the Mountain State Baseball League. The Stars began play in 1938 at a place called Iceland--Huntington's first ice rink, and the second rink in the state (Charleston had the first, one year earlier). They played a handful of games for the 1938-39 season, primarily against a team from the Charleston rink, then ripped through a 1939-40 schedule against teams from Charleston, Toledo, Detroit, Atlantic City, and wrapped up the season against a team from New York City's Metropolitan Hockey League.

1940-41 promised to build on the previous season's success, and with the on-and-off-ice success of hockey in West Virginia, the general manager of Huntington and Charleston's teams formed a league in mid-season with a team in Akron, the Tri-State Hockey League. At some point in late January-early February, however, something happened; what isn't entirely clear from what I've seen, but the league had admitted a team from Toledo--the Babcocks--which was to begin playing the next week against Huntington and Charleston. However, all mentions of the TSHL abruptly end in the beginning of February. The final games of 1941 were played against Charleston, the Toledo Rovers, and the Detroit Racers, the latter two exhibition matches.

What happened I can only deduce from the ads in Huntington's papers first advertising discounted ticket prices--previously 75c for reserved seating, 50c for general admission, for the final two games it was 45c for all seats--and then advertising that at the end of the season Iceland would be closed for repairs and--big one--the installation of a wood floor. The venue, per city directories, was renamed Arena Gardens and, while operating year-round now, was converted into a roller rink. It would burn down a few years later (believed to be 1945, but unsure), and the site is currently occupied by a Fantastic Sam's.

And he's on it

Mark Williams in Thursday.

Getting back on the ball

I had been in contact with a fellow who claimed to have some contacts relating to an attempt to get another team back in town; he got in touch with me again last week and in the conversation asked for a copy of what I had thus far. I hadn't gotten to it Friday--was working the orientation table unexpectedly--but will on Monday, and will try and get some contacts.

I had a couple of inspirational moments; one was running into Alex Reed at the Union on my birthday and talking about the above fellow (who said his sources were looking at a 2008 debut)--after the discussion that followed re: my project I remarked "I wish I could be as into it sober as I am drunk!"

The other one I referenced earlier: last week I got a Detroit Vipers jersey off Ebay, and wore it for most of this past Monday. I was on break at work, in line at Starbucks behind a fellow and his mother, presumably in town for Marshall orientation. The guy turns around and remarks to his mom "hey, that's the hockey team here." I had to depressingly correct him and inform him that there hasn't been hockey here for 7 years. He was about as well-informed on the hockey situation here as I was when I came to town for orientation 5 years ago.

There's a market for this, I feel it in my gut. Between Marshall students and locals I really think there's a solid base to start from. It's just a matter of planting the right seeds, etc.

Jumpstarting

Various personal items, coupled with my usual inability to get restarted on a paused project, are the main culprit of the long gap between updates here. Essentially, I'm still not entirely sure which direction I want to go on this whole thing; I'm really not entirely sure if I want to do this as a radio project, and I'm thinking if I'm going in a broader direction with the research, I may as well go in a broader direction with the rest of the project--that is, make it much less Huntington-centric.

This is all stuff I'm going to have to take care of here once I can really get my head collected--which, as I know better than anyone, is easier said than done...

Long time, no type

Don't worry kids, I'm still here. Just been recovering from the end of formal schooling, and trying to recombobulate myself in the process. This, of course, includes this project.

WHERE I AM THUS FAR:

My focus, as I mentioned earlier, is going to be on the pitfalls of putting hockey (back) in Huntington. I realized that as many failed minor league franchises in various sports we have here, a better comparison might be made to similarly-sized markets that have (had) hockey. Thusly...

MY CRITERIA:

Simple really. Comparing to markets that are:
--south of the Mason-Dixon line,
--between 200k-200k in metro population, and
--have (had) a hockey team.

Which gives us several options of varying levels of success. The ones I've become most interested in:

--Asheville (UHL's Smoke 1998-2002, SPHL's Aces 2004-05; mentions of the Smoke on teh intarwebs have the team vanishing in an eponymous puff)
--Shreveport-Bossier City (CHL's Mudbugs, just celebrated 10 years on the ice)
--Beaumont, TX (ECHL's Texas Wildcatters 2003-present; also VERY notable because this franchise WAS the Huntington Blizzard!)
--Huntsville, AL (currently the SPHL's Havoc, most notably the Channel Cats in the CHL and SEHL. Huntsville might very well be Hockeytown South--in addition to the professional history, U-Alabama-Huntsville has a three-decade-plus old hockey program that is now at NCAA D-1 level!)
--Tallahassee (ECHL's Tiger Sharks 1994-2001)
--Roanoke (most notably the ECHL's Express 1993-2004, but has had hockey as far back as the late 1960s in the old EHL)
--Lafayette, LA (ECHL's Louisiana IceGators, one of great rise-and-fall stories in the annals of sports. Ice hockey thrived in the middle of the Bayou for the better part of a decade, but completely fell apart within a couple years. Hell, this might become a sideproject unto itself...)
--Waco, TX (yes, Waco, the Wizards in the old WPHL--another one that seems to have just vanished from the face of the earth)
--Prescott, AZ (CHL's Arizona Sundogs, their newest expansion team)
--Florence, SC (actually technically outside my range--they're UNDER 200,000 metro, had the Pee Dee Pride for several years in the ECHL, and just recently lost the Pee Dee Cyclones in the SPHL)

OTHER CITIES LOOKING AT:
--Winston-Salem: this is where the Cyclones landed. Before them, they had the Polar Twins; before that, the T-Birds; before that, the Parrots, the Icehawks, the Thunderbirds (spelled out), and--again--the Polar Twins. Seven teams in eight leagues in over thirty-five years.
--Pensacola: with the Ice Pilots, a similar situation to the aforementioned IceGators, the difference being that they're staying put for the time being.
--Anchorage: I printed off a good article on the Alaska Aces ownership--being way-the-hell-out there in the opposite direction, I figure this is a decent lead.
--Knoxville: well they're not really doing that badly, but in terms of franchise shifts and general experience they seem to have been in the same boat. That, and I found Jim Bermingham to be very knowledgeable on the subject.

Of course, any feedback on these will be immensely appreciated.

Change in direction

After a consultation with Dr. Bailey and station manager (and narrator!) Alex Reed, I have determined that I have OVERsucceeded. I did in fact cram the history of ice hockey in Huntington into a half-hour, and that half-hour is incredibly cluttered. Somehow, I did not anticipate this, even though this was essentially the desired effect; maybe it's just how my brain works.

Bailey summed it up this way: "You need to tell A story. You're telling twelve on here." In the ensuing brainstorm, Alex tossed up focusing on the pitfalls of getting another hockey team into Huntington, which resulted in a triumphant foot-stomp from me so loud it could be heard at the end of the hallway. I was already thinking in this direction--after my first script, Bailey's primary complaint was that it ended on too much of a downer, and really, the only non-down end I can think of to this tale is another team playing in Huntington.

So for the award effort, the historical element will be limited more to how things did and didn't work with the Hornets and Blizzard, and will also have input from people who were with the previous failed professional teams in football and baseball, as well as the Huntington Heroes (who have not failed as of yet). I'll try and keep speculative parts to a minimum--in 30 minutes, let's say 25 minutes of what is and 5 minutes of what should (never) be. But as far as a historical archive, that corner of the operation will take a rest for the time being.

I'm taking a much more collaborative approach to this, and will be doing much more brainstorming among the people here; in the same vein, I'm inviting you all to give some input as to the direction and shape this should take--who to talk with, angles to come from, things I missed or that didn't come up earlier, etc.

THE PROJECT HAS BEEN TURNED IN FOR A GRADE

Thus ends the first stage. I have about 33:30 of actual footage, compressed down to 30. I graduate next weekend, which means a week-plus of downtime while I get my thoughts and future actions sorted out:
--I'm going to do some more interviews, get some more/better angles on Huntington hockey. My goal is to stretch this out to an hour, and have a damn good half-hour...
--...so I can submit this one for a National Broadcasting Society award.
--As far as future tangents, I'm still looking at the South. My most recent idea is to do a documentary film, mainly looking at the fans and their varied experience. At some point I will solicit suggestions for locations of particular interest; my shortlist includes Nashville, Raleigh, Pensacola, Winston-Salem, and Huntsville.

Voice done

Alex Reed dropped a voice track yesterday. Now to edit. My DEADline is next Friday.

Not Huntington, but an interesting idea nonetheless

From the website of the Eastern Kentucky Expo Center in Pikeville, KY. Naturally I would prefer Huntington--Pikeville's about 100 miles south of here, which is a bit farther than I can walk. But at the least it's good to know there's other facilities that could support a team in the area.

Skeet-shooting through a 20-some-page script

Currently working on editing/revising/clearing up etc. the rough script for the Final She-bang. Which will not be the FINAL she-bang, since this will end up going through the Dr. Charles Bailey Award-Gathering Diamond-Grinder Machine over the summer. But as far as getting me out of college, it'll be the Final She-bang. (That sounds less wrong than I'm typing it, trust me.)

All over but the shouting

The rough cut is 40:31. Script is 22 pages, being dissected by Dr. Bailey. Listening to that whole thing at half-speed, I found various bits that needed to be excised, and that will be done after I get the rough script back.

Voiceover will be done by Alex Reed, who has a much better hockey voice than I do.

Notable bit--a week late, but Todd McCormick came across a few episodes of Kicksave. I would like to put this all online, and I think that will be part of it.

Home stretch

I'm halfway through transcribing the rough-cut, which came to 40:31. This will be chopped to 30. It will not air in March as I had hoped, unless I'm able to do the rest of everything in record time (considering the rest of my life that I have to factor in there). But it is almost completely done.

I still exist!

It seems like it's been a lot longer since I've updated this--I've been in the studio. About done with the editing, but have Dr. Haptonstall giving one more interview tomorrow. I plan to have the speech all done by Wednesday night, transcribed before Friday, and music added by Monday.

I seem to update this weekly

Hope that's not too slow for you kids.

Calling Don Hatfield (former Huntington Advertiser hockey writer circa 1956) this afternoon. In the meantime, putting together a first cut of the final product. We're in the home stretch, kiddos...

Had another chat with Ernie

Talked for about an hour at WMUL; was quite a blast.

Tomorrow I will be trying to get a hold of a few people, primarily for the purpose of getting a hold of a few other people to fill in some blanks. I've been chopping up my already-done interviews into smaller bits, and will be arranging those afterward. If I have any interviews during/after that, I will slot it in wherever I can.

Right under my nose

It dawned upon me this afternoon that WMUL archives stuff. Sadly very little of the hockey coverage is still there--I found a reel of On The Corner that used to be an episode of Kicksave--but as I type this there is a Marshall club hockey game vs. Xavier from January 1996 being copied from reel to computer. Hell yes.

And the next round begins

I've taken interviews from everyone thus far and boiled them down to the parts that will, potentially, go into the final product. Thus Round Two begins: I will be doing a couple second-interviews, as well as getting a hold of people who I had either meant to get a hold of earlier and couldn't, or had not thought to get a hold of until more recently. While this is going on, I will be putting together a rough first cut with the interviews that I have.

I need to remind myself that it's the end of February already. Not that I'm worried about my time--I reckon I'm moving along rather well--but time has a tendency to sneak up on me.

Next stages

I have Jared Bednar lined up Monday. That will be the end of what I'm calling "round 1" of interviews. I will be sifting through the interviews I've done thus far and
--pulling out notable quotes
and
--finding namedrops. These namedrops will be the basis of any further interviews.

Round two will also involve getting play by play clips--I had sent out some emails, but I should know by now that email doesn't seem to be very effective.

I've also been thinking about how to continue this beyond the mandated 30-minute documentary. I've already decided that there will be either a "director's cut" edition and/or some mini-segments on specific topics. I had thought of doing a video piece; however, I really don't know how this would be improved upon in video, and at this point I don't know if it would be for much more than embellishment. However, this morning the idea came to mind to perhaps do a larger work--say a book--on hockey in either:
--the Rust Belt (include some of the other ECHL towns--Johnstown, Wheeling, Toledo, as well as places like Erie and Pittsburgh);
--Appalachia (get into Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia some); or
--the South. This would probably have the best potential, as the level of hockey played in the Southern states is so varied, and the concept itself is somewhat contentious. I already have a name thought up if I go this route: Stars and Crossbars (a reference to the "stars and bars" Confederate flag).

Actually, that'll probably be the route I go.

Had to put this here

The last post was crossposted at my LiveJournal page; I got this response from one friend:

"i think it'd sound a lot better if they opened the ice rink back up."

A reminder that I need to find someone(s) on the Tri-State Ice Arena end of things.

Updates

Ernie fell through last week, but I have him lined up tomorrow afternoon.

I'm realizing that the month is going by a bit quickly--I need to get these interviews wrapped up. Which they are, really--I have no more than a few people I still need/want to get a hold of.

Also, I've decided on a tentative title for the finished project:

Freezing Over: The Past Lives, Present Purgatory, and Prospective Reincarnation of Ice Hockey in Huntington

How's that sound kids?

This week's action

2 hours from now: ring up Ray Edwards in Albuquerque

Tomorrow: Paul Pickard in Kalamazoo

Rest of the week: talk with Todd McCormick, reschedule Ernie Salvatore, ring up Dr. Haptonstall again, transcribe interviews, find some notable namedrops to try and interview

I feel like I'm less done than I should be, but I'm actually pretty well along. It's weird. I think I'm just not used to actually completing major projects.

This week's interviews

TODAY: Spoke with Jim Bermingham, currently head coach with the Knoxville Ice Bears (SPHL).

TOMORROW: Kelly Harper (currently assistant coach with the Brampton Batallion (OHL)

THURSDAY: Ernie Salvatore

Just fired off an email to Paul Pickard (coach 1993-95), who currently runs (I mean runs) the Kalamazoo Wings (UHL), and am thinking of a date to request for Charlie Huddy (coach 1997-98; currently assistant with Edmonton, and they go on a road trip next week).

Upcoming interviews!

I have two interviews lined up on Thursday afternoon with David Walsh, Herald-Dispatch sports writer who was on the Huntington Blizzard beat, and Dr. Clark Haptonstall, head of Rice University's Sports Management program and a Marshall alum--he had written a piece in Goldenseal magazine in 1993 on the Huntington Hornets that served me quite well in my preliminary research, and in addition was in town during the early stretch that the Blizzard were here, AND he has a Ph.D. in Sports Administration. So we'll have all our bases covered there.

When the interviews are done, I will have transcripts up ASAP on here.

The story so far

WHAT I HAVE SO FAR:

--a large stack of photocopies of newspapers and notes

--a medium-list of people to interview, that is still somewhat incomplete

--a half-complete chonological narration, which I have been recording in the studio. I have 10-11 minutes down already; the whole piece, with interviews and everything, is to be 30 minutes.

WHAT I NEED AT PRESENT:

--some looking up on that 1998-99 season, in particular a lawsuit filed by Bank One against the ownership group at the time

--actual interviews, and some play-by-play bits as well

--to type up the last couple seasons of the narrative, a post-mortem, as well as bits on Tri-State Ice Arena, which would have to be inserted in the middle there

--still have to do that write-up on the research done

Good day to all who've ventured thisaway

This will be the new home of updates on the research and progress of an as-yet untitled documentary on the ice hockey history of Huntington. It is a remarkably rich history, dominated by the seven-year tenure of the East Coast Hockey League's Huntington Blizzard (1993-2000), whose time also heralded the construction of a local ice rink, the Tri-State Ice Arena (1995-2005). Huntington also had a very brief stay in the now-defunct International Hockey League with the Huntington Hornets (1956-57). Even before them, there was a team--which I have found little on--known as the Huntington Aces (1940?-45?), which was an amateur/semi-professional outfit stocked primarily with off-duty factory workers.

As much as there was going on on the ice, Huntington's ice hockey history has been equally tumultuous, if not moreso. Absentee owners, financial difficulties, relocation threats, cult followings, all the fun of small-market hockey south of the Mason-Dixon, with a cameo by Mike Killbreath too (If you've never heard of Mike Killbreath, these links should help)!

I've got lots of different roads to go with on this one. As I said elsewhere, there's going to be a "director's cut" of this ultimately, as I want to include everything somehow. I intend to get deep with this, looking as much at the off-ice situation as on-ice play. I'm especially intrigued at looking into what problems Huntington has in terms of hosting a hockey team--or any team, for that matter. Economics, fan patterns, facilities, the works.

This page will be a place for me to A--make announcements on progress, and B--solicit ideas and help. Anything anyone can contribute would be colossally appreciated.

--Lenny