Like one Mr. Shane Cartmill:
"Hi Lenny,
Great Huntington hockey blog that you have going. I wish there would have been enough interest to keep the Blizzard or another team going in the Tri-State during the late 90s, early 2000s, but it just wasn't to be.
When I started "Kicksave" on WMUL, it was Huntington's first hockey program. Period. We were it. And I developed a pretty good following. The Blizzard were really good to us, too. They needed marketing. I needed content. The only part of the show they objected to was the "Goon Of The Week" segment. Bob "Battleship" Kelly objected to it. In my opinion, that was pretty rich. But oh well.
We also had enough interest on campus to get a Marshall club team going. We played for about 3 or 4 years during my time on campus. After I graduated, I moved to Columbus and was too entrenched in my move to see what happened to the team. We did come back for some Blizzard games (including a playoff game, I think). But the Marshall hockey team was fun. We played all over the place and packed in some pretty good audiences. But that, too, had problems. The Tri-State Ice Arena wasn't as willing to work with us as they could have. They wouldn't cut us a break on ice expenses and they only would give us the rink at midnight. So, we eventually started to fail.
The Huntington Blizzard also had some issues. There were some problems among the management (mishandling of money, personal problems, etc.). I think the right management team might have been able to make it work. But the ECHL also outgrew Huntington. I think Huntington could have made the switch to a UHL team or, I think, Colonial Hockey League team (I think that was the rumor).
I still know several people in Huntington who come to Columbus to watch the Blue Jackets. So, you are right in saying the interest is still there. At least the core.But here's another tidbit. I spoke to the Columbus Blue Jackets radio/tv manager back in the fall. He said they were making great inroads in almost every surrounding market to have CBJ games broadcast on radio...except in one area. Can you guess? HUNTINGTON. They have affiliates in Portsmouth, Cincinnati, Pt. Pleasant, Chillicothe, etc. But they can't get a radio agreement in Huntington, Ashland or Ironton.
I think if people would have been more exposed to it, it may have succeeded. But here's some more background. I worked as WSAZ back in the late 80s, early 90s as an intern. I remember around that time that NBC was going to air the NHL All-Star game. But WSAZ made the decision to pull it in favor of Bill Dance's Outdoors (fishing) because it was more popular.
At any rate, hockey in Huntington was great while it lasted and I sure had a great time with it. I met a lot of great people and got to do a lot of cool things (interviewed Manon Rheume, Charlie Huddy, Andre Bashkirov, David Aebischer, John Craighead and more). It also was the springboard to my playing - which I still do at the age of 35 in Columbus adult leagues. I used to play in Pittsburgh (that was a long drive from Huntington) and Charleston. But when hockey came to Huntington, that was great. I played four or five nights a week."
