Replied to a comment yesterday about the prospects for another team landing here:
"Not a lot. In '03-04 there was an effort to get a team back in the arena in the SEHL/SPHL, but the arena GM at the time wasn't very receptive to the idea. As recently as last year though the current GM proposed refurbishing the arena with, among other things, new hockey boards and equipment; however, being a municipal facility, this would require city money, and the city is a bit on the cash-strapped side. Still, I think if the right people got their heads together... well I'll elaborate a bit more tomorrow, when I'm less sleepy"
So I'm less sleepy now. The big problem right now is that I have no idea who would take on the role of putting together such an operation. That aforementioned (actually ACHL) effort was mainly spearheaded by Mark Williams, the Blizzard's old VP of marketing, had some relatively high-dollar people in talks (quite a few people namedropped local attorney Buck Crews), and the endorsement of old Blizzard guy Jim Bermingham, who went to Knoxville after Huntington folded up and became the IceBears' coach. Again, this fell through to a great extent because of resistance from the arena then-management.
Since that time there have been, in my opinion, two significant developments, one positive and one negative. The positive one, first, is the hiring of AJ Boleski as general manager, who has stated a willingness to put money toward fixing up the old hockey equipment--as the H-D's David Walsh had told me, "he's open to just about anything". Then there's the rise and fall of the Huntington Heroes indoor football franchise, which was poorly promoted, had trouble paying its bills in a good season, and then suffered through a nightmare 2008 season in which they went through two owners, went 5-1 in their first six and then won one game the rest of the season when much of the team quit due to lack of payment!
More to come later--this is a LONG tangent I'm going on here.
4 comments:
Hey there! I've enjoyed reading this blog and commend you for the great time and effort you've put into this. As a former Huntington resident who visits occasionally I would LOVE to be able to come back up for a hockey game sometime. I have a lot of memories from the Blizzard days.
Unfortunately I think Huntington is just a Marshall town these days. I think the only way hockey finds success in that city is if the team is wearing the big green M.
Funny thing is that if it weren't for the Blizzard leaving, Tri-State Ice Arena would in all likelihood be open still, and there would be an actual place for Marshall to play.
I am in the process of organizing a club hockey team for Marshall. Seems like there is a good response for it but depends on some tuff issues. Bad part is, we all know the closest ice is in Charleston but I have talked to the rink manager and he is going to help with ice time. I did not know Marhsall used to have a club team, I wish it was still going and the Blizzard was still here. I would have loved to watch them, just to young and when I got here everything was gone. If anyone has old game footage or pictures of Marshall's team and even the Blizzard I would love to see them. Anyother information that may help me bring hockey back to Marshall let me know!!
I'm gonna frontpage your comment MarshallUHockey. What issues are you dealing with? I don't know how much advice I can provide but at the least I might be able to steer you in the right direction.
Fire me off an email if ya want--viperls1-at-aol-dot-com...
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