An amusing exchange

Lost in my (relatively) dormant stretch in the last year or so was an article in the Reading Eagle on the five worst teams in ECHL history. Who was #1?

1. 1993-94 Huntington Blizzard (14-49-5)

Pro hockey returned to hard-scrabble Huntington, W.Va., in 1993 after a 40-year absence. The Blizzard had numerous ups and downs in their seven seasons, but were never so low as that inaugural year.

They still hold the ECHL marks for most goals allowed, 6.07 per game and 413 total, and their 14 wins are tied with the aforementioned Roanoke Valley and Greenville teams for fewest ever.

The Blizzard were also on the short end of two of the three worst whippings in league annals, a 15-0 loss to Greensboro and a 16-3 loss at Nashville on Super Bowl Sunday in which goalie Jim Mill played all 60 minutes.

This team, which once gave up 67 shots in a game against South Carolina, also had a 16-game winless streak, a league-record 12-game home winless streak, is second-worst all-time with just 33 points and is tied for the third-worst winning percentage at .243.

The Blizzard had three coaches that year, including former NHL player Bob "Battleship" Kelly, who was fired after a 5-14-2 start. Defenseman Jared Bednar finished with a plus-minus rating of minus-82.

What gives the Blizzard the slight edge over the 2003-04 Grrrowl and the 1992-93 Rampage, however, was that they lost four of seven games to a horrid Louisville (16-44-8) team.

The Blizzard bounced back to make the playoffs the following season. They stuck around until 2000, and there's a small movement online to bring them back.

O RLY?

Howdy,

Found your article from December on the 5 worst teams in ECHL history--certainly can't argue with the findings. I'd also like to add that the '93-94 Blizzard's top scorer (or at least he was at that point) quit the team... in the middle of a game.

I was most curious, though, about the comment at the end about the "small movement online" to bring a team back; I have a webpage up on hockey in Huntington from some work I did in college at Marshall and was wondering if you knew more (or if in fact you just managed to stumble upon my humble webpage--huntingtonhockey.blogspot.com). If it's not a movement of me, myself, and the voices in my head, I'd like to get a hold of them...

His reply:

Yeah, I stumbled onto your blog and dubbed it a small movement. I guess the movement is even smaller than I realized!

In related news, I might put a guestbook up...