The current situation

The USHL group--which was indirectly identified by Bryan Chambers's article in the H-D the other day--informed me that they will be stepping back from the Huntington market until--their words, slightly altered--"the city gives a $#!&". We now have concrete evidence that the lollygagging of the city on this has adversely affected our ability to land a hockey team.

Does the city care that they may have run off their best shot at putting a hockey team in that building? I don't know; with the city's four-day work week, I haven't had a response from the Mayor to my letter (which I will post at the tail-end here). I did get some decent off-day correspondence from Brian Sipe at the BSSA; he says that they're looking mainly to fix up some of the cooling equipment "so we can run an efficient ice plant if needed"; I inquired and he did say they needed to replace a Zamboni.

This has been something that Facebook Bill and I had been discussing--what exactly is needed? Is $300,000 enough? Probably. Bill told me when he last inquired the arena needed:

• Zambonis that work
• new glass
• coolant
• new ice deck
• kickboards
• netting above the glass
• one set of new goals (one set already at the arena just needs a fresh coat of paint)

By our estimates, that would all come out to a shade under $300,000. So this checks out. If they're only getting one Zamboni (and Sipe's response on the Zamboni question was in singular form), this would be an extra cost savings that could go toward the ice system.

Lastly, that email--and those of you passing through here, I implore you to tell the city you want hockey! At this point it is up to us to make our wishes known. They say they want to know that there will be support, after all!

KIM WOLFE: phone 304-696-5540 email mayorwolfe@cityofhuntington.com

BRIAN SIPE: phone 304-696-5566 email briansipe@bigsandyarena.com

YOUR CITY COUNCILLOR: check here

Mayor Wolfe:

I read in the Herald-Dispatch this morning that your reservations on specifically allocating money toward hockey equipment focused on not knowing whether there would be adequate support for a team. As somebody who has, in one way shape or form, been tracking hockey in Huntington since I first came to Marshall in 2002--and have immersed myself in the subject for almost four years now--I can say that from a fan and investor standpoint there is definitely interest.

First off, I noticed a seeming disconnect between your office and arena management, and even within City Hall: you stated that you did not know if there were interested investors, yet AJ Boleski is cited as having fielded serious inquiries from at least three groups, and Ms. Jacobs-Jones in Administration/Finance has made contact with at least one of these groups. Furthermore, I have kept in close contact with (name redacted) and can say that interest has not been lost with his group; in fact, if a lack of conviction that the city will make the necessary improvements to the arena is the problem, de-emphasizing hockey infrastructure in the bond wording would seem to be counter-productive.

As for whether it would be supported locally: since I began writing on hockey in Huntington, the majority of my response when bringing up the subject to others has been positive, and usually in one of two camps: either "I remember the Blizzard, those were good times", or (typically from out-of-state Marshall students) "wow, there used to be a hockey team here?" Furthermore, the additional development of downtown in the decade since the Blizzard left can only help attract fans; people are already coming to eat, shop, work, so why not wrap up the day with a hockey game? As it stands, the longest-lasting organized sports endeavor not involving Marshall University was the seven-year tenure of the Huntington Blizzard, and this was with shaky ownership groups. With adequate promotion, a new team could entertain my grandchildren.

Regardless of the wording, I feel it is in Huntington's best interests that the bonds go forward to keep the Big Sandy Superstore Arena an attractive venue for both promoters and fans. I would just like to emphasize my belief that improvements to the hockey equipment would not be an unwise investment, and should still go forward.

Best regards,

Lenny Sundahl

huntingtonhockey.blogspot.com