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.
Showing posts with label Southern Hockey Project. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Southern Hockey Project. Show all posts
01 July 2007
17 May 2007
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.
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.
27 April 2007
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.
--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.
16 February 2007
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.
--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.
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