Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 3, 1991 TAG: 9102030119
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Brill
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The game is the same; only the product is different. But have enough people recognized that fact?
This is a Friday night at the Lancerlot in Vinton, a hockey match between the Johnstown Chiefs and the homestanding Roanoke Valley Rebels, and, if one thing remains consistent, it is the irascible Henry Brabham.
He owns both teams.
Brabham has been the man who kept hockey alive in the Roanoke Valley for year after dreadful year of mere survival.
Hockey's golden era here was a generation ago, when the infant Salem Rebels, a hapless band who were to win 11 games in the old Eastern League, grew to become the Roanoke Valley Rebels, drawing large crowds in the Roanoke Civic Center.
The mind flashes back 20 years, when a caravan of 3,000 people made the drive to Greensboro to see the Rebels beat the Generals in the next-to-last game of the regular season, clinching the championship.
Or of the night when 8,000 saw the Rebels lose to Syracuse in the sixth and final playoff game, or, a year later, when they rallied to win the Southern League championship against Winston-Salem after scoring the tying goal following a faceoff with just a second or two on the clock.
Those were the halcyon days, and the old names flash back. The famous-to-be, like Dave "The Hammer" Schultz, or Mike Keenan, now perhaps the best coach in the NHL at Chicago.
So many. Colin Kilburn, Claude Piche, Pierre Paiment, Jack Chipchase, Wayne Mosdell, Jim Jago, Yves Archambault, Camille LaPierre, Serge Beaudoin, Jim Letcher, Claude St. Sauveur, Ray Woit. And on, and on.
Some remained in the valley. Others departed, most often returning to their native Canada, for in those days, there were precious few Americans playing hockey in the South.
Through all those years and all those leagues - Eastern, Southern, Atlantic Coast, All-American - if there was a prevailing factor, it was the instability.
Would they make it through the season? What teams would fold? The worst was the All-American, in which the local entry was overwhelming, beating up on weekend warriors from the Midwest by scores like 15-1.
Now it is 1991 and the ECHL is a smashing success. There are 11 teams and more cities seeking membership. There are just three minor leagues remaining - American and International are the others. This is the lowest classification, but the hottest property.
They are averaging 3,700 fans - amazing! - in the ECHL and on this evening they drew more than 10,000 in Cincinnati. The expansion Cyclones and Hampton Roads, which plays in Norfolk's Scope and doubles the crowds for Old Dominion basketball, average more than 7,000.
In a touch of bitter irony, the smallest crowds are in Erie, Winston-Salem and the Lancerlot, where just 1,407 turned out Friday.
Those are the original ECHL franchises; those are the cities where you never knew, from one game to the next, who would show up. Or if.
Now this is good hockey, with many American collegians. A Harvard man actually played here. Imagine that!
It is a league with a plan, with a salary cap, and some owners who are getting rich. Hampton Roads can even afford to fly to some games.
They have marketing people and public relations people and broadcasters, although in Vinton, they are one and the same in Ed Corwin.
But hockey is blossoming at this level. The stability is apparent, the product appealing. The goons are gone; these are not hockey bums, but prospects, fresh-faced kids with dreams.
They understand and welcome that elsewhere in the ECHL. But, sadly enough, not in the Roanoke Valley.
Was wolf cried too often? Were their too many promises unkept? Or is the valley's history as a sports graveyard the reason why they don't turn them away nightly at the Lancerlot?
Perhaps we should forget the memories. This is professional hockey, the good stuff. This is not the Saturday Night fights.
by CNB