Wheeling Nailers Eyeing Agreement to Play Some Games in Johnstown Next Season

From this morning's Johnstown Tribune-Democrat:

"JOHNSTOWN — The Johnstown Chiefs are heading south, but ECHL hockey still might be played here on a scaled back version next season.

For more than a month, speculation has surfaced that the Wheeling Nailers might play some of their home games at Cambria County War Memorial Arena in 2010-11.

Multiple sources have confirmed that talks between the War Memorial and Nailers owners James and Robert Brooks have been ongoing and negotiations might be finalized today. The number of games that might be played in Johnstown and how the travel would affect Wheeling season-ticket holders hadn’t been made public on Thursday."...

The multiple-city concept was used in the EHL, though it's hard to say it was much of a success. Of course, none of the teams listed below were all that great to start with. The Florida Rockets played home games in Jacksonville, but also St. Petersburg and West Palm Beach. After becoming "Jacksonville" again, they played some home games in Macon, Georgia.

The Philadelphia Ramblers and Jersey Devils played home games in each other's rinks. (The Ramblers became the Devils in 1964.) Their rinks were within a half hour away, so home fans could get to the other rink.

The 1964-65 version of the New York Rovers was based in Madison Square Garden but played some home games in Norwalk, CT, Syracuse, NY (as did the Devils that year), and Philadelphia.

The Washington Lions of 1954-55 played four home games in Atlantic City, NJ.

There were plenty of other occurrences of home games in road arenas throughout EHL history.