2016-17 EHL Southern Division Arena Hockey Tour

Knoxville Civic Coliseum
EHL - Knoxville Knights 1961-68
SPHL- Knoxville Ice Bears since 2002-03

For the first time in many years there will be minor pro hockey teams in 4 arenas that were once home to Eastern Hockey League (EHL) Southern Division teams - a league that has been out of business for 44 years. And this is just the Southern Division.

Prior to last season only the Knoxville Ice Bears were playing in an EHL Southern Division arena, and the Knoxville Civic Coliseum has been at risk of being replaced for years. In 2015-16 the dormant Augusta Riverhawks franchise was moved to Macon, and the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte was renovated in order to move the Checkers back from the less-fan-friendly Time-Warner Arena. This season the SPHL placed the expansion Rail Yard Dawgs in Roanoke.

Charlotte Coliseum (Bojangles Coliseum)
EHL - Charlotte Clippers / Checkers 1956-73
AHL - Charlotte Checkers since 2015-16

I put the schedules of the four teams together. What I found was, there is no 4-game stretch where you can see games in all four arenas. In fact there is only one 5-game stretch that works. So, I took Macon out of the equation since they only had a handful of EHL home games. Here are those 3-game weekends with Charlotte, Roanoke and Knoxville:

TOUR 1
Saturday December 16 Mississippi at Knoxville 7:35
Saturday December 17 Fayetteville at Roanoke 7:05
Sunday December 18 Grand Rapids at Charlotte 1:00

TOUR 2
Thursday January 12 Mississippi at Roanoke 7:05
Friday January 13 Columbus at Knoxville 7:30 OR Mississippi at Roanoke 7:05
Saturday January 14 Cleveland at Charlotte 6:00 
Sunday January 15 Huntsville at Knoxville 3:00

TOUR 3
Friday February 10 Macon at Knoxville 7:30 OR Stockton at Charlotte 7:15
Saturday February 11 Stockton at Charlotte 6 PM OR Evansville at Knoxville 7:30
Sunday February 12 Macon at Roanoke 3:05
 

 Roanoke Civic Center (Berglund Center)
EHL - Roanoke Valley Rebels 1971-73
SPHL - Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs starting 2016-17

TOUR 4
Friday March 24 Peoria at Knoxville 7:30 OR Columbus at Roanoke 7:05
Saturday March 25 Columbus at Roanoke 7:05 OR Peoria at Knoxville 7:30
Sunday March 26 Chicago at Charlotte 1:00

TOUR 5
Through some fluke of improbability theory and minor league arena scheduling, there is no weekend where you can see the three SPHL teams at home. However, if you substitute Virginia Tech hockey for Roanoke Rail Yard Dogs, you can see:
Friday January 6 Evansville at Knoxville 7:30
Saturday January 7 Pensacola at Macon 7:35
Sunday January 8 Ohio at Virginia Tech 2 PM
(For those like me who have seen or may get to see Charlotte separately - this may be the best option.)

Macon Coliseum (Macon Centreplex)
EHL - Jacksonville Rockets 1968-69 
(6 home games including first pro hockey game in Georgia)
SPHL - Macon Mayhem since 2015-2016

Which brings us to: 
THE GRAND TOUR:
Tuesday April 4 Macon at Roanoke 7:05 (last home game)
Wednesday April 5 San Antonio at Charlotte 7 PM
Thursday April 6* Alan Alda at Greensboro Coliseum, NHL Islanders at Carolina and Minor League Baseball opening day
Friday April 7 Roanoke at Macon 7:35 OR Pensacola at Knoxville 7:30
Saturday April 8 Roanoke at Macon 7:35 OR Pensacola at Knoxville 7:30 (last home games)
+(Sunday April 9 Texas at Charlotte 1 PM - last home game)

*On April 6th there may be non-hockey events playing at one of the remaining EHL Southern Division:
Greensboro Coliseum (April 6 - Alan Alda)
Nashville Municipal Auditorium
Salem Civic Center
Mississippi Coliseum (Nashville Dixie Flyers - 1 home game - first pro hockey game in MS)
Uline Arena (Washington Lions/Presidents)
West Palm Beach Auditorium - Jehovah's Witness' Christian Convention Center (Florida Rockets 1966-68)

We are incredibly fortunate that these places of EHL history are still with us. Minor league hockey teams are fleeting and this may be the last best chance to see these historic places. Lets go see some games while we still have the chance!

If you'd like to discuss EHL Hockey please join us on the Eastern Hockey League Facebook Group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/129103506589/ We have many players, officials and fans of the old league. We invite you to come join us!

Syracuse Blazers - Charlotte Checkers 1971-72 Game 1 Brawl Video

Here's a YouTube video, courtesy of Kurt Golembrosky, son of Checkers' Frank Golembrosky. It's from Game 1 of the 1971-72 Finals,. The Syracuse Blazers at Charlotte Checkers. There's also a little hockey in there. Thanks, Kurt!

I just realized I have a program from this game. It notes that Charlotte hadn't played in two weeks since beating Greensboro in 5 games in the semi-finals. The Checkers had beaten the Suncoast Suns in 6 games in the opening round. Syracuse hadn't played in a week since beating Johnstown in the semis. Both arenas had scheduling issues. The Checkers had to travel to Salem, VA and Concord, NC to practice. Ironically, it was the Billy Graham Crusade that delayed the brawl below in the Charlotte Coliseum.

Charlotte won the previous year's title, beating the New Haven Blades 4 games to 1. The program says that the three keys to the previous years' team and this years' team were Allie Sutherland, Frank Golembrosky & Mike Rouleau. Syracuse was led by Ray Adduono and Paul Larose.

In 1956, Charlotte Discovered Hockey

On the day of the the Charlotte Checkers first game in the AHL, the Charlotte Observer remembered back to the first game ever in Charlotte, back in 1956. Link to Charlotte Observer article.

On January 23, 1956, Carlin's Iceland Arena, home to the EHL Baltimore Clippers, burned to the ground. The Clippers quickly rescheduled five of their remaining "home" games for the new Charlotte Coliseum. Charlotte had applied for membership in the EHL for 1956-57, but were by no means accepted. This gave the league a chance to test-market hockey in the south. The first game was January 30, 1956, with the Baltimore Clippers taking on the New Haven Blades. Needless to say, it was quite the success.

Here are the AP and UP national stories from the first game in Charlotte January 30, 1956...

Pro Ice Hockey Goes Over Big In Charlotte CHARLOTTE -- (AP) --Professional ice hockey came to Charlotte for the first time last night, and it may be-here to stay. Owner Charlie Rock of the Baltimore Clippers surveyed the 10,363 persons jammed into the coliseum here and announced that if interest keeps up he'll urge the Eastern Hockey League transfer his franchise to Charlotte.
The Clippers' lost a 6-2 game to the New Haven Blades. An estimated 3,000 persons were turned away because all available standing and sitting space was taken. Those that did get in saw a jarring, bruising game, complete with fist fights. The big crowd loved it. They shouted their approval, and gave the Clippers the home town treatment throughout the contest. The Baltimore team lost its arena in a fire. It will play at least four more games here this season.

Ice Hockey Lures 10,363 to Coliseum CHARLOTTE -- (UP) -- Residents of Charlotte apparently have taken the northern sport of ice hockey to their hearts. The largest indoor sports crowd in the Queen City's' history, 10,363 fans turned out last night to watch the New Haven Blades down the "homeless" Baltimore Clippers, 6-2, in an Eastern Hockey League game. And officials said another 3,000 persons, were turned away from the city's new multi-million dollar coliseum.

The Charlotte fans may not have picked up the fine points of the game as explained over the public address system, but they quickly learned like hockey fans everywhere that the fights are more interesting than the game. There were two battles during the contest, a small number considering the highly publicized "Feud" between the two teams.

New Haven, currently leading the six-team Eastern loop, had little trouble with the fifth-place Clippers. The Blades' top line of John Sherban, Claude Boileau and Yvan Chasle turned in four goals, Sherban providing two. Ron Rohmer and Alf Lewsey also contributed to the scoring. Defensemen Mike Desilets and Ralph De Leo scored for Baltimore both in the final period after New Haven had a comfortable lead. The. game was the first of six to be played here by the Clippers whose home arena in Baltimore was destroyed-by fire last week.

The list of Clippers-in-Charlotte (they were still the Baltimore Clippers until the following season) firsts is a nice Hockey Who's Who.

First Save: Les Binkley.
First Penalty: John Brophy.
First Opposition Penalty: Don Perry.
First Goal: Mike Desilets (okay, maybe not all are household names, but assisted by John Muckler).
Second Clippers Goal: John Muckler.
First Opposition Goal: Johnny Sherban. (Four goals in total by the famed CBS line of Chasle, Boileau and Sherban for New Haven.)

Here's your boxscore...

Those Exotic EHL Cities...

I just got back from a 2-week vacation in western Canada. It was fun passing through towns like Abbotsford (with their new AHL franchise), Chilliwack, New Westminster, Kamloops and their various hockey histories, wondering if I would spy the arena where the teams played.

It was all very reminiscent of what I remember and some of you EHL fans have told me you remember, which was the allure of those exotic EHL cities. Many of us were kids when the EHL was around (I was barely 15 when the league folded). Places like Greensboro, Charlotte, Knoxville, Nashville, Jacksonville, Salem/Roanoke, Johnstown, New Haven seemed a million miles away, yet somehow approachable, attainable. Where were these places? What were they like? Unlike NHL cities that we all knew about, we knew nothing about these towns, except maybe Nashville. I remember my first trip to any of these areas, eyes all a-bug looking for the arenas as we drove through, thrilling at seeing the town names on road signs.

I'm possibly the first person who when they went to Nashville the first time was 100 percent focused on seeing the hockey arena, or even a sign for it. With every sign that said Nashville, my heart said Dixie Flyers (I'm not sure if they were still in existence at that time). Of course, it was a family vacation, and I was a young teenager, so I couldn't exactly say "lets go see the hockey arena". Besides I didn't know what it was called, or where it was. We just passed through the north end of Nashville long enough to have lunch at a barbecue place and head west. The last time I was in Nashville as an adult, the arena for the Predators was being built, but it never dawned on me (in the 90s) to go look up the Dixie Flyers arena, which apparently is still right there in downtown.

The one that I still kick myself about is Charlotte. I had a chance to go to a Checkers ECHL game a few years back. My wife and I were exhausted from work (we were in town to do a trade show) and I was confused about where the Checkers were playing (some places said Independence Arena, some said Cricket Arena). Not being able to get a straight answer, I passed. I had no idea at the time that that was the old Charlotte Coliseum where the EHL Checkers had played, or that that was their last year there, before they tore out the iceplant.

I went to college in NC, in no small part to my fascination with the EHL cities that had been there. Having passed through the state a few times on family vacations, I always thrilled to signs that read "Greensboro" or "Charlotte", or especially both. I thought North Carolina was one of the most beautiful places I had been. On my first trip back to college after break, my mom and I stopped in Roanoke for the night. It was just off the interstate, just barely in the city limits at the Best Western, but it was very exciting just to be there. The signs to Salem and Roanoke taunted me each trip home, with no chance of talking anyone into stopping. I stayed in Roanoke once after college, but I was so car sick from driving the Skyline Drive that I didn't get out at all.

After college, I hoped to stay in NC, and even subscribed to the Greensboro, Charlotte and Winston Salem Sunday papers for awhile, looking for the right opportunity that never came. This was well past the end of the EHL, so the charm and allure of the places transcended mere hockey.

So here is my reality. I have not only never seen an EHL game outside of Cherry Hill Arena. I have also never knowingly even seen another EHL arena. (For instance, I have probably passed the warehouse that used to be Cape Cod Coliseum, but didn't know what it was. I think I also passed within a block of the Knoxville Coliseum, or even saw it, but didn't know what it was.) There's still time. Knoxville, Johnstown and Syracuse still have teams in the old arenas. Johnstown and Syracuse are the reasonable possibilities for this year, weather permitting. Still, it's Knoxville that is the one that calls to me. The one with the EHL team that was defunct by the time I saw my first EHL game; the city less likely to have a team on any given year; the one that takes the extra day's drive to get to and home from; the road less traveled; the adventure more exotic. Maybe if I factor in a Virginia Tech hockey game at Roanoke Civic Center, hmm...