UHL's 1st Place Columbus Stars Suspend Operations

[REVVED]

Talked to Coach Malcolm Cameron this morning and he's on his way to the Arena to inform his players that the Columbus Stars of the UHL have suspended operations. This weekend's games have been cancelled.

As for the All-Star Game, if the players remain in the UHL, they will play for the team they sign with. Malcolm won't be coaching, since there's no 1st Place team to coach, and the players will be free agents to sign wherever they can.

I know a lot of you are jumping up and down with joy, but this is a sad day for Hockey.

[peetie12]

That also sucks for some of the Lansing Ice Nuts who had "moved up" to play with the Columbus team.

[REVVED]

Talk about CURSED - 1st the IIHL, now this? These guys are bad news :lol:

Hate to see anybody lose a job like this - the coach and several players are friends.

[SignGuyDino]

THE NHL AND THE PLAYERS BETTER WAKE UP AND FIGURE OUT SOME SORT OF DEAL! :shock:


I have argued here before that a work stoppage might be a good thing in the short term for minor league hockey up north, but potentially ruinous in the south.

Now, a first place team in Columbus dies. This cannot look good the infrastructure of minor league hockey. Perhaps I underestimated what damage to minor league hockey a work stoppage would cause.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: David Stern is working his butt off trying to get a new deal (early) with the NBA's union. He smells blood.

You guys better figure out a plan, even if some of the franchises go and the some players lose their jobs. Better to lose the arm and save the body.

[draven]

:cry: The Columbus Stars are gone. It is truly a travesty. They were a great team and a great group of guys. I feel the UHL should have stepped in and tried to save them. Especially since they were the #1 team and had an incredible goalie in Greg Hewitt.

I had the opportunity to become friends with a couple of them and will miss them terribly. I wish only the best for them and the rest of the team.

[Global-Hockey]

Why is the Columbus folding such a big surprise to every one? This is the same owner that folded WACO of the WPHL, (which by the way was the first WPHL team to ever fold), then moved on to Tucson (folded before the first puck dropped because he had no money), and then the UHL allows him to join this league, and he sets up and sells season tickets, gets advance advertising deals, then folds the team. Looks like he was right on schedule to me. When he had the Waco Wizards he took the money and ran, then he moved on to Tucson and he could not even pay the league fees, so he slid out the back door and moved to Columbus and promised the city the world if they would only give him a chance, kids skating clinics, and the beat went on. NO surprise here at all. The only surprise is that he lasted this long. :(

[patmc16]

Does anyone know why the team folded? Did the CSHL version fold too?

I thought I'd take a moment to share my experience as "just a hockey fan", with this team. In hindsite it all makes more sense.

I knew I would be making the trek from Metro Detroit to Columbus for the weekend following Christmas. I wanted to know if I could pick up Stars souvineers anywhere other than the game, If I could not make it while I was there. I tried the "general info" e-mail shortly after Thanksgiving, plenty of time to get a response before my trip. After a week or so of no response, I tried Lisa Bova, the Director of Fan Development with the same e-mail. To this day, I never received a response. It told me all I needed to know about how much they cared about the fans. When the Director of Fan Development can't take the time to respond to a potential fan's question.....? STRIKE 1

As it turned out, I did make it to the game on 12/26 against Brent Gretzky and the Port Huron Beacons. I was the only one there rooting for PH. I had heard that they did extensive renovations to the arena. They must have spent it all on the ouside of the arena. It looked nice enough from the outside, but the inside looked circa 1960's, after 40 years of use. Paint chipping off the seats, folding chairs for the "on the glass" seats, and an ancient scoreboard that quit working twice during the game. A guy sitting a few rows in front of me had his seat back break while he was sitting in it. STRIKE 2

The tickets were all general admission at $12 per seat, not $10, $12 and $15 as is still listed on the web site. I save all of my game tickets. You can imagine my disapointment when, in return for my $12, they handed me a ticket like you would get at a 50/50 raffle at a pee-wee football game. 1 1/4" x 3/4" with only the word "TICKET" printed on it. Heck, even the 50/50 tickets also include a number! Souvineers were sparse, but what they had was decent. The game program was a joke. It was basically a poster size piece of paper folded in 4 and was generic as to be sold at both the CSHL & UHL games. As a program collector it was very disappointing. STRIKE 3

The positives all have to do with the people on the ice. The play was pretty good. Columbus won 2-1 in a sudden death shootout. In a true show of class the players lined up in the main hallway after the game and shook hands with the fans, the kids in particular. While I didn't shake any hands (after all I was rooting for PH!), I thought that was really cool. I wish them all well in wherever hockey takes them (hopefully not to the iihl).

All in all, I was pretty impressed with those on the ice and not impressed at all with those off the ice in this organization. While, as just a fan, I don't know what the causes were of this francise going under, I have to wonder if my impressions fall in line with what happened.

Hopefully the next place I visit will (still) have a team!

[Global-Hockey]

You said a mouth full. What you described is the same way this ownership ran the other two teams he took the money and ran from. Sounds like he should become a partner in the IIHL, then he can be responsible (partly) for folding an entire league instead of just a team here and there. His business ethics are "I take the money, I pay out no money, I run with the money" Can't lose any money that way as an ownership goes, but it sure does hurt the paying fans.

[draven]

After a week or so of no response, I tried Lisa Bova, the Director of Fan Development with the same e-mail. To this day, I never received a response. It told me all I needed to know about how much they cared about the fans. When the Director of Fan Development can't take the time to respond to a potential fan's question.....? STRIKE 1


FYI--Lisa Bova left the organization before Christmas. She was no longer there when you tried to contact her. That's the reason for no response. Her name and e-mail address were never removed from the website.

I guess that only makes two strikes.

[Global-Hockey]

Actually the ownership of this team was all 3 strikes rolled up into one. What were the overpaid big shots in the UHL office thinking when they allowed this 2 time loser to obtain a franchise anyway? Didn't they do a background check before they agreed to accept him in the league? Or were they more concerned with just getting the franchise fee's for the league coffers? I can not believe that his history of taking money and running, leaving players, sponsors, housing companies, etc holding the bag was not taken into consideration before he was granted a franchise. This makes the already weak UHL look even worse.

[SignGuyDino]

Think that Elmira and Richmond might bolt to WHA2 or Richmond to SEHL this summer because of this?

Just a thought. :roll:

[REVVED]

Dump everyone in the E. Quad Cities, Rockford, Fort Wayne and Kalamazoo would be perfect rivals for Peoria, Toledo, Dayton & SinSinNasty. Elmira joins Reading, Johnstown, Trenton & Atlantic City. Richmond joins Roanoke.

Better yet:

Take the top 96 minor league teams, form 4 conferences, each with 4 divisions and put 6 local teams in them. Regionalize the schedule to lower travel costs. NHL will affiliate with 3 teams each, leaving 6 "independent" teams for development and free agents.

[Magnum357]

Hey Revved, I like your idea combining all the Minors into one super league, but if the NHL is losing money, how can it Affiliate that many teams?

[REVVED]

According to the VP of the Cyclones, we pay them, not the other way around.

Makes sense doesn't it :roll: .