As promiced, the Jim Cashman article:

BCRantzilla
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Post by BCRantzilla » Sun Mar 02, 2008 5:47 pm

It took a while but here it is, the greatest Cashman article ever, from Jamestown in 2004, enjoy!
Don't Remember The Titans

As far as Jamestown is concerned, the North Eastern Hockey League began
as a rumor and ended as a rumor when the hometown Titans won the
"championship" of the league's bizarre inaugural season on Sunday.

After not playing a game since mid-February because of what was called
a "players' strike," the NEHL decided to conclude its season last
weekend at York, Pa., with two playoff games. Jamestown and the York
IceCats were to play Saturday with the winner meeting Mohawk Valley,
which received a bye for being first in the league standings, Sunday for
the championship. But after York defeated Jamestown, 8-5, Saturday night,
Mohawk Valley informed the league owner, who is also captain of the IceCats,
that it would not be coming to York for the title game the next day.

Quickly a new plan was adopted. Jamestown and York played again Sunday,
with the Titans winning, 9-1. Then the teams played a 20-minute tiebreaker,
again won by the Titans, 6-1, to claim the Herb Brooks Memorial Trophy as the
NEHL champions, less than 24 hours after they were supposedly eliminated
following a loss in a first-round game.

This whole bizarre story began back in September when we received a
telephone call from a York newspaper asking if we knew anything about
Jamestown being in a new semi-pro hockey league. We had heard nothing
about it and the reporter faxed us a press release stating that Jamestown,
along with York, Mohawk Valley (in Whitestown, NY) and Poughkeepsie would
be in the NEHL. A news conference was held the next day in York announcing
all that information. However, a check with the Jamestown Savings Bank Ice
Arena confirmed there had been negotiations, but nothing had been finalized
for a Jamestown team.

But a story in the York newspaper and also on The Associated Press wire
on Sept. 14 listed Jamestown as in the league. Then press conferences
were eventually held to announce the Mohawk Valley Comets and the
Poughkeepsie Panthers being in the NEHL and again Jamestown was listed
as the fourth team, but there was still no contact with the Jamestown
media.

However there was plenty of chat room talk about Jamestown's team on
the NEHL Web site. Then a name, Titans, and a logo, which looked like
one the Southwestern Trojans had discarded years ago, suddenly appeared
in early October for the Jamestown team, which had yet to be formally
announced.

It was finally announced at a press conference on Oct. 28 at the
Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena that Jamestown was officially in the
league, something readers of the NEHL Web site and newspapers in the other
three cities had known for a month.

In charge of the NEHL was the founder and former president of the Gulf
Coast Hockey League which had teams in Little Rock, Ark., Texarkana, Ark.,
North Dallas and Houston in 2001. He was also a player and coach of the
Little Rock team. The night before the press conference here, I talked with
a sportswriter who covered the Little Rock team for the Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette. He talked of the debacle of the league and mainly the
Little Rock team, which played only one exhibition game and one regular-season
road game before being dropped from the league.

"It was the biggest joke I've ever seen," he said. "It was the most
disorganized thing I've ever seen."

It was just a preview of things to come with the NEHL.

When asked at the press conference how the name Titans was chosen for
Jamestown, it was explained that the founder, who would be the coach and
a player for the York team, was playing computer football against the
Tennessee Titans. He liked the name Titans and thought it would be good
for Jamestown.

Fortunately he wasn't playing the Seahawks, Cowboys or Dolphins!

He also mentioned there was nothing in the area to tie in with a
nickname. Gee, isn't Jamestown at the outlet of Chautauqua Lake?
Isn't it the former "Furniture City?" And also a former All-American
City? And the birth place of Lucille Ball?

That is why when the Niagara Falls Rapids of the short-season Class A New
York-Penn League moved to Jamestown a contest was held to name the baseball
team. A total of 547 entries were received suggesting nearly 50 names
and a few examples were All-Americans, Furniture Makers, Jimmies, Lakers,
Lucys, Muskies and Steamers. Jammers was the eventual winner and had been
suggested by 47 entrants.

The next job was coming up with a logo, which was delivered to my home
the night before the unveiling by a nervous Jammers' front-office employee.
He handed me an envelope containing the logo, but from his demeanor you
would have thought it contained a top-secret document.

What was all the fuss about? Like the Titans, the Jammers could have
just chosen a logo from some clip art!

Being a semi-pro league, the NEHL players had "real" jobs and could only
play in games scheduled for Saturday nights at 8:30 and Sunday afternoons at
1:30. Ticket prices for Jamestown games were established at $12 and $9,
rather pricy when you consider you could drive 60 miles to Buffalo to see a
National Hockey League game for about the same price as the cheapest ticket.

That's a reason the prices of tickets kept changing throughout the ill-fated
season and were $8 and $6 for all teams by the end of the season.

Only 17 days after it was finally formally announced that Jamestown had a team,
the Titans' season began and they got off to a great start by winning their first
seven games. But the scores showed there was quite a bit lacking in the brand of
hockey. It sounds more like the Tennessee Titans were playing after Jamestown won
7-6, 10-6, 13-10, 10-8, 11-8, 11-4 and 21-5.

Yes, there were goaltenders.

The Titans finally lost its first game on Jan. 3 and as the new year continued the
league began to unravel.

On Jan. 2 the Poughkeepsie Panthers moved to Connecticut and becaume the Cougars.
And they suspended operations five days later.

While ticket prices continued to change almost weekly, in January fans attending a
Titans home game received a roster with names and numbers for the first time so they
actually knew who they were watching.

On Jan. 27, Jamestown was scheduled to play Mohawk Valley in Whitestown, but the game
was postponed after only two Titans showed up because of a transportation mixup. The
next day Jamestown's player-coach was traded to Mohawk Valley.

Under a new coach Jamestown went 1-2 with the last loss on Feb. 15. Then no one played
as the league went on strike because the players weren't getting paid.

After weeks of no activity, a press conference was scheduled for York on March 5 to discuss
the status of the NEHL, but it was never held.

Maybe they forgot.

So most players went on with their lives and chalked up not getting paid as a learning
experience.

But while the NEHL was having trouble taking care of its first four teams, a new team for
2004-2005 was announced for Buffalo on Feb. 20. The announcement was made by the former
general manager of a defunct pro team in Michigan. But on March 28 it was reported in
The Buffalo News he had been arrested by the Michigan State Police and was charged
with identity fraud, fraudulent computer access, unauthorized credit application and
providing false statements.

Does it ever end?

Well it did end Sunday with the Titans, who had been eliminated from the quick-fix
NEHL playoffs, getting a second chance and winning the title. And, according to a
report in the York newspaper, there were 24 fans in the stands when the game began.

It's a shame the name of the late Herb Brooks had to be associated with it.

You may recall there was a hit movie titled Remember The Titans. It definitely did not
refer to the Jamestown hockey team.
And that is all the people need to know!

davyd83
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Post by davyd83 » Mon Mar 03, 2008 6:13 am

Cashman didn't own all of the GCHL teams. He "owned" the Little Rock Wildcats. (Their sweaters become those of the York Ice Cats). The team stole its logo from the Eugene (Oregon) Snow Cats of the short lived North American League, circa 1995-6. (Check out the logo here http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/logos/logo ... gsno96.gif) The Texarkana franchise was owned by a group headed by Fay J Durant. Durant paid the expenses for the Little Rock players to make it to opening weekend, which he had promoted heavily. After the opener, the Wildcats became a historical footnote. Durant gave Cashman gas money to get home and sent him on his way. The Texarkana Bandits had some success as a Senior Elite level team and even contended for a national title. The team had success at the gate and moved to the Tier II Jr A level in the North American Hockey League, with Brett Hull and Kelly Chase among their owners. The team fared well on the ice and at the gate, but arena problems forced the team to move to St Louis two seasons ago. To associate the Texarkana Bandits with Cashman is a huge disservice to Mr & Mrs Durant and their group. They are among the few who actually had a clue about how this should be done, and they did it well.
Last edited by davyd83 on Mon Mar 03, 2008 6:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

BreakersFan
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Post by BreakersFan » Wed Aug 27, 2008 2:16 am

And then came the Vikings to Jamestown.

A great city with a great arena that went down for the count after the 1-2 punch of the Titans and Vikings. That market is pretty much toast for anything besides local HS hockey.

227
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Post by 227 » Wed Oct 20, 2010 10:34 pm

Sorry to pull up a two year old thread, but does anyone have any information about Cashman's new CJHL? Are they playing games? Does it even really exist?

BCRantzilla
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Post by BCRantzilla » Sun Oct 31, 2010 5:08 am

[quote=""227""]Sorry to pull up a two year old thread, but does anyone have any information about Cashman's new CJHL? Are they playing games? Does it even really exist?[/quote]

Cashman leagues almost never show signs of life until after Halloween at the earliest so I'd be patient on that front. If there's no news after American Thanksgiving it is a safe bet that he isn't trying anything this year at all.

My hope is that he has overcome his hockey league forming addiction and we don't see disasters like the ones he has created before come to pass.
And that is all the people need to know!

robster2001
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Post by robster2001 » Sun Oct 31, 2010 12:01 pm

The CJHL has exactly two active teams right now... well, actually three, but two of them "merged" for this season.

The Alpena Thunder, whose general manager is Joe Kolodziej, joined when their league (NJHL) folded in September. When they joined the CJHL, it had 4 other teams (as Johnstown had previously put itself on hiatus). Two more promptly withdrew (Indiana, Syracuse), saying they'd be back in 2011-12. The other two, Erie and Niagara, merged for 2010-11.

I'm not quite sure what validity a 2-team league has, but it's Cashman, so nothing surprises me with him...

They've already missed start dates of September 18 and October 16.

If you'd like to read up on the train wreck, visit http://continentaljrhockeyleague.com/.

BCRantzilla
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Post by BCRantzilla » Tue Nov 02, 2010 6:30 am

[quote=""robster2001""]The CJHL has exactly two active teams right now... well, actually three, but two of them "merged" for this season.

The Alpena Thunder, whose general manager is Joe Kolodziej, joined when their league (NJHL) folded in September. When they joined the CJHL, it had 4 other teams (as Johnstown had previously put itself on hiatus). Two more promptly withdrew (Indiana, Syracuse), saying they'd be back in 2011-12. The other two, Erie and Niagara, merged for 2010-11.

I'm not quite sure what validity a 2-team league has, but it's Cashman, so nothing surprises me with him...

They've already missed start dates of September 18 and October 16.

If you'd like to read up on the train wreck, visit http://continentaljrhockeyleague.com/.[/quote]

Jim has been known to have as few as 2 legit teams and a couple of teams that exist on paper only before. That isn't surprising but what IS surprising is his wanting to do business with Kolodziej again. After all that bad blood I cannot forsee this ending well. In fact I predict it will degenerate into a message board flamewar within a month.
And that is all the people need to know!

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