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ECHL Reading Royals

Good Bye, Good Luck & (Hopefully Not) Good Riddance

March 26, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Significant, if not historical, change is bound to stir mixed emotion. It was with such bittersweet sentiment that we read the reports of the impending demolition of the venerable Toledo Sports Arena while we were in Toledo this past weekend. Let's just start from the premise that the Northwest Ohio/Southeast Michigan area is without question one of the premier hockey markets in all of North America. Certainly, the level of hockey interest and knowledge in that region is as high as anywhere in the States. There's also no arguing that the Toledo Sports Arena served as the site for any number of historical hockey events that simply will never be duplicated. Toledo's success in the old International Hockey League is legendary. The weathered black and white photographs of the 40's and 50's speak of an era that pre-dated helmets and masks, much less one-piece graphite-Kevlar composite sticks and perforated full carbon composite outsoles on skates. And, I'm told that if you really wanted to experience the movie 'Slapshot' in IMAX Dolby Surround Sound writ large, you had to live through a game at the Sports Arena in the mid-70's when the real characters kicked in the kook show. But, that being said, the Sports Arena has become a bit of an anachronism in modern pro hockey. The short and narrow rink with aging boards and over-worked ice plant just doesn't quite fit with the kids of today, whose size, strength and speed have taken our beloved sport to another level. Quite honestly, it's not the same game in the Sports Arena. When it gets wound up there, it's kind of like a human pinball machine set inside a Ken Kesey bus ride to Berkeley, circa 1969, complete with wild, unpredictable bounces, frenetic endto- end rushes, and ramped up border-line hits. The Experience was in full bloom this weekend, when the Royals played what apparently could be the last games in team history at the Sports Arena. In two games replete with the twists and turns (and bounces) we've come to know (if not love) in Toledo, the Royals battled through two one-goal games and came out in the same place it seems we usually do when we leave Toledo-without a win-although it should be noted that the dramatic come from behind point picked up in Saturday's overtime loss could be the one that we relish in this late season battle for our playoff lives. So it is with this background that we (potentially) bid adieu to the Sports Arena. Our tears certainly have the taste of sugar and salt-and just so we're clear, we would be more than happy to accept that invitation for one last go later in April.....

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