EHM The Blue Line

Herb Hammond resigns!

I was shocked when I heard the news. The newly minted GM of the UHL expansion team, the Port Huron Flags, abruptly resigned just before the start of the 2005-06 season. The man who had given the new franchise some measure of credibility due to his ownership of a Stanley Cup ring, had given up.

The Flags had risen from the ashes of the Port Huron Beacons; the Beacons had gone bankrupt during the last UHL campaign. The Beacons themselves had been a short lived proposition; having been an expansion team themselves in 2002-03.

The latest Port Huron incarnation hoped to suceed where their predecessors had failed by becoming a community-owned, non-profit organization. In short, a tenant. It was an effort to hold up the sagging fortunes of the decrepit downtown arena, McMorran, whose construction had been completed way back in 1955. The old girl, a 3500 seater, had seen better days. But in the age of downtown revitilization, an empty arena would be an unforgivable eyesore, and a magnet for trouble. An open arena, with paying customers, would be a boon for downtown merchants and bars alike.

A professional hockey team in Port Huron seems a losing proposition no matter how one looks at it. Port Huron is only a 45 minute drive from Detroit, home of the NHL's Red Wings. Port Huron hugs the opposite side of the Blue Water Bridge from Sarnia, home of the OHL's Sting. Port Huron is within a couple of hours of Lansing and Ann Arbor, homes of the two NCAA powerhouses, Michigan and Michigan State. Another OHL team, Saginaw, is only an hour away. Port Huron is in the center of a hockey hotbed, where just about every niche seems ablely covered. Even for diehard UHL fans, there are an additional four franchises in the state!

Into this full landscape stepped Hammond. He was determined to build a team that could compete for the hearts and dollars of local hockey fans, and carve out a piece for himself from the lucrative Michigan hockey pie. He was not the sort to quit a job only just begun. He had earned his cup ring the old-fashioned way. Hard work. Sixteen years spent in the employ of the Broadway Blueshirts as an advance scout. You can visit the Stanley Cup at its home, The Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, and read his name embossed on the silver.

Nevertheless, he left the team with a good base on which to stand. One of his first decisons had been to convince coach Willett to accept the coaching position for a team that existed only on paper...with no players.

Willett had a colourful past as a minor-league star. He had lifted the Turner cup as IHL Champiuos with the Fort Wayne Komets. He had been awarded the UHL's best defensive forward trophy back in 1997-98 for Muskegon. As recently as 2002-03, he had led the entire ECHL in scoring for Bakersfield! He had even been the MVP for the entire WCHL in 1999-00.

Willett had done it all in the minors, and more importantly, knew what it took to get it done. He was an inspired choice to coach the inaugural Flags.

Together, Willett and Hammond assembled a preliminary roster of 17 skaters for the expansion squad. It appears to be the standard mix for an UHL team. A few has-beens, a few never-were's, youngsters on the way up, veterans now on the lowest rung of the professional ladder, and a few hopefuls looking for a pro hockey job. There are some solid pros on the squad, even one with NHL experience! But the vast majority are a series of question marks and thugs.

Brian Felsner is the only man on the squad with top flight experience; having graced the NHL with the Chicago Black Hawks, back in 1997-98 for 12 games. He has spent the last four years in Europe, mainly in the top flight in Finland, until last years influx of 'striking' NHLers robbed him of his foreigner status. He spent the year in Germany, toiling for Augsburg. If the 32 year-old left-winger comes to camp with the right attitude, he will become an invaluable asset to the Flags.

Aaron Brand in the other main man in Port Huron. The former Leafs farmhand performed very well for the Baby buds in his youth, but for whatever reasons, never got the call to the Show. He has spent the last two seasons getting acqauinted with the UHL, and amassed 88 pts last year for Marquette. The thirty year old centre, (who played his jr. hockey across the river in Sarnia), will be expected to anchor the top line.

In fact there is a significant number of 'locals' among the 17 inked palyers. No fewer than three, C Brand, D Jeff Brown, and G Scott Hay all played for the Sting. Another player, 'tender Symington was born in Sarnia, and winger Logan Hunter just completed his junior career just down the 402 for London. Veteran D-man, Tomlinson, performed for past UHL Port Huron teams for three years in the late 90's.

To this large local flavour, add one more. Newly minted GM, The Blue Meanie, me, was also born and raised across the river in Sarnia. I accepted the desperate call after Hammond abruptly left for reasons unknown. The money sucks and the outlook for success isn't good. But I'm tired of living in my parent's basement and need a change. Everything is cheaper in the States, and I can make good use of the duty-free on my daily trips across the border.

Just as another famous Sarnia son, Kim Mitchell, immortalised Port Huron's Main Street in his song, 'A Million Vacations'; I hope to immortalise the McMorran Arena, home of the United Hockey League's Port Huron Flags, with a championship winning season. Either that, or get royally blitzed on cases of duty-free Canadian whiskey!

With the season quickly approaching I turned my thoughts away from drinking to establishing a core group of staff to rely on. I needed assistants and scouts and more coaches. While I admired Willett's enthusiasm and knowledge of the minor leagues, I was certain he could use some outside help to cope with the team.

Out went the want ads and quickly I became flooded with applications from around the hockey world. I interviewd all that called me on the phone, on the phone, and quickly established a rapport with four diferent personalities from around the wold. I invited the four of them to fly into Detroit where I'd meet them at the airport with their contracts.

By a happy conincidence, all four planes were landing within an hour of eachother in the same terminal. I welcomed my new assistant GM IIkka Haapala, who flew in from Helsinki, at the same time I welcomed my new head scout Ross Mahoney flying in from Toronto.

"Nice to meet you, Ilkie...Licka...Ickla...dammit, I just can't say it,"stammered Mahoney upon meeting Haapala,"Forget it! From now on you're just plain Icky." The 49 year-old greying Haapala certainly looked unimpressed but said nothing. And thats how he got the nickname he would be known by during his Flags career.

Ross Mahoney seemed a bit of a loudmouth, unafraid to say anything to anyone, but he hopefully had the eagle eye that a great scout needs. Together the three of us welcomed the last two members of our management team. First off the plane was former New York Islander legend Jeff Norton. He was destined to become Willett's head assistant.

"Hey Nortie!"boomed Mahoney,"Glad to have ya on the team! This old guy here is Icky, our new assistant Gm, you know, Meanie's secretary; and I'm Ross Mahoney, scout without compare. And you know Meanie of course, the reason we're all here."

Jeff Norton firmly shook all of our hands. "Good to meet you all,"he said quietly,"I'm sure we'll have a sucessful year together."It was no secret why a player of Norton's pedigree was in Port Huron. He was here to get the requisite coaching experience, so he could quickly move up the coaching ladder and coach in the bigs some day. It was quite a catch for a bus league team like ours to get him, if only for a short while. While a great capture for us, poor Norton must have wished he had played his career for Montreal or Chicago where any old veteran was gifted a plum coaching assingment on no merit.

The last member of our team got off the plane next, direct from Stockholm. An aging swedish man, gingerly descended down the tunnel from the plane.

"What...did you hire your grandpa?"stage whispered Mahoney across to me loudly.

"Shaddup."I whispered angrily back.

The old man approached us with slow shuffingly steps and tears in his eyes."You all must be from the Flags,"he said,"I'm very touched you all came. In Sweden, the entire staff doesn't come out to greet a new assistant coach. Thank you all."

"Icky...Nortie...Ross..."I introduced the men,"This is Markus Lundh. The Swedish Svengali of hockey."

The men all took an involuntary step back, they knew the reputation all right, now they were going to know the man.

We arrived shortly at our home arena where I gave the men a quick tour of the facilities before taking them to be introduced to coach Willett who was busy with our players down on the ice surface. I stopped quickly by my office to give the men a glimpse of our base of operations.

"I'll be honest,"said Icky,"I thought I was coming from Finland to come try and steal your job, but...I look at all
this..."he gestured, taking in the cramped office, (with its ancient computer, an old black and white 14' TV, a pile of
yellowing papers hanging on every available surface), with a sweep of his arm, "And..."he let the sentence hang.

Mahoney cackled and slapped Icky on the back."Not for profit sure means not for profit doesn't it."he gleefully exclaimed."Don't worry Icky, this job is just a stepping stone for all of us."

I led the men down to the ice surface, where Coach Willett quickly skated over to us and the introductions were made.

"How does the team look coach?'I asked Willett.

"Well boys,"he began,"I'm really excited about this team. They're a bunch of real go-getters. Real hard-working rah-rah guys. I've spent the last 8 days putting them through their paces. Nuthin but skating since they got here. A fit team is a winning team I always say. I think they'll be just fine."

"If you've just been skating,"inquired Icky,"Why do some of them have their sticks?"

"Well...you see, some of the guys need them for balance."admitted Willett.

"Are those...bob skates?!"exclaimed Mahoney incredously, pointing to the footwear of a couple of a couple of the players.

"Well...you see, those boys aren't really here for their skating, if you know what I mean."said Willett.

We glumly took in a few minutes of the practice, watching our charges fall down about the rink and then using the boards to pull themselves back up.

Norton cautiously broke the silence."If the guys work real hard..."he began.

"And do exactly what we say..."continued Icky.

"And learn real fast..."I continued.

"We might not be too embarassed in our first game."finished Mahoney.

"Sure boys,"said Willett eagerly,"You'll see, the guys are real good guys. They won't let us down."

I turned to the silent Swede Lundh,"Well...what do you think Svengali?"

He looked at us with tears in his eyes,"In Sweden,"he began,"We don't lace skates on gorillas, hand them clubs, and call them hockey players."

I spent the next few days laying the foundation for the upcoming season. Doing all the stuff that GM's do...arranging training camp and a few exhibiton games. My office door seemed to revolve constantly with members of my handpicked staff endlessly drifting in and out. I had told them that my door was always open and they had taken me at my word.

Coach willett came in to see me as scout Ross Mahoney and I were sitting around, discussing 'tactics'.

"Have you made arrangments for some exhibiton games yet?"inquired Willett.

"No...not yet,"I stammered, furtively moving my rye bottle from on top of my desk to an empty drawer,"I was just starting to get to that..."

"Well...I think it would be a good idea to line the boys up with a couple of games against LNAH sides, (the Quebec Semi-Pro league), a lot of the UHL players go there as they get a little older and I think that some of them may still be able to help us. And even if they can't, the competition in that league is still pretty stiff and it would give our boys a good indicator of how they match up."

"Great idea."I said.

"Remember Eric Fichaud? Les Canadiens goalie?" added Mahoney,"He's currently playing for the Quebec team in that league. And his teammate is Alexandre Mathieu, he was a pretty big prospect too at one point. I think coach is right, we should defiently get a closer look at them and see if they still got it...or have any interest in coming here to play."

"Yeah..."I said,"...I was just thinking the same thing...there's a lot of talent in that league...for sure..."I realised I had run out of things to say to cover up my ignorance of who the hell these people were that they were talking about. I slowly drew my whiskey filled coffee mug away from coach willett, (and more importantly), towards me.

Willett continued to gaze questionly at me. Dammit! Stop staring at me! I had to get rid of him.

"All right."I said decisively,"Great idea guys, I'll get right on that. Thanks boys."

When Willett finally left to go back to the dressing room or wherever it is that coaches disapear to, I depressed the buzzer of the intercom lying on my desk.

"Icky,"I commanded into the speaker,"Arrange a couple of games against LNAH competiton will you? And make sure we get a game against the Quebec side. Thanks a lot man."

That taken care of, I sighed heavily and fished around in my desk drawer for my bottle of whiskey. After locating it, I refilled my mug and Mahoney's.

"Another job done."I toasted.

"I'll drink to that."confirmed Mahoney.

We sat around and enjoyed the morning. There's nothing quite like the early morning sounds of an UHL hockey rink filtered through a half closed office door.

After an all too brief respite, Mahoney broke the silence. "Not that I mind, or are ungrateful or anything..."he began,"I mean I like drinking with you and everything every morning...but, when am I going to go out and do some actual scouting?"

I sat up, leaned forward and looked Mahoney right in the eye. "I need you here, right now."I explained,"It's important that we get a good grip on what we have here first. It's no good you looking for new players until we find out what it is we need."

As Mahoney reflected on that, the Swedish Svengali himself, Markus Lundh burst through the door. Well...'burst' is a relative term. He 'burst in' as much as a 64 yearold Swede possibly can.

The Swede had seemingly recovered from his initial shock of seeing UHL calibre hockey firsthand, and had busily put himself to work, on the ice, correcting the squad's many bad habits. Still, it was a common sight to see him restlessly pacing the arena's corridors, muttering to himself in his native tongue, wringing his hands in frustration.

"Hey Markus...what's up?"I inquired, pushing an empty coffee mug across the desk towards him. "Got time for a snort?"

He eyed the mug suspiciously. "In Sweden..."he began.

"Come off it gramps!"exclaimed Mahoney,"Everyone drinks in Sweden! Small children spend their pocket money on vodka! Gimme a break! The whole country is drunk by ten in the morning! Its worse than Russia!"

Svengali regarded the scout icily,"...In Sweden,"he continued,"We don't drink out of dirty coffee mugs."

"So what's up?"I persisted as I poured him a drink.

The Swede took a long pull from his mug. "I was just wondering what avenues were being pursued in bringing in some fresh talent for the team?"

"I was just thinking about that myself,"I admitted as I refilled the Swede's now empty mug."I was thinking open tryouts, you know, taping a sign on one of the rink's windows. Or maybe getting the tea lady's son to put something up on the team website."

"Hmmm..."murmured the Swede,"Thats certainly one idea, but I was thinking along somewhat different lines."

"You're not bringing in your grandson from Sweden,"wisecracked Mahoney.

"I should think not,"said Svengali,"Although he'd certainly be an improvement over what we got, but the lad's only six. It would destroy his development to play this level of 'hockey'."

Svengali finished his mug and held it out for another fill as we waited for his idea.

"I was thinking more along the lines of researching last year's UHL and ECHL players and seeing if any of them are currently unattached and if so, would they welcome an invitation to our training camp."

Ross and I slowly nodded, warming up to his idea as I poured the three of us another round.

"And of course there are the forgotten and undrafted junior hockey and US college players who have used up their eligibility in their respective leagues and might be looking for a chance at a pro hockey career."

"That might just work!'I nodded."I'll get right on looking up all those players. Great ideas Markus, thanks."

The Swedish Svengali waved his oft empty mug under my nose. "In Sweden,"he reminded me,"We don't let our guest's drinks to become empty."

Ross laughed, grabbed the bottle, and poured him another. "You got a good point gramps,"Ross added,"And I think that identifying some talented CIS, (Canadian University), players and sending them invites to camp would be a good idea too. Around this time of year, University starts to become less of a party and more about work. I bet there's a few guys looking for a change in scenery right about now."

Just then Icky squeezed past Svengali at the doorway, clutching a sheaf of papers.

"Drinking again!"he exclaimed,"I told you guys to call me when you got started the next time!"

He handed me the small stack of papers. "Here's our exhibiton schedule, we're away to Richmond on the 29th and then 5 home dates. I lined up Quebec, Laval, and Verdun, from the LNAH as guests, as well as Fort Wayne, and finishing up with our divisional rivals Kalamazoo."

"Thanks Icks."I said,"I got just one more job for you today."

"O...Kay..."said Icky slowly as he grabbed the bottle off of the desk. He gripped the neck of the bottle and swigged the remnants down.

"It's just a small thing,"I apologised,"I just need you to research the whereabouts of every player that appeared in the UHL and ECHL last year and where they are now. And the ones that are unattached, well I guess I'll need their contact information."

Icky glared sideways at me from over the bottle.

"Oh...one other thing...could you find out which talented NCAA and Cdn Major junior players used up their eligibility and weren't drafted?"

"Sure thing Blue Meanie,"Icky slowly smiled,"I'll have all the info you want by the end of the week."

He mashed the intercom button down with his thumb as he walked around my desk to where the my case of whiskey was hidden. He extracted a fresh bottle and tossed it to Ross who deftly caught it and immediatley tore open the seal.

"Nortie."Icky said into the intercom,"It's me IIkka...remember how you told me you wanted to learn all about all the operations involved in running a hockey club? Well...I have a little job for you that I need completed by the end of the week..."

Port Huron Flags Announce 2005-06 Roster
Thursday 20th October 2005

Goalies

Scott Hay
the 30 year old netmnder from Ontario spent his last three seasons playing in the BNL.

Jeremy Symington
the 27 year old goalie from Ontario played in the CHL the past two seasons.

Defenders

Ryan Gillis
Team Captain and 28 year old skilled rearguard from MA played in the ECHL last year.

Jeff Brown
27 year old physical defender from Ontario split last season between the AHL and the ECHL.

Shayne Tomlinson
32 year old veteran from Ontario played for Marquette of the UHL last season and for previous Port Huron teams in the UHL.

Jeff Cameron
23 year old enforcer from New Brunswick policied for 8 different teams in 4 leagues over the past 3 seasons. Owner of a booming slapshot.

Jamie Byck
26 year old punishing hitter from Ontario was stolen from his studies at Ryerson to become an assistant captain for the Flags after an exceptional training camp.

J.R Holmes
24 year old defenseman from Toronto recently graduated from R.I.T.

Forwards

Brian Felsner
32 year old high scoring LW from Michigan spent last 4 seasons playing in top league in Finland
Recently voted 7th best LW in UHL in pre-season rankings.

Aaron Brand
30 year old C from Ontario spent last two seasons at Marquette of UHL where he was a top scorer
Recently voted 8th best C in UHL in pre-season rankings

Jakko Kallio
23 year old grinding RW from Finland won spot on top line with exceptional training camp.

Danny Stoddard
21 year old LW enforcer from Quebec is expected to maintain a physical presence for the Flags.

Karl Fournier
22 year old tireless center was stolen from his studies at Moncton after a great training camp as a walkon.

Sean Kotary
24 year old from NY is a versatile player who can play C, RW, or LD. Just graduated from Oswego State.

Brad Mehalko
28 year old gritty winger who got his share of pts and pim in the last 5 seasons (he spent them in the ECHL).

Ryan Ellis
20 year old C cut from Coyotes training camp. Skilled faceoff artist with very bright future.

Alexandre Mathieu
26 year old scoring C from Quebec. Won roster spot and record contract with inspired performance against Flags in exhibiton play.

UHL Season Preview

Friday 21st October 2005

Website 'Inside Hockey' named their preseason rankings for the upcoming UHL 2005-06 season today...

1. Danbury Trashers
2. Rockford IceHogs
3. Fort Wayne Komets
4. Muskegon Fury
5. Motor City Mechanics
6. Flint Generals
7. Kalamazoo Wings
8. Quad City Mallards
9. Missouri River Otters
10. Richmond RiverDogs
11. Port Huron Flags
12. Adirondack Frostbite
13. Elmira Jackals
14. Roanake Valley Vipers

Danbury and Rockford are the main contenders for the title with Elmira and Roanake expected to struggle.

The Blue Meanie wrote:Brian Felsner
32 year old high scoring LW from Michigan spent last 4 seasons playing in top league in Finland

And now toiling in the SEL för Brynäs.

After a long painful process involving contract negotiations, training camp, roster cuts, and exhibiton games, the 2005-06 season was finally ready to commence.

It had been a painful month, cramming my staff, (minus Norton and Willett), into my little office for our morning drinking sessions. We had also exhausted the patience of most of the tavern owners in Port Huron and were consequently looking forward to our first road trips so we could run amuck in downtown bars once again.

My drinking crew had thinned out somewhat despite the hiring of another scout, 64 year old Billy Gershon. No sooner had Billy been hired than I had been forced to send Ross and him into the world to find me some hockey players. Training camp had ended and I had no further excuse to keep them hanging about McMorran Arena. Billy was kept busy scouting our oppositons and Ross was out finetuning our shortlist.

That left Haapala and Lundh and me in the office. And Icky and I saw increasingly less of Lundh as he attempted to work his magic on our final roster of 17. I was happy with our roster and was continually reassured by my staff that the players were up to the job of contending for the championship.

Coach Willett was always telling me that they were a hardworking group and would respond to his faith in them. I hoped so for his sake as I was becoming a little disillusioned with the coach. His assistants Lundh and Norton both seemed to have a better grasp on coaching methods than Willett and the players seemed to respond better to them too. Perhaps a reshuffling of my coaching deck might be in order.

Icky confided in me that he saw no weaknesses in our squad and that we should be ready for the season. I thought so too, although the preseason preview certainly thought little enough of us.

I discovered what my coaching staff thought about intricate tactics when I pressed them about our philosiphies for the upcoming year. At least they were all on the same page. Patient, defensive hockey they told me to a man. I figured that was UHL-speak for kick the rubbish out of each other for 2 and a half periods and then let the good players settle it when everyone else was in the penalty box. Our exhibiton game 'performances' proved my inklings more or less right.

I was less than thrilled with our schedule on opening day weekend. First a long bus ride Friday morning down to Richmond to take on the RiverDogs, and then immedialtey after the game, a long bus trip back to Michigan to take on Kalamazoo at their arena on the Saturday. I was seriously thinking of just staying at home for the weekend. But it was the opening weekend so I figured I should make the effort.

Under normal circumstances I'd feel both games were winnable, but the players would be exhausted on Saturday. A result in the opener became paramount the more I looked at the schedule. At least in this weekend 'bus league', the players had the week in between weekend games to get rested.

I finally met our team physio, Peter Lee, as we boarded the bus for Richmond Friday morning.

"Hi Doc,"I greeted him.

"Oh...I'm not a doctor."he said.

That pretty much summed up my first six weeks with the Port Huron franchise. Physios that wern't doctors, hockey players that couldn't play, and coaches that couldn't coach. I couldn't complain too much though, we also had a manager that couldn't manage!

The Flags descended upon Virginia as a ravenous horde and left a trail of destruction in their wake...

So read the next mornings paper headline after our game against Richmond. Not that we were around to read it, we were already sleeping in our beds back home in Port Huron before the morning paper even hit the streets back in Virginia.

An expansion team couldn't have asked for a better start to its story than the demolishing we imposed on the hapless Richmond RiverDogs. We jumped out to an early 4-1 lead after two periods and had the Dogs on the run. Our battering ram, (Jamie Byck), had laid the Dogs low with an impressive 5 hits. Our second unit composed of Ellis, Mathieu, and Kotary had a goal each. The Dogs were in danger of being run out of their own building.

But as so often happens in hockey, the tide turned in the third. The RiverDogs converted two powerplay chances, and in the end we barely clung on by our fingernails to the precious 4-3 win. Richmond's Vandermeer brothers upheld their fearsome reputation with a goal each, and the defenseman Vandermeer had my early vote for the UHL all-star squad.

My young policeman, Stoddard, took a beating from Wolf in the second frame, but impressed his teammates and the hostile crowd with his willingness to stand up for the team. He didn't impress the coaching staff however with his willingness to draw the instigater and draw a ten minute misconduct!

All in all a good start, but the early returns for the special teams were not great...0/4 on the PP, and only 2/4 on the PK.

Immedialtey after the game, we boarded the bus for the long trek back to Michigan. I had decided to stop in Port Huron on the way through to let the guys get a few hours sleep in their own beds before continuing our westward journey on to Kalamazoo. All this traveling meant that Haapala and I would miss the Richmond nightlife and arrive back in Port Huron too late to enjoy the bar scene there. Noone ever said life in prohockey was all roses!

We arrived in Kalamazoo just in time for the game to start and the boys looked tired. I elected to give Symington another start as my staff was still unsure about Hay. Symington had played well in Richmond so I stayed with the hot hand.

The Wings got two quick goals from Tim Turner and then shut us down! My squad could generate very little against our divisional rivals. Kallio ended his stay on the top line after two periods. In his 5 period career on the top unit, he had contributed very little, so back to the 3rd line for him as Mehalko jumped up. It proved to be a fortuitious change as Mehalko pulled us a goal back half way thru the third assisted by the previously quiet Brand and Felsner.

In the end we just didn't have enough left in the tank, and we succumbed to the Wings, 2-1. Our special teams were once again suspect as our PP went 0/4 and our PK improved litle, stopping 3/4 chances. In brighter news, Jamie Byck continued his assault on UHL forwards with another 3 hits.

It had been a disapointing game, but I felt the weekend had been a solid one. We now had a week to work on our disapointing special teams before the next weekend's slate. A 3 game package on 3 nights!

I don't know who had made the schedule, but it seemed destined to become a thorn in my side. We started the next weekend Friday in Roanoke against the Valley Vipers, before returning immediatley home for our home debut against Muskegon on Saturday, to then traveling imediatley after the game to Quad City on Sunday afternoon to take on the Mallards! I was beginning to regret my heavy drinking throughout the preseason when, (presumably), I had agreed to this schedule. The worse part about it meant no time to hit the bars Friday or Saturday night! I would be stuck on the team bus, rocketing down the highway. A career in pro hockey was beginning to seem less and less an enticing proposition.

Just a quick note to say keep up the good work, good luck with the team and love reading your updates.

We got on the bus early Friday morning, 5 Am, for our 11 hour bus ride to Roanoke. Spirits were low as we knew that immediatley after playing our game we'd be back on the bus heading to our next match the next night in ...Port Huron. I tried to alleviate the boys spirits by promising them each a McDonald's happy meal if we won, but for once the prospect of the tasty treat had no effect. At least Haapala and I could drink all the way there and back, but that was of no consolation to the team who had to remain sober.

It had been a good week of practice, with work on the special teams ratcheted up a few notches, and the team seemed to have a firmer grasp on the ideas we were trying to teach them. The proof would be in the pudding.

It was our second stern test in as many weeks and I hoped the team would respond as well as they had the previous weekend. Once again, success in the first game was paramount.

We headed to the first intermission two goals down, and I headed to the dressing room to inform Willett that defenceman JP Holmes may as well take his shower now as he wasn't getting back on the ice the rest of the game. He was rated a generous 3 for his performance so far and I had seen enough. I had thought Icky's and my liquor had disapeared a little too rapidly on the way down, and now it seemed I had found my culprit.

The team responded and we led the game 3-2 going into the final minutes...but a minute from time disaster struck in the form of Tatryn, who sent the game into a shootout with a nifty solo effort.

Mathieu and Felsner scored on our first two efforts in the shootout and it was enough to win as all four Valley Viper shooters were iced by our 'tender Symington. Flags win...3-3...shootout victory.

Cameron fought Roanoke's Miller in the third frame and earned a draw, but our special teams showed little improvement going 0/2 on the powerplay, and 2/3 on the penalty kill. Our first line, (Mehalko,Brand,Felsner), playing their first full game together, got all our goals.

Enroute to Port Huron, the boys got their happy meals and we motored on, tired but happy.

The first home game would set the tone for the season and we let the boys know how important it was to come out flying and give the fans a reason to keep coming out all season. A good effort and a few goals would really get the crowd behind us and keep them there all season.

Predictably, we came out flat against the Fury...very flat. The Fury nursed a 1-0 lead to midway thru the third frame when I rang the changes in desperation...instructing Willett to send out only the first two lines and defence pairings.

Time kept ticking until Ellis drew a penalty with 6 minutes to go. Halfway through the powerplay, Mehalko notched our first pp goal of the season to tie up the game. That seemed to rattle Muskegon and their 'tender McIntyre who was coming off consecutive shutouts, (and very nearly a third!). Felsner quickly put us ahead, and then Ellis put the game out of reach before the Fury ever had a chance to pull their goalie. It was an offensive avalanche that the Fury just couldn't dig themselves out from under. 3-1 Flags.

Our special teams seemed to have turned the corner as we went 1/2 on the PP, and perfect 2/2 on the PK. At least we sent the fans home happy.

There was no celebratory drinking that night, (for the boys), as we had to get to bed early to board the bus to Moline the next morning for our afternoon match against the Quad City Mallards...an 8 hour drive. For the 3 pm start it meant leaving Port Huron at 5 am...again.

Two wins in two games left me ecstatic, but I knew better than to hope for a result in Moline. The boys were exhausted. I left a note for Willett instructing him to start Hay for the first time this season and give Symington a day off as he had been performing fantastically and well deserved a rest.

Unfortunatley for me, I managed to oversleep the next day and missed the team bus to Quad City. Blearly eyed, Haapala and I managed to pour ourselves into his rental car and get to the game as the third period was starting. We watched Cameron notch his first goal of the year on a booming slapshot after a draw won by Fournier. That put the score 3-0 Flags. Icky and I were so happy we ordered another round.

Soon after, it was 3-2 Flags as the Mallards got two quick powerplay goals, drawing both penalties against our checking line of Kallio Stoddard and Fournier. That's when I noticed to my dissatisfaction that Symington was in net again...for the fifth straight game. Later, Willett tried to assure me he had never gotten my note, but...the seeds of doubt had already taken root.

It was all immaterial however when Mathieu iced the game with an emptynetter on a great passs from Gillis. 4-2 Flags, final score.

My special teams satisfaction was shortlived as the pp seemed to have improved, going 1/2, but the penaltykill was dismal allowing 2 goals on 3 opportunities.

I caught up on the early events of the game on the bus ride back to Port Huron, (we let Nortie drive our car back), apparently Oiler farmhand Simon Ferguson had been running around like King Kong in the first period, picking up crosschecking and charging minors until Mathieu, (of all people), set him straight. The pair went off with roughing minors and Ferguson didn't trouble us again the whole game.

It was a great weekend and cause for a lot of celebratory drinking all the way home. A perfect record was more than anyone could have expected going in to the weekend. A record of four wins and one loss was a good return on one month of UHL hockey. I was looking forward to November and our next weekend of hockey...two home dates against two divisional rivals...Muskegon and Flint.

Hooray! Things are going your way for once!

I had bookmarked this thread a few days ago, waiting eagerly for more posts... but I just noticed now that this thread is two years old! Dear me!

It has, however, inspired me to start my own Port Huron season (I just love the name, to be honest... and it seems that PH starts pretty low on expectations, which gives a lot of possibilities for growth) and storyline, which I am posting on my own board.

So if BM still posts here, thanks for the inspiration!

(if thread necromancy is against the rules of this board, then please delete this post)

That would be quite accurate to say expectations are low, we've had 3 different teams in Port Huron in like 4 years? We've had the Beacons, The Flags, and now we have the Ice Hawks. And even before the Beacons for quite a few years we had the Border Cats.

It's funny that you live there and I'm writing a story about a town and people about which I know absolutely nothing! I wish there was a way to easily change the team names to follow the history, but I doubt it.

The original Flags were around from 1962-1981 if that interests you at all. Also, if you want to get an idea of what the hockey scene is like around here, check out the Timesherald.com. That is our newspaper around the area which of course covers the team.

Joe! I'm back, it's been a while. It's so strange reading about the Port Huron hockey teams. I've been to a lot of their games. Has anyone else heard that the Red Wings are picking up the Ice Hawks as an IHL affiliate? I read it somewhere on the internet and could scarecly believe my eyes. Anyways, if you REALLY want to know more about the professional teams that have been in Port Huron, just send me an e-mail to GodofCats@comcast.net I have a book on the history of Port Huron that has a few pages of them in it.

Actually, I found out there is an easy way to edit the team name and such: the editor. So I'll do that for my next season.