Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Hockey In Jamestown Iced

The season for the Jamestown Vikings has been cut short. The Mid-Atlantic Hockey League had the following announcement on their site as of today:
2007-08 season will end early with Indiana Ice Miners declared League Champion
(Canton, Ohio). Mid-Atlantic Hockey League President Andrew Haines today announced that the 2007-08 season will be come to an end immediately in order to allow all member teams to re-organize for the 2008-09 season.

As a result of this announcement, the Indiana Ice Miners have been declared MAHL League Champion based on their amazing record setting regular season record of 31-1-0 and their consecutive victories record of twenty-six.

“As the majority owner of the MAHL, after consulting with the other team owners, coaches, and general managers, a difficult decision was made that it was necessary to re-organize the league and start working towards next season,” said MAHL President Andrew Haines. “We apologize to our fans and corporate partners for any inconvenience caused. This action was necessary to ensure the long-term viability of the league and we look forward to coming back much stronger for the 2008-09 season.”

“I also want to take this opportunity to thank the managers, coaches, and players for all of their efforts during this inaugural season,” Haines continued. It was the efforts of these people, as well as our fans, that made this abbreviated year a success and a building block for better things to come. We certainly had a good product on the ice and the quality of play was recognized by higher leagues.”

All remaining 2007-08 games have been cancelled. Tickets which have already been purchased on line for the remainder of the 2007-08 MAHL season can be refunded through ClicknPrint tickets and tickets purchased at the box office can be refunded at the local arena’s box office or a credit for use next season can be issued by contacting each individual team.

The Mid-Atlantic Hockey League was successful in establishing itself as a developmental league for the three professional “AA” leagues. The MAHL saw forty call-ups to the ECHL, CHL, and IHL this season. All MAHL players under contract are now considered free agents and are free and clear to contact teams in any other professional league regarding continuing their playing careers this season.

The MAHL will announce its 2007-08 award winners later this week along with its league-wide all-star team.

For additional information on the Mid-Atlantic Hockey League go to www.mahlhockey.com.


This stinks. I use the word "stink" because something just doesn't seem right. A lot of questions are circulating about what this really means. Stay posted.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Julia,
Does this stink as bad as the Titans situation? Maybe worse. Give me a call up at the Landfill. Need to reconnect.
Kate

Anonymous said...

........and it seems as though the players were just a tad pissed off too: http://post-journal.com/articles.asp?articleID=24881

Anonymous said...

When the owner doesn't pay the players for months. What did you expect? And look at the place where they lived, as the press reported over 12 guys living. Sleeping on the floor. No showers. No wages to buy food to eat. One story the press reported players were looking towards game day meal.

Julia said...

To anonymous: Destroying property is not an acceptable reaction to not being paid for a job or being asked to live in sub-standard conditions. Most people would just quit and go home; or report such conditions to someone at the city. The league owner probably was breaking city code by having players live there to begin with.

Anonymous said...

Ok, I see you only want one side of the story out. Sad you don't want these guys to have good lawyers stepping up and helping them. yes they did a stupid thing. It's not easy to just get up and leave when hockey is your job.B ut so easy for you to flipply say. yes they were saying their living conditions sucked tot eh team and league. It wasn't until the Indiana Gazette stood up and reported the news of the players not being paid by the team owner who is also the League owner for months. Sleeping was on the floor. No showers. Press reported players would wait for game day meals to eat as they had no money because they were not being paid. But oh no you don't want that known, gotta follow the sheep and not get all the facts to judge.

Julia said...

Again, whatever was going on between the league and the players IS unfortunate and no one should be asked to work in those conditions. I'm hardly being flippant when I say that in some cases the players should have quit. I don't know what kind of contracts they were playing under, but I'm sure that contract could be considered null and void if the league was not paying them.

Again, all of that still does not justify the actions by a few of team members. Vandalizing a building because of everything is not acceptable.

Anonymous said...

First of all, Julia knows a lot more about the situation than the average person. Things she certainly can't and doesn't post about.

Second, I would hardly characterize her comments as stated "flipply". They more or less cover the bottom line.

And that bottom line is, the time for the players to get good lawyers was weeks ago, before they decided to destroy an historic building in the city.

Now, instead of having good lawyers fight for their back wages and damages, their lawyers will be fighting to keep them out of jail and from paying restitution. THAT is the stupid part of it all.

This did nothing but further the area's negative perception of hockey players. The players had other recourse. While their motives were certainly understandable, their actions were misdirected.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not sticking up for the owner here. That's a separate issue, but good luck to them in dealing with that under the current circumstance.

But by destroying an historical building of cultural significance in the Downtown, the players pissed in the face of a community that once again tried to embrace professional-level hockey.

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