Month: October 2014

  • Johnstown, PA: Life After Slap Shot

    Johnstown, Pennsylvania is known for a few things.  One was the Great Flood of 1899, when the South Fork Dam fourteen miles away broke and water as high as twenty one feet filled the valley town, killing 2,209 people. Another significant event that happened in Johnstown was the filming of the movie Slap Shot in…

  • Johnstown Tomahawks vs. Keystone Ice Miners: The Past Is The Past

    You may not realize it, but you know the Cambria County War Memorial.  You’ve seen it before, in the film Slap Shot.  The Charlestown Chiefs were based on the Johnstown Jets of the NAHL, and the War Memorial was their home.  The year Slap Shot was released, 1977, the Jets folded and the city of…

  • Swag Report: Dayton and Toledo

    Make friends at hockey games.  That’s my word of advice for today. In my post about the Dayton Demonz game, there is a picture of the FHL logo from one of the off-ice official’s jackets.  You can see her hand holding it straight for me.  After the game, I met up with her in the…

  • Toledo Walleye vs. Cincinnati Cyclones: Stark Contrasts

    Friday night, I was in Dayton, OH for my first Federal Hockey League game.  The arena, the game, the fans, it was what they refer to in Slap Shot as old-time hockey.  There were a few fights.  Arguments with refs took precedence over face-offs.  The tickets were cheap.  In short, it was everything you want…

  • Dayton Demonz vs. Danville Dashers: FHL Indeed

    I’m not saying this to brag, but I’ve been to a lot of hockey games.  I’ve been to 20 NHL arenas, as well as two that no longer exist and one that had a team moved from it. I’ve seen all the teams on the west coast of the United States.  I took a road…