Some Good From A Lot Of Bad

It isn't often that professional hockey teams fold in the middle of a season, but the team with the jersey to the left - the UHL's Mohawk Valley Prowlers - were one of the few pro teams who did fold midway through their campaign. The team only lasted in Utica, New York from 1998 to 2001, so it's not like they had a massive impact on the community in their short existence. However, there are a few notes to examine when it comes to the Prowlers calling Utica home for parts of three seasons. Let's look at the Prowlers announcing their financial issues and what happened from there.

According to a report from The Associated Press on February 8, 2001, the Prowlers sought bankruptcy protection, depending on who you believe, sometime between Friday, February 2 through Tuesday, February 6 after telling a judge that the team was "spending more than 40 percent than it takes in". Citing total assets of $1.7 million and liabilities of $3.94 million, it's not hard to see why the team was suffering as it was spending $1.40 for every dollar made.

With the announcement, the players on the Prowlers' roster voted to strike in knowing that they likely weren't going to be paid until the bankruptcy matter was resolved. Rumours of missed salary payments totalling $40,000 and missed rent payments forcing players to be evicted from their apartments gave the players all the necessary motivation they needed not to play, and the team had no way of borrowing money to make their payroll while under bankruptcy protection despite owner Jack Tompkins saying that the players were owed only $5667 due to creditor protection. As a result of the team being unable to honour their contractual obligations to the players, the entire roster was declared as creditors owed money. Would ever get the money owed?

As the headline from the Syracuse Herald American stated, the Prowlers were forced to use replacement players for their scheduled game on February 11, 2001 against the BC Icemen. For those wondering, the "BC" stands for Broome County as the Icemen called Binghamton, New York home, but they took the ice against a Prowlers team that literally was made up of whoever the Prowlers could find who wasn't under contract. The end result was an 18-4 blowout by the Icemen, and Prowlers' management vowed that Wednesday's game against the Icemen would also see replacement players take the ice in Prowlers uniforms. Based on those results from Sunday, it would appear that their Prowlers needed professional players back.

It seems that Mohawk Valley wasn't done dealing their contracted players, though, as the Prowlers traded 12-goal, 35-point centerman Harold Hersh to Quad City on Monday, February 12. That's one way to satisfy one creditor as Hersh would finish the season in Quad City where he'd score 16 points in 19 games before adding six points in 11 games en route to a UHL championship!

The AHL's Lowell Lock Monsters would pick up a player from the Prowlers as well as they added noted bruiser Andre Payette from Mohawk Valley. Tye 6'2", 205-pound Payette had already made a name for himself in the UHL, scoring nine goals and 18 assists while racking up 244 PIMs in 45 games. Lowell added Payette to their lineup to replace noted pugilist Kip Brennan who returned to the OHL's Sudbury Wolves after it was discovered he still had junior hockey eligibility.

Apparently, business continued as if nothing ever changed for the Prowlers as they waived Quintin Brickley who never even played for them while claiming John Dowd from New Haven. On the other side, former leading scorer Jay Mazur, who was delcared a free agent following the bankruptcy filing, signed with New Haven to strengthen their lineup. Clearly, things were starting to crumble in Mohawk Valley, so it seemed like the inevitable was on the horizon.

On February 22, the final nail in the coffin was hammered as the Mohawk Valley Prowlers closed their doors on the season and on the franchise. With the team officially in bankruptcy proceedings, trustee Michael Balanoff oversaw the proceedings of how the team would repay its creditors which, as the article states, included over 1000 season-ticket holders. Of course, players were also included in the list of creditors, but any players still under contract and on the Prowlers payroll were officially made free agents by the UHL and were able to sign with any team of their choosing. Most players went on to find a new team by the start of the following season, but there was one replacement player whose statistics caught my attention as I was researching another story. Depending on when, he may have been part of the 18-4 loss against the BC Icemen back on February 11.

This young man is Terry Craven. In this picture taken on February 21 as the Prowlers cleared out their lockers following the announcement of the team folding, the 24 year-old had played a total of seven professional minutes of UHL hockey - one with the Asheville Smoke and six with the Mohawk Valley Prowlers. He had 24 NCAA games to his name with the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts where his GAA and save percentage weren't going to get him scouted by NHL personnel, but he could be a decent goalie with a little seasoning in the UHL.

I'm not here to bring down Terry Craven in any way because he clearly got stuck in an untenable situation. Playing for the Prowlers while the franchise crumbles is not one that any player would want, but Craven's numbers are hard to ignore. Consider the following:

In his six minutes of standing in the blue paint for the Prowlers, he surrendered five goals on 11 shots and suffered his only professional loss at the UHL level or above in terms of his professional career. That is heartbreaking to read for a kid just trying to find his way into pro hockey, but Craven's record will show his Prowlers time with an 0-1-0 record, a 46.75 GAA, and a .545 save percentage. Just brutal!

There is a bright spot, though: Craven did get picked up as a goaltender for the ECHL's Lexington Men O'War in 2003. He spent two minutes on the ice in the ECHL with Lexington and made one save, but the Men O'War clearly saw something in Craven by bringing him in as an EBUG after spending nearly two years out of hockey!

Terry Craven's story won't be a 30-For-30 on ESPN or a Netflix special, but he did get nine minutes of professional hockey under his belt. Two-thirds of that time came in a Prowlers jersey where he was thrown to the wolves, but Craven did spend two minutes in an ECHL game where he officially made one save and finished with a 0.00 GAA and a 1.000 save percentage. The Prowlers franchise may have died in 2001, gone for good, but Terry Craven wasn't quite done.

Sometimes, out of the worst situations, good things happen. While Terry Craven never had a long or propserous professional hockey career, he did stop one puck in the ECHL with the Lexington Man O'War which is more than a lot of other good goaltenders can say they did. Who knows if that would have happened had it not been for the UHL's Mohawk Valley Prowlers franchise hemorrhaging money.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

And I'm Out

There comes a time in every person's life where one walks away from something that simply cannot be saved. I'm not trying to impose any savior complex or white knight complex on anyone, but the NHL is broken. Whether it be ticket prices that are no longer affordable, TV contracts that make watching impossible, or signing players whose reputations shouldn't allow them any sort of privilege, it seems the NHL simply no longer has a place for morals and ethics. Like Mark Cuban above, because of this, I'm out on the NHL.

In the last couple of weeks, we've seen the cost of watching the game at home escalate to a point where many people are simply not going to watch any longer, and the Edmonton Oilers decided to pile on top of those problems by signing mediocre forward Alex Formenton whose name was last mentioned in North America at the Hockey Canada trial where he was one of the defendants.

The fact that the Oilers decided that Formenton was a player they needed is laughable after not playing NHL hockey for five years, but the kicker is that the Oilers seem to want ill-reputed individuals from all walks of life as part of the organization. Whether it be Carter Hart (who they looked at), Stan Bowman, or Mike Babcock, the Oilers are doing their best to be the most radioactive team in the NHL. And both McDavid and Draisaitl seem fine with this outcome.

Alex Formenton was playing hockey as a middle-six forward for Ambri-Piotta in the Swiss National League, and he was hardly close to being the best player on his own team, let alone in Switzerland. After finishing in 82nd-place in Swiss Leafue scoring, however, the Oilers saw value in the once-blossoming forward who is now 26 years-old with 33 goals and 19 assists in his last five years of hockey. Let's not forget that he also has one massive black mark on his record where he was charged with, and eventually acquitted of, sexual assault.

It's almost like the Oilers don't care about what their fans think after either kicking tires on or signing people like Jake Virtanan, Evander Kane, the aforementioned Hart, Zack Kassian, Milan Lucic, Corey Perry, Stan Bowman, and Mike Babcock. And I'll be the first to say that people deserve a second chance on the condition that those chances are granted if there is evidence that those seeking another chance have put in the work to improve one's character with receipts being clearly visible. Alex Formenton has done none of that.

The Oilers lost one major fan today when Mary Loewen, aka Mama Stanley, walked away from the team following the Formenton signing, explaining her decision by saying, "Although he was acquitted in court, I cannot ignore my conscience or what this decision represents to me. As a sexual assault survivor, I must stand by my morals and stand with the woman at the centre of this case."

Not surprisingly, the Oilers won't lose sleep over Mary's defection, but I commend Mary for her stance. Writer Nitya Prakash stated, "If you can abandon your principles for convenience, or social acceptability, then they are not your principles. They are your costume," and Mary Loewen, who has worn a number of costumes as Mama Stanley, isn't playing dress-up when it comes to her character. I stand with her.

In fact, let me go one step further: I support Mary's decision, and I'm walking away as well. From all of it. The NHL, for all its perceived good, cannot stand by and abandon whatever shreds of morals and ethics it has because five players think they deserve NHL jobs. When they allow its member teams to employ alleged bigots, racists, domestic abusers, and rapists, the NHL could be mistaken for Riker's Island rather than the best hockey league on the planet.

In saying that, today is the day where I draw the line in the sand: I will not buy tickets or merchandise, I will not pay for a cable package or streaming subscription, and I will not attend NHL events because my support indirectly justifies the behaviour of the Oilers and other teams who employ these people. I'll hit the NHL where it hurts the most by not spending money on their product. If you feel the same way about how the NHL and its member teams have behaved, feel free to join me and Mama Stanley in opting out of supporting them.

I'll still write about the important stories here on HBIC and we'll discuss them on The Hockey Show, but I will not spend one cent on the NHL moving forward. Again, no one at the NHL is going to lose sleep over one person walking away, but, if enough of us walk away, changes will have to be made. Between Rogers Communications destroying hockey broadcasts for all Canadians and the NHL being a haven for all types of criminals, I'm better off without them.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 729

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, remains out of the studio for another week, albeit for an entirely different reason. We had fun at the Hockey For All Centre last week as we chatted with Winnipeg Ice head coach Eugene Kaminsky, and this week sees us chatting with another incredible hockey mind and awesome person as we tackle a subject most seem to avoid! Who did we chat with and what's the subject? All that is answered tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason chat with author Daniel Gawthrop about his new book, Cutting Edge: Hockey as Queer Culture, and all of the topics he covered while getting his thoughts and a better understanding from his experiences about how the hockey world can be better place for everyone. They look at a very famous, historical hockey player whose past seems to indicate that he was the first gay hockey superstar, chat about making the game better for the LGBTQ+ community and for kids so that more people can be included in the "hockey is for everyone" statement, and discuss some of the ongoing realities that all of Daniel, the Cutting Edges Hockey team and association, and hockey in general faces with respect to making everyone feel welcome. It was an incredible chat with Daniel that gave Teebs and Jason new perspectives, and we need to thank Daniel for being so open and honest with us! Thanks again, Daniel!

On top of that, the interview ran for about 75 minutes, meaning that we had to cut some topics out of the interview just to fit into the time window, but Daniel kept giving us such interesting thoughts that it was hard not learn more from him! We'll post an hour of the chat tonight in giving you all of the best parts of the interview, so open your mind and tune into The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The UMFM website's streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason chat with author Daniel Gawthrop about Cutting Edge: Hockey as Queer Culture, ways to fix the game, making the game more inclusive, Don Cherry, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: September 10, 2026: Episode 729

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The First EBUG?

As we know, the NHL has mandated that every team has to have an Emergency Back-Up Goaltender, EBUG, available this season. We've already seen fun stories about Peter Thome getting his shot and the return of the first NHL EBUG to win a game, but there was an EBUG sighting on another team long before David Ayles stepped onto the ice for the Hurricanes. Pictured to the left is that EBUG, and his name is Joe Franke who was pressed into action on December 14, 2002 as the Fort Wayne Komets and Elmira Jackals battled in the ECHL! How did this happen? Who is Joe Franke? Is he officially the first EBUG in modern hockey? Let's find out as we look at this awesome hockey history!

Franke wasn't on the Fort Wayne roster that night or any other night as an everyday goaltender. Instead, Franke was hired in 1978 by the team as their full-time equipment manager, but that didn't stop him from getting his name on the line-up sheet as a netminder more than 30 times in his illustrious career before he stepped away from the organization in 2020! And that leads us to December of 2002.

Again, the Komets put out an incredible video about this significant moment in their history and in hockey history, so I'd be remiss if I didn't post it here. Here is the video about Joe Franke's big night!
Pretty incredible video, right? Franke went in with eleven minutes remaining in the third period with Fort Wayne and Elmira tied 1-1. But how did Franke even get the chance to head out onto the ice?

As mentioned in the video, Komets starting goaltender Tom Lawson was called up to Milwaukee by the AHL's Admirals as they were battling a rough stretch with injuries and recalls by the Predators. As such, that left Pokey Reddick as the lone netminder for Fort Wayne despite him struggling with a virus. Cory Campbell, Scott Rideout, and Parris Duffus were the only other goalies used by the Komets that season, and none were available for their game against Elmira, forcing Franke into stand-by mode in case anything happened.

With Reddick cramping up in the third period and unable to play, Franke was sent to the dressing room to get ready as he would be needed to stop pucks. Minutes later, Franke would emerge down the tunnel wearing #35 in full gear as he stepped onto the ice. Shortly after he took his spot in the crease, Colin Chaulk scored for the Komets and Franke, unbelievably, earned an assist on his goal!

With Fort Wayne leading 3-1 after scoring a second time in the final frame, all the Komets had to do was shut down the Jackals for the win. However, the Jackals would rally for two goals late to tie the game at 3-3, and this UHL contest needed a shootout to determine the winner. Could Franke shut the door in the skills competition?

After both shooters failed to score in the first round of the shootout, Fort Wayne scored three times - Dustin Virag, Colin Chaulk, and Kelly Perrault - while Franke stopped Aaron Phillips in Round Five to give Fort Wayne the 3-1 shootout win for the 4-3 victory in the game! As such, Franke earned the win, picked up an assist, and stopped four of six shots plus four more in the shootout! How awesome is that debut?

While he's not the first EBUG in hockey history, Joe Franke might be the first EBUG to win a game at any professional level in modern hockey. Picking up an assist is also pretty cool for any goalie, but imagine getting an assist in your only game as a professional goalie! Well done, Joe, in crossing off two major stats in one fell swoop!

Just for fun, the Komets, as mentioned in the video, won the UHL championship that season, and that would add a second championship ring to Franke's jewelry box as he had also won a Stanley Cup with the 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins! He'd also add three Turner Cup rings from the IHL and a Central Hocley Lague championship ring during his time with the Komets, but his eleven minutes in net will never be forgotten in Fort Wayne, Indiana!

I know it won't happen, but maybe the Komets should retire #35 in honour of Joe Franke's tenure and his one big win in a Komets net!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

A New Philly Cathedral?

In a joint announcement today made by the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers alongside the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers, exterior renderings of a proposed new arena in south Philadelphia were shown to gathered reporters and media. There have been rumblings as far back as 2022 about Philadelphia getting a new arena for one or both of its arena-homed teams, and today seemed to be the day where the dream became reality. Of course, there are people like me who don't wear the rose-coloured glasses that others do, so it's time to add a pinch of reality to today's announcement in only a way that HBIC can do. Let's get out the measuring tapes and calculators and break down this arena pitch!

The first thing I went searching for was who was writing the cheques for this new arena, and everything points to the arena being privately funded. As per to Josh Harris, Co-Founder of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment and Managing Partner of the Philadelphia 76ers, "Philly fans deserve the best arena in the world, and we are excited to partner with Comcast to deliver just that. This privately funded arena will be the home to moments and memories that define this city for generations," adding, "This is a new era for Philadelphia sports."

Of course, what Harris doesn't tell you is that the new arena is going to be built on the old site of the Philadelphia Spectrum located at 3601 South Broad Street. That area is currently parking lots for as far as the eye can see thanks to Citizens Bank Park, home of the Phillies, being built on the east side of the concrete jungle. If you've ever been to Kansas City, this is your future, Philadelphia.

Having walked that neightbourhood-sized parking lot in Kansas City during a late summer day, I can tell you that it was dreadfully hot as I passed by row after row of cars. I can't imagine what that would feel like in the winter, but I'd be packing for a polar expedition if I was forced to park further from the arena. Yes, there were people tailgaiting as I passed by, but I just wanted to get to my destination.

The proposed Philadelphia arena unveiled today included a "plan to extend the restaurant footprint, showcasing food-and-beverage pavilions," but I struggle to see where one will put food and beverage pavilions when there's nothing but parking spots for miles around the arena site. The Phillies aren't going to want their parking lots torn up for some restaurant that will pay rent to someone else, so this already sounds like a pipe dream when it comes to nearby amenities.

There's also the claim that this new arena will generate "hundreds of millions in new tax revenue directly benefiting the School District of Philadelphia and the city" which seems quite unlikely. Back in 2024, the 76ers were working with the city to avoid paying taxes through a means called annual "payments in lieu of taxes" or PILOTs. The catch is that "the PILOTs would almost certainly be lower than what the team would pay in real estate taxes" as per The Philadelphia Inquirer's Sean Collins Walsh. JC Bradbury, an economist at Kennesaw State University in Georgia who studies arena finance, told Walsh, "Philadelphia taxpayers would be better off if they did nothing."

The Sixers likely wouldn't abandon this money-saving idea as long as the city of Philadelphia allowed them to build on the old Spectrum site. 76ers co-owner and lead developer David Adelman justified the use of PILOTs to sports news website Crossing Broad by saying, "When you buy your house, there's a methodology for how your taxes are established, your property taxes. For stadiums and arenas, there's no real methodology, so it has to be done within this construct."

Except that's just not true. Geoffrey Propheter, a professor of public affairs at the University of Colorado-Denver, told Walsh that "[t]he Golden State Warriors own the real estate for the Chase Center" and their property tax bill in 2024 was about $19.5 million. He added additional fuel to the fire by telling Walsh, "The facility that you get — even though it's 100% privately financed for construction — is made possible because of the subsidies you get on the operating side."

By fronting the costs for the arena in whole, the Flyers and Sixers will pay less taxes directly to the city via the PILOTs for the life of the arena rather than the proper amount of taxes that would be split between the city and school district. In short, the School District of Philadelphia gets cut out of the picture if the city, Sixers, and Flyers agree to this plan. And unless the owners are crazy, they'll agree.

So let's review what wasn't said in the announcement today:

• Philadelphia will get a new arena in the middle of its largest parking lot with no real room for amenities to be built.
• Billionaire Josh Harris will pay for the arena up front in exchange for tax breaks and lower bills in perpetuity.
• The School District of Philadelphia gets screwed over by the three stakeholders agreeing to lower property tax bills.

While everyone was celebrating a new venue in Philadelphia, it's the fine print on the documents that no one sees that keep things from being better than what they are. Josh Harris is a billionaire - he can easily afford to build an arena and pay the proper amount in annual property taxes without even breaking a sweat, but that's not these arena deals work, I guess. School District of Philadelphia be damned.

We hear owners singing their own praises about job creation and funds generated, but there's always a catch to these municipal endeavours. That catch almost always benefits the owner financially, and no one ever seems to question nor contest these backroom deals. Billionaires don't need tax breaks as much as a school district could use an increase in funding, but that doesn't seem to matter in Philly.

For a place called the "City of Brotherly Love," it seems only a billionaire who promises a new arena gets that kind of love.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!