ICE ZONE Zoldan brings in hockey club
The team will compete in the Continental Elite Hockey League.
By JOANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
BOARDMAN -- The Mahoning Valley will slide into a new sport with the announcement by an area businessman today that a minor league hockey team will be based at the Ice Zone on McClurg Road.
The Phantom Rockets will be the ninth team added to the Continental Elite Hockey League, a junior A league. Their inaugural season will begin in October. Team owner Bruce Zoldan is also president and CEO of Phantom Fireworks in Youngstown and is a part owner of the Ice Zone.
The team will wear Red, White and Blue jerseys with a rocket emblazoned on the front.
"This will be on a much higher level than Youngstown or the Mahoning Valley has ever seen," Zoldan said. " I am optimistic we will have a successful following."
The coach
The minor league team for players ages 18 through 22 will be coached by Bob Hawthorne of Beaver Falls, Pa. He has 22 years of coaching experience.
Hawthorne said team members will live with host families in the area and will attend high school or college or maintain full time jobs. He said players will be encouraged to attend Youngstown State University.
The team will play 52 games, half at the Ice Zone. Players, 24 in all, will be recruited locally, from outside the state and outside the country. Tryouts will begin this weekend at Ice Zone.
"For young players of the area it will give them something to look up to, something to build to," Hawthorne said. "Our goal, some day, it to have most of the kids from this area playing for the Phantom Rockets."
The CDHL has teams in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. The league is based in Fraser, Mich. Commissioner Kevin A. Shanahan said annual cost to maintain a team is about $160,000 to $170,000.
Lost patience
Zoldan said he had lost patience waiting for progress on Youngstown's arena project.
"This is obviously the quickest way to bring hockey to the valley. We don't need any political approval to bring hockey to Boardman," he said.
Also attending the press conference to announce the team were David Burda, Zoldan's Ice Zone Partner; YSU athletic director Ron Strollo, Mahoning County Republican party chairman Clarence Smith; former state senator Harry Meshel, and Boardman Trustees Tom Costello and Kathy Miller.
"Our goal is for each of these boys to some day get scholarships to play hockey and for them hopefully to have an NHL player we can say came from the Ice Zone," said Miller who prides herself a hockey mom. "Let's kick ice."
viviano@vindy.com