Bigger can mean better regarding af2 success

Tom Williams \ Thunder Insider

Last week, the Mahoning Valley Thunder’s first road game of the season was played in Tulsa’s new state-of-the-art BOK Center, an 18,000-seat arena that would appear to be more suitable for a NHL or NBA team than a minor-league arena football game.

Thunder coach Mike Hold, who played in the Arena Football League, said the Oklahoma arena was disguised to appear smaller.

“They had the whole top curtained off so it almost looked like our arena,” said Hold, referring to the 6,000-seat Chevrolet Centre. “There was nobody up top.

“It was a nice arena, huge,” Hold said. “We don’t ever see square end zones in our league and it had square end zones, which is nice if you practice against them. It gives you that extra room.”

The BOK Center also is home to the Central Hockey League’s Tulsa Oilers, the team that traded for Youngstown SteelHounds captain Jeff Christian in June 2007.

So does playing in such facility give the Talons an edge? Maybe.

Their game against the Thunder drew 6,305 fans. The attendance at the Thunder’s first two games at the Chevrolet Centre were announced as 3,713 and 3,465.

“Oh, it was a nice arena,” Thunder linebacker Taz Wallace said. “Tulsa has to be one of the best arenas in the league.

“It’s football, but it’s always good when you play in front of a good crowd in a nice arena,” Wallace said. “It’s a good feeling regardless of whether you are playing at home or you are away.

“They have great support out in Tulsa, a great following. You could tell before the game started.”

Obviously, Tulsa, which supported the Talons to the af2 championship in 2007, is primed to become home to an Arena Football League franchise when that league resurfaces.

Saturday the Thunder travel to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., to play the Pioneers, another consistently successful af2 team.

The Pioneers’ home is Wachovia Arena which has 8,000 permanent seats and room for about 2,000 more for concerts.

In the Pioneers’ first two home games, the attendance was 4,791 and 5,655.

The arena also is home to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton “Baby” Penguins of the American Hockey League, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ top farm club.

Perhaps it’s a coincidence that more seats leads to increased fan support.

Maybe not.

But Hold agrees that the Pioneers boast consistency.

“They’ve got [quarterback] Ryan Vena whose been in the AFL, who’s been in Wilkes-Barre for three years.

“They’ve got receivers who have been there two or three years,” Hold said. “They’ve got a lot of guys with experience. That’s huge for them. They are just a very polished team that normally doesn’t a lot of mistakes.”

Perhaps it’s a coincidence that top players migrate to the af2’s stable franchises and stay there.

With the season reaching the one-quarter mark this weekend, Hold knows a win on Saturday could lift the Thunder (1-2) into a division race.

The third-year coach believes his squad is much better than the 2008 squad that started 1-7.

“Last week, we pass protected well, we had four stops on them in the first half,” said of the Thunder who trailed 27-14 at halftime. “You don’t get four stops in a game usually.

“So you walk away from that game going ‘Dad gum, if we just take care of the ball, we can beat these guys,” Hold said. “You look at the score but when you turn it over six times and they don’t, it gets ugly.

“All of [the turnovers] resulted in points but three of them were returned for touchdowns,” Hold said. “That kills you. In this game, you can’t afford that. We just need to figure out how to not turn the ball over and we’re going to.

“We’ve got an unbelievable attitude, the guys are positive, the understand it, they know that we can compete,” Hold said. “We know we’re pass blocking, we know we’re going out and hitting their quarterback.

“All we’ve got to do is take care of the football and once we do we’re going to win a lot of football games.”

williams@vindy.com