Hockey mixed bag in 2008

While watching Thursday’s NHL Winter Classic from Wrigley Field, it was hard to not reflect on the roller-coaster ride professional hockey took Mahoning Valley fans on in 2008.

(What’s that you say? Watch hockey on the day that was created for college football bowl games? Well to paraphrase that great northern philosopher Yukon Cornelius — “You watch what you want and I’ll watch what I want.”)

Last spring, the Pittsburgh Penguins thrilled us with their third trip to the Stanley Cup Finals. Unlike a year before when the Cleveland Cavaliers advanced to the NBA Finals but were swept easily by the San Antonio Spurs, the Pens actually had a chance against the dominant Detroit Red Wings.

The Pens fell in six games, but not before a memorable double-overtime victory in Game 5 that threw a shock into overconfident Hockeytown.

That wasn’t the only good news for hockey fans here. When the Stanley Cup Playoffs began in April, Armstrong Cable, which services most of Mahoning County, added Versus, the cable-TV home of the NHL. In the first month of the playoffs, there was a doubleheader available almost every night.

The glory run by the Pens (series wins over the Ottawa Senators, New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers) contrasted with the end of minor-league hockey in Mahoning County.

In early 2008, Youngstown’s Chevrolet Centre was home to the Youngstown SteelHounds of the Central Hockey League. The only CHL team in the Eastern time zone, the SteelHounds were competitive despite the heavy travel requirements, finishing with the league’s fourth-best record.

But because the SteelHounds didn’t win the Northeast Division, they were seeded third in the Northern Conference playoffs to get their second-straight playoff series against perennial contender Colorado. The Eagles, winner of the Northwest Division, earned home-ice advantage despite having fewer points.

What made the end of the CHL season so much fun was that the Colorado Eagles and SteelHounds closed with a three-game series at the Chevrolet Centre then played five more in the postseason.

SteelHounds owner Herb Washington, who had been toying with the idea of joining a league with less travel requirements, told fans after the Game 5 loss that the SteelHounds would be back, probably in the CHL.

Oops.

On June 2, the night when the Pens’ Max Talbot scored with 32 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime in Game 5, the CHL eliminated Washington’s travel expenses woes by booting the SteelHounds from the league because of unpaid fees.

Washington’s options were limited. The midwest-based International Hockey League was willing to adopt the SteelHounds but wanted a multi-year commitment. Washington did nothing.

The ECHL, which has teams on both coasts, is considered by most hockey analysts to be the strongest league at the Double A level. However, it would cost someone at least $2 million to create a new franchise and buy into the ECHL. In the current economy, there are very few businessmen willing to take that risk, with good reason. As entertaining and competitive as the SteelHounds were, they did not attract enough customers to break even.

The real loser in the ouster was the City of Youngstown, which lost its main tenant (32 dates) in a building starving for customers. The Chevrolet Centre desperately needs patrons to generate money to pay off the city’s mortgage on the arena.

Bruce Zoldan’s Mahoning Valley Phantoms, an amateur team, are playing 25 home games at the Chevrolet Centre this season. No one knows how long that arrangement will continue.

That’s why the highlight of the old year was the Penguins’ two wins in the Stanley Cup Finals. Trailing 2-0 in the series, the Pens rebounded with a Game 3 win at Mellon Arena on May 28.

Three nights later, the Pens led 1-0 and the 17,500 fans in Mellon Arena were dreaming of a tied series. The alarm clock went off when the Red Wings scored twice then killed off a 5-on-3 Penguins power play in the third period.

Listening to the postgame talk show on the drive home, at least one fan sarcastically screamed at his car radio when Bob Grove and Phil Bourque suggested the Pens weren’t dead, that they could win a game in Motown.

They were right. (Oops.) Petr Sykora’s overtime goal forced Game 6 at Mellon Arena. It was the first time that the Stanley Cup was inside the NHL’s oldest arena — in 1991 and 1992, the Pens clinched the Cup in road games.

In Game 6, the Red Wings won, 3-2.

What a ride we took.

XTom Williams is a sportswriter for The Vindicator. Write him at williams@vindy.com.