AmyV
Senior Member
Let's Go Bucs!
Posts: 199
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Post by AmyV on Mar 31, 2009 20:24:36 GMT -4
. . . my first Chiefs' jersey. Probably around 1991. It's a bit small now, but I've still got it! Didn't I take that jersey from you for like 2 1/2 years??? I remember the game that the ice was all messed up because of the motorcross event the day before. That was fun just sitting there for what....an hour or an hour and a half?
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Post by eninohio on Mar 31, 2009 20:25:44 GMT -4
I remember the Trenton game. I listened to it on the 'net and literally fell out of my chair at the conclusion of the game; couldn't believe what I had just heard!
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Post by eninohio on Mar 31, 2009 20:56:03 GMT -4
Alright...
I remember moving to Johnstown in '79, and catching the sole season of the Red Wings battling it out with the Richmond Rifles, Erie Blades, Hampton Aces, and Utica Mohawks, to name a few.
Then, during that season, becoming familiar with such names as Pierre Tremblay, Dave McQueen and player-coach Jim Cardiff. And then having the chance to know Jim since his son Warren and I would attend high school together. A great person to know, who has since passed on.
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kek
Senior Member
Posts: 180
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Post by kek on Apr 1, 2009 20:01:25 GMT -4
Crupi's memorial used to hang outside the proshop, along with a lot of other old pictures. We also used to have championship banners hanging from the rafters. Last I heard, they don't even know where those are anymore. Very little chance of getting the old pictures put back up, either, at least under current management. I can't understand why they wouldn't want to decorate the halls with old photos. That'd be the first thing I'd do, personally. Brian_V Yeah I remember the EHL championship banners. I got the the game from 1990 againist Richmond where they retired Don Hall and Dick Robgerge's numbers and the banners were hanging from the WM rafters. They were pretty nice looking and they should of kept them up. How do you lose banners like that? That's pretty dumb to lost something significant like that. Apparently, J-town isn't alone in the inexcusibly lost banners department: www.pittsburghhockey.net/HornetsPages/HornetsLOBBY.htmlOn February 3, 2001 the Pittsburgh Penguins minor-league affilaiate, The Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, played a tribute game at the Mellon Arena against the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks. The Baby Pens wore Hornets jerseys and a banner was raised at the arena that celebrated the three Hornets’ Calder Cup Championships. The banner has since been removed from inside the Mellon Arena and arena officials aren't sure of its location. hopefully something can be done to recognize the Hornets at the new arena whether it be to make new banners or find the old ones. They are an important part of the history of hockey in pittsburgh. Many people forget that the pens weren't universally embraced as there was a pretty diehard following of the Hornets and a lot of fans were sad to see them go.
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Post by TopekaBlade on Apr 8, 2009 11:54:50 GMT -4
I remember hearing that Mike Crupi was killed in a car accident. I was a kid then, to me the Jets were larger than life and totally invincible. It just didn't seem possible. I think his photo still hangs in the concourse someplace down around the pro shop, or slapshot lounge, or whatever that thing is........... The Crupi photo originally was hung in the concourse under section 22 . . . I think if you look carefully while watching "Slap Shot," you can see it. There used to be a lot of photos of individuals from the Jets' teams of the 50's and early 60's in the concourse (usually EHL all-stars), as well as wooden plaques for each team that had the names of players, the season record, coach, etc. I guess some of those were lost in the 1977 flood, but I always thought that historical touch was needed in the War Memorial--a link to the great hockey past in Johnstown.
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Post by TopekaBlade on Apr 8, 2009 12:03:29 GMT -4
We also used to have championship banners hanging from the rafters. Last I heard, they don't even know where those are anymore. I've wondered about the championship banners, as well. There was a banner for the 1975 NAHL championship, but also one recognizing the EHL championships. But as I remember back into my distant youth (mid to late 1960s), I remember that the original EHL championship banners were larger than what came later. That would suggest that there are two sets of banners that are now missing.
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Post by TopekaBlade on Apr 8, 2009 12:08:22 GMT -4
And speaking of the 1975 championship, is that really too easy to remember as a favored memory in Johnstown's hockey history that nobody else has mentioned it?
It's been a long time since seeing those Jets skate around the ice after winning the Lockhart Cup, beating Binghamton for the title. But I also remember after the game, the car horns blaring away on the city streets in celebration. I believe it was a disc jockey at WCRO that called for people to sound their horns for the Jets' victory.
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Post by TopekaBlade on Apr 8, 2009 17:43:57 GMT -4
One more thought--an item that still sits in the corner of my apartment here in Topeka, a wooden, neutral hockey stick. Upon closer examination, it has the words "Johnstown Jets" stamped on the shaft. Somehow it was never used.
The stick is now over 40 years old. I could figure out the night I got it; I think it was a December 17th, in either 1965 or 1966. The Jets were playing the Greensboro Generals that night, and it was stick night. They were still giving away actual wooden hockey sticks.
They were wise enough, of course, to wait until the end of the game to distribute the sticks, and you did need a parent to be with you as I recall, and my father filled that role that evening. They handed them out at the end of the arena so you could go out the door and into Lee Place, which still ran through to the river at that time--and on the other side of Lee Place, there were still residences that would be gone in a few years, thanks to the Market Street West redevelopment.
At the time we were living almost across from the Arena, down Napoleon Street and almost to Walnut. The Pasquerilla Convention Center now has it's main door almost where our house was. The great advantage for us kids in the neighborhood were the Sunday afternoon games when parents were happy to have us out of their hair for a few hours, and Section 6 was just 35 cents and then 50 cents for kids under 14, I think.
And of course it was great for us kids, to sit there and cheer on the Jets and yell things at players on the other team--like "you big chicken Brophy." That was John Brophy, of course, and it wasn't much different from what the adults were yelling at him, a four-letter word after chicken that we angels would never yell . . .
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Post by BrianV on May 28, 2009 22:57:00 GMT -4
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Post by section13fan on Aug 6, 2009 18:59:38 GMT -4
Awesome stuff.
It's been quite a ride with the Pens over the years....some hard times, and some very, very good times. But through it all, Mario is the man. What a story.....
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