Published: February 22, 2009 12:11 am      

Chiefs ready to hit the road in rival's bus

It’s not often the Johnstown Chiefs and Cincinnati Cyclones are on the same side during an ECHL game.

But this week, Johnstown has enlisted the aid of their North Division rivals for a grueling road trip to Estero, Fla., home of the South Division powerhouse Florida Everblades.

The Chiefs will use Cincinnati’s sleeper bus for the 1,204-mile, approximately 22-hour drive to the southern Florida outpost.

“They know how to get there because they just got back from there,” Chiefs GM Bill Bredin said during Saturday’s home game against Elmira.

“We’ll leave here on Monday and we’ll leave to come home after Saturday’s game.”

The Chiefs and Everblades will play three games in four days – Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Cincinnati had played three games at Florida on Feb. 11, 13 and 14.

The trek will be the Chiefs’ longest of the season.

The Chiefs finish a six-game homestand this afternoon against Elmira.

Johnstown is 3-1-1-0 through the first five games.

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Lemieux’s presence: A Lemieux was in the house on Saturday night. But it wasn’t Super Mario.

Instead, Mario Lemieux’s daughter, Stephanie, skated with the Team Pittsburgh Under-14 Tier I AAA girls squad during the second intermission at the War Memorial.

Team Pittsburgh won the Midwest Elite championship and is a top-rated team in the USA.

Haley Branovan also was on the ice Saturday with Team Pittsburgh. Haley is the daughter of Scott Branovan, the Roustan United president who also oversees the Chiefs’ operations.

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Points man: Chiefs forward Mike Bartlett signed a professional tryout with the AHL’s Lake Erie Monsters on Friday.

Bartlett scored the game-tying goal and assisted on the game-winning tally in a 3-1 victory at Rockford.

Former Chief Mark McCutcheon had two assists.

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Play that funky music: One of the best “old-school” moves the Chiefs have made recently involved bringing back Rick Oswald to play the keyboards during pregame and stoppages of play.

Oswald played the organ at Chiefs games in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the team averaged well over 3,000 fans a night.

Those energetic and often rowdy crowds interacted with Oswald. His rendition of “Lady of Spain,” made famous in “Slap Shot,” always drew a loud chant from Section 21: “Don’t ever play Lady of Spain again,” a la Paul Newman’s Reg Dunlop character in the movie.

Of course, those in Section 10 back then used to respond with their own chant: “Section 21 (stinks).”

Presently, Oswald provides a nice touch. His timing is impeccable whether he is playing tunes to pump up the crowd or recognizing a birthday announcement.

“He walked in the one day out of the blue and introduced himself,” Bredin said. “I jumped on it right away. How traditional is that? The feedback from the fans has been great. They love him.

“I’ve just got to teach him some Bruce Springsteen songs,” added Bredin, who is from New Jersey, home of the Boss.



Mike Mastovich is a sports writer for The Tribune-Democrat.