Published: October 17, 2009 11:55 pm      

MIKE MASTOVICH | Owner ‘excited’ about new season

Hockey season finally arrived on Saturday night in the city dubbed “Chiefstown”

That development took on added significance to Johns-

town Chiefs majority owner Neil Smith.

Throughout a tumultuous summer, Smith was adamant that the Chiefs would play at Cambria County War Memorial Arena in October and beyond.

As word of the team’s financial struggles began to circulate in June and July, Smith said he was committed to the Chiefs.

Even when the arena lease negotiations dragged on and the former team management group stepped aside, Smith remained positive.

And when his franchise unexpectedly lost one of the best coaches the ECHL Chiefs have seen during the first week of August, there was no panic from Smith or his GM, Bill Bredin.

When the puck dropped for Johnstown’s opener against the Cincinnati Cyclones in front of 2,353 fans at the War Memorial, Smith was there, watching from a luxury box above Section 19.

“I was excited when I was driving in. I was excited about the game and excited to get the season going and mostly about the way things have come together from the business standpoint and the hockey standpoint,” said Smith, who has owned the team since 2002.

“We have a good coach. Bill Bredin is a good GM. Bills are being paid. We’re cleaning up our debt. I think people are excited in the town about the team. It’s all positive after a lot of negativity.”

As has been the case for at least a decade, maybe longer, Chiefs fans wondered whether or not ECHL hockey would be played at the arena again. Concerns about the team’s future are nothing new, but the past two offseasons might have been the closest this town has come to losing its current pro team.

Then, a series of developments turned the pessimism into cautious optimism.

SMG took over as management of the War Memorial. The Chiefs’ lease issues were resolved. Smith eventually found a yet unnamed investor who has helped stabilize the financial situation for an organization whose reputation took a hit with each bill that went unpaid both locally and throughout the hockey world.

“We’re trying to make it simple for everybody,” Smith said, declining to name the investor.

“I wanted to get some support for me and my ownership of the team. It’s certainly nobody that’s going to have any influence about taking the Chiefs out of Johnstown or any of the worries people have year to year here.”

The Chiefs owner liked seeing something new at the War Memorial and something historic, too.

“It was like coming out of the dark ages when I walked into the building and saw they were going to scan my tickets. It really made me happy,” Smith said of the laser scanning that replaced arena ushers who ripped the ticket stubs as fans entered the turnstiles. “That’s the professional way to do things. You have to have a ticket to get into the building. This is the way it’s done everywhere else in the world. I’m extremely happy about that. Everything is extremely professional.”

Further down the arena concourse former Johnstown Jets enforcer Dave Hanson signed autographs and his book, “Slap Shot Original: The Man, the Foil, The Legend.” Hanson played one of the bespectacled Hanson Brothers in the 1977 Paul Newman movie “Slap Shot” filmed in Johnstown.

“It’s great,” Smith said of Hanson’s appearance. “I hope we can do more things with Dave and Steve and the Carlsons so that we can make them feel a part of it. I hope they feel a part of it.

“I know that the people of Johnstown might think that the movie is overplayed,” added Smith, the former Stanley Cup-winning GM of the New York Rangers. “They want to have their own team and not really have just a movie team, and I really respect that. But Johnstown does have a special place in hockey because of the movie.

“I really think that in hockey worldwide Johnstown has a special place. At least that’s what I hear from everybody when I go out. To have a star of the movie come in is really a tribute to the team and the city.”

The Chiefs dropped their opener 2-0 to the Cyclones.

But all things considered, Smith probably had no complaints about one setback during a 72-game schedule many feared might not be played here.



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