pioneer98 wrote:Minor league hockey is my 2nd favorite thing to baseball. I wasn't sure whether to put this in "other sports" or here, but it's a long read about a reporter who traveled with an ECHL team. The ECHL is the minor pro league 2 rungs below the NHL (ECHL -> AHL -> NHL). For reference, I believe the Blues' AHL affiliate is the San Antonio Rampage and their ECHL affiliate is the Tulsa Oilers.
I was surprised to read that the Beast do not have to put players up in apartments. I think they get away with it because most of their roster is from that greater Toronto area. But teams that don't have that (like the Tulsa Oilers) do have to provide apartments for players.
pioneer98 wrote:Minor league hockey is my 2nd favorite thing to baseball. I wasn't sure whether to put this in "other sports" or here, but it's a long read about a reporter who traveled with an ECHL team. The ECHL is the minor pro league 2 rungs below the NHL (ECHL -> AHL -> NHL). For reference, I believe the Blues' AHL affiliate is the San Antonio Rampage and their ECHL affiliate is the Tulsa Oilers.
I was surprised to read that the Beast do not have to put players up in apartments. I think they get away with it because most of their roster is from that greater Toronto area. But teams that don't have that (like the Tulsa Oilers) do have to provide apartments for players.
OK I finally finished this whole article. A few other things or stories I can share about some of this.
- It did mention that the Beast coach Colin Chaulk won 5 championships when he played in Fort Wayne. He actually captained all those teams and he is kind of a legend there. They did offer him a coaching job when he retired from playing but there was some kind of falling out and he got pissed and left. This is a recurring theme with Fort Wayne. They are one of the richest teams in the league and probably more than double the Beast attendance but players often leave there pissed. A couple years ago 3 players demanded to be traded. Rumor was it was because the team was holding some players back from being called up (2 of them were called up immediately after being traded).
-Brandon Marino won an MVP award here in the Quad Cities in the now defunct Central Hockey League. That was his 3rd year as a pro. His first two seasons he had not scored more than 13 goals, but he did get a lot of assists. The coach that year unleashed him and he erupted for 41 goals and 49 assists in a 66 game schedule. It was cool to see him develop like that and there is no doubt he would be at a higher level if he wasn't so small. He's listed as 5'9 but there is no way. He is probbaly 5'6". He's shorter than me and I'm 5'8".
-The article did not give a clear description of the salary cap and how it works. First of all, most ECHL teams have 6 or 8 or even more players under AHL or NHL contracts that get sent down. Those players make a lot more. Players on an ECHL roster with an AHL contract only count for $500 against the weekly cap, which is near the bottom. This frees up money to go sign players near the top of the weekly cap. Ideally most teams have 6 or 8 AHL players, then another 6 or 8 making closer to the max. Then the rest of the players might be making closer to the minimum. But some teams like the Beast don't get many players sent down and that really puts them in a bind.
- Finally, most teams have a booster club. Our club sends a bin full of snacks and food on every bus trip specifically so they don't starve, as described in that article. We also have a storage unit full of stuff and we help furnish their apartments. The team rents apartments with furniture, but its all the other stuff we provide - pillows, sheets, pots, pans, coffee makers, irons and ironing boards (players scratched wear suits to the games and watch in the stands), and whatever else they might need. If they have a wife or serious girlfriend who is pregnant, we'll throw a baby shower. And so on. This kind of thing is also a big recruiting edge for a team.
Quincy Jones is either amusing himself by telling the biggest lies with all of his credibility behind it or he's telling the truth. Truth like he bought drugs from Malcolm X, Truman Capote was the wild racist, Marlon Brando had sex with Richard Pryor, he saw Ray Charles shoot heroin into his testicles, and much more. He [expletive] Ivanka Trump. Do yourself a favor.
I’ve been to Elephant Island. Would not want to spend a year there. Also been to Tom Crean’s bar in Annascaul. You could say I’m a bit of a Shackleton fanboy.