Payday Memorabilia: 2/10/1940 Huntington Stars Program

Click for a readable size.

This edition of Payday Memorabilia brings one of the best items I'll ever feature on here - an original program from a game between Penn State and the semi-pro Huntington Stars at the Iceland Arena in West Virginia in 1940.

First, a little on the item itself. It's just a single sheet that measures about 6" x 9" folded, 12" x 9" unfolded and is in better shape than I'll be in when I'm 71. There are three sets of staple holes near the fold, but unfortunately whatever was stapled there at one time has been lost to history (the eBay seller I bought this from had several other Huntington Stars programs like this, all had the staple holes, none had the staples or what was attached to them). Other than that? Not much that isn't already apparent from the pictures. You have a front with the standard depiction of the venue and essential game details, a back with humorously dated ads ($4.25 skates?), and an inside that features the two teams' lineups, some additional biographical stuff about the Huntington players, the basic rules of hockey and some information about Iceland skating sessions.

Let's get a better look at the Penn State lineup:

In case you're wondering, John Dufford wasn't with the team until just after this game. They could have used him, as you'll see in a second.

Here's the Collegian's coverage of the weekend trip, which also included a game against a semi-pro team in Charleston the night before the Huntington tilt. The pre-gamer from the February 9, 1940 issue is on the left, while the only mention of the events of the games, from February 16th, is on the right. The attempt to quickly move on to the Duquesne game isn't really shocking, considering.

That Huntington Stars team wasn't half bad. As you can see on the program, Pete Donald and Dick Maley both went to Clarkson, where they teamed up on the 1937-1938 team that went 13-1-1, beating Cornell, Dartmouth, Yale and Princeton by a combined 28-5. Harry Wood, Jr. played three seasons at New Hampshire. George Tessier subsequently played in the IHL during the formative years of that league.

However, as it turns out, despite being 12 goals better than the pucksters on that day, the Stars, the Charleston team PSU played the previous day, and indeed even the Stars' home ice have a history just as temporary as our original varsity program.

---

[In] 1938, a year after West Virginia's first indoor ice rink opened up in Kanawha City, its second opens right down Rt. 60 in Huntington, a swanky little place at the corner of 7th Avenue and 1st Street called Iceland. The first hockey games were played that December, originally with a mix of Charleston and Huntington fellows, but rather quickly a rivalry formed between Huntington's Stars and Charleston's Ice Sports (later Comets). Beyond the Rt. 60 duels - which would grow to include high school squads as well - teams would come to town from Pittsburgh, Detroit, Toledo, Akron, New York, and even Ontario (a town called Petrolia, to be precise), and Huntington proved to be quite competitive.

With incoming teams came incoming attention, as Huntington and Charleston entered discussions with team owners about forming a new league. This league, the Tri-State Hockey League, would officially start in fall 1940; unfortunately, while they were slated to have six teams take the ice in 1941 - Pittsburgh and Johnstown would be stragglers - only Huntington, Charleston, and Akron were ready for the start of play. A team from Toledo was to begin play in early 1941, but these plans were dashed just a week before they were to enter league play.

Despite good crowds at Stars games, the management at Iceland ran into money troubles, and in February 1941 the rink announced it was closing up; under new management, it would be converted into a multi-purpose venue, and the rechristened Arena Gardens would become the home for Marshall basketball in the years afterward. With Charleston's primary foe vanquished permanently, Ice Sports decided to pull the plug on the Comets, who could only draw a crowd when Huntington came to town anyway! With that, the league ended rather inauspiciously.

Arena Gardens would host Marshall College basketball until a fire consumed the building in April 1945.

---

One of the things that really fascinates me about history is the way things can just come and go, leaving no trace whatsoever except in the memories of those who witnessed it and the occasional scrap of paper. And not just trivialities in a lot of cases. On the Penn State side of things, we had a brand-new hockey program that would retroactively be named varsity. The future was ahead of it. Iceland was the second indoor ice rink in West Virginia, and there was a probably a big to-do when it opened. I'm sure the Huntington and Charleston outfits had big plans for their organizations and league. Within a decade, all of those things were wiped off of the face of the Earth. And if not for this program and the Collegian archives, this game may as well have never happened.

Payday Memorabilia: 1999-2000 Findlay Schedule

Findlay? What's that? Well, other than being a pretty inconsequential university of about 5,000 students in northwest Ohio, for a brief time it was also a big-time hockey program. Really. I mean it.

The school started at the Division II level in 1996 and had some success, going 23-5-0 in 1998-1999. But when the NCAA decided to discontinue the DII championship following that season due to the small number of schools at that level, it forced the ones that did exist to make an important choice: play up or play down.

Former DII schools Findlay, Alabama-Huntsville and Bemidji State went with the first answer. They joined with Division I independents Air Force, Army and Niagara and new program Wayne State to form College Hockey America, a Division I conference, for the 1999-2000 season (WSU officially joined in 2000-2001).

So you're the Findlay Oilers, and you decide to host a tournament Thanksgiving weekend of your first DI season. Who do you bring in to move the needle and generate some interest in your fledgling program? Surely not a future conference opponent, one from the other mid-major DI conference and an ACHA team, right?

Oh, okay.

Now that you've figured out why I'm talking about Findlay, I guess I should point out that the Icers acquitted themselves quite well in the AEP Classic, losing 6-2 to Findlay in the opener before defeating Wayne State 5-2 in the third-place game.

"It was an emotional locker room after the game," [Joe] Battista said [following the Wayne State tilt]. "This ranks among the top three or four wins this program has had since I've been here."

[Mark] Scally, who had 34 saves Friday, made 46 saves Saturday. [Rob] Shaner, who had two goals in each game, made the All-Tournament team.

Hey, don't laugh. The Warriors had Michael Peca's brother David. True story.

We know where Penn State's saga goes from there, but what of Findlay and Wayne State? Well, in sort of a crazy twist, PSU's the only one of the three with a Division I program in 2011, as the former measuring sticks dropped men's hockey in 2004 and 2008, respectively (Wayne State still has a women's program). Findlay departed having never won more than 11 games in DI and faded back into obscurity just as quickly as they had burst onto the scene, making a sudden announcement over halfway through their final season.

Wayne State had a little more success, winning four CHA regular season or tournament titles, and even making an NCAA tournament appearance in 2003, the first year the conference had an autobid. In their first season, about a month before the loss to the Icers, the Warriors lost a tight 3-2 decision to St. Lawrence - who ended that season in the Frozen Four. Still, they ultimately suffered the same fate as Findlay, for the same financial reasons.

The CHA itself is also gone, a victim of its large geographic footprint and the budgetary issues that resulted. Army jumped to what is now Atlantic Hockey after just one season. The other NCAA hockey-playing service academy, Air Force, joined them in 2006, just after Derek Schooley and his new Robert Morris program stepped in to replace Findlay in 2004. However, following Wayne State's departure from the scene (to go with the pending loss of the conference autobid due to having fewer than six teams), the remaining programs wisely sensed the end for the CHA and decided to find other conference arrangements. Niagara and RMU joined Air Force and Army in Atlantic Hockey while Bemidji State got into the WCHA. The CHA folded after last season, leaving Alabama-Huntsville in the pretty tough spot of having to make do as the only DI independent after they were rejected by the CCHA.

Want to full-circle this puppy? Check out what USCHO had to say when the CHA's foundation started to crack, circa 2006:

The loss of the CHA could accelerate the possibility of a Big Ten hockey conference. Depending on your allegiances and regional affiliation, this is either an exciting development or a terrible omen. If CHA teams were to be absorbed into existing leagues, college hockey ends up with as many as 59 Division I teams packed into five conferences, some of which would have as many as 14 members.

Cozy, no?

That gridlock could stoke the fire beneath the always-bubbling pot of a Big Ten league, which would potentially be composed of Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Minnesota, Wisconsin and a sixth team like North Dakota, Penn State (which would have to move up to varsity from club status) or Notre Dame.

Since most of those schools are consistent NCAA tournament contenders (with Notre Dame back on the rise under new head coach Jeff Jackson, and Penn State potentially able to bring muscle to a new varsity program), the move would create a superconference that would wield extra power at the highest levels of the NCAA management structure. That’s because the Big Ten, unlike current Division I hockey leagues, is a multisport conference with a strong national profile.

Payday Memorabilia: 1981-1982 Central Counties Bank button

I think most Penn Staters are probably familiar with the "bank buttons" produced for each PSU football game for 38 years and ubiquitously worn on fall Saturdays in State College. If you're not a Penn Stater, here's a quick introduction.

Each fall, Citizens Bank [and Central Counties/Mellon Banks before them] distributes free booster buttons in central Pennsylvania. Every week there is a unique slogan for the upcoming Nittany Lion football rivalry.

Slogans are chosen from fan-submitted entries, and most fans are not professional comedy writers. A few from last football season were "Winners Take Owl" (Temple), "No Greece Lightning Here" (Michigan State) and "We Prefer Punxsutawney Phil" (Minnesota). Yikes.

What many people, Penn Staters included, might not know is that these buttons are also produced for other PSU sports including men's and women's basketball, wrestling, volleyball and hockey - although these just get one button per season, not one for every game. But then again, you may have picked up on that considering there's a picture of an old hockey one at the top of this post.

How old? 1981-1982, which I know thanks to this site that is dedicated mostly to documenting the football buttons, but also includes a page on the other sports. It's the second ever in the hockey series - the first said "The Ice Is Back...Back The Icers" to commemorate the opening of the Ice Pavilion in 1980-1981.

Thanks mostly to the button, PSU finished 24-8-0 (tying the then-program record for wins) and finished third in the nation in 1981-1982.

Payday Memorabilia: 1999 ACHA National Tournament Puck

With the ACHA National Championships getting underway Saturday, I thought it would be a perfect time for this one - a look back at the other time Delaware hosted the national championships, 1999. As I'm sure you know by now, I'll take my Payday Memorabilia with a theme, thank you very much.

Information about this tournament has gotten sparse in the ensuing 12 years (it was like three ACHA websites ago, after all), but here's what I think I know about it.

• Ten teams participated in the tournament from March 3-7, 1999, with the bottom four teams required to play single-elimination play-in games on the first day of the tournament. Eastern Michigan and Towson defeated Illinois and Western Michigan in these games.
• Towson and EMU advanced into group play with the top six. The groups went something like:
• Group A: 1. Iowa State, 4. Ohio, 5. Delaware, 8. Eastern Michigan
• Group B: 2. Penn State, 3. Michigan-Dearborn, 6. Arizona, 7. Towson
• The format from that point: each team played everyone in their group. The winners of each group met in the championship game. That was it - no semifinals or consolation games beyond, I think, a third-place game.
• The Icers beat Towson, Arizona and Dearborn 5-1, 4-1 and 5-2 respectively. Iowa State similarly breezed through Group A, capped by maybe the most memorable game of the tournament, a 2-1 decision over Ohio where the winning goal with about a minute left was scored on a blatantly offside play.
• The PSU-ISU championship game seemed almost inevitable from the beginning, more so than any championship game since in my opinion. The two teams were the class of the ACHA all season long, and the final of the Nittany Lion Invitational that season (a 5-3 Cyclone win that took not only that tournament title, but the No. 1 ranking as well, away from the Icers) gave us a glimpse of what was in store.
• And of course, there was that championship game, as well as what happened after it and a pretty awesome column about Al Murdoch...

I'll leave this post with this logo for this season's tournament. The caption gives away why.

Brilliant nod to the past or just laziness? YOU make the call.

Payday Memorabilia: 1992 ICHL Championship Banner

The ESCHL tournament gets underway tomorrow, but today, we're going back in Icers history to their conference home from 1984-1992. Of course, I'm speaking of the International Collegiate Hockey League (ICHL), also affectionately known as the "Iron League" after the league the Hanson Brothers supposedly came from in Slap Shot. You can probably deduce the intensity level of the games against teams like Buffalo, Buffalo State and Erie CC from this moniker. The "I" part of the conference's name, in actuality, came from Niagara College in Welland, ON and Conestoga College in Kitchener, ON.

Penn State plowed through this conference with a 14-1-1 record - the best ever in ICHL regular-season play - to earn the title in 1991-1992. The clincher took place against Erie on February 8th, a 6-1 decision that was satisfying on many levels.

[The Icers avenged] several disappointments in recent years. Penn State had lost last year's regular season title to Erie by a point. They had also lost, 7-6, in overtime to the Kats this season on Jan. 4. In that game, Coach Joe Battista was upset with several marginal calls that went Erie's way.

The tie in that record was against Niagara exactly one week after the loss to Erie, so that 2-1-1 record over two weekends was the closest thing to adversity Penn State faced during the regular season ICHL schedule. With the top seed in hand for the conference tournament, fifth-place Buffalo State (5-11-0) was the opponent, but things didn't go quite as well there.

The result was a 5-4 controversial loss for Penn State that ended its hopes of leaving the league with a championship. The team will be leaving the ICHL to join another league next season. Icer Coach Joe Battista also failed in his quest to become the first ICHL Coach of the Year to win a ICHL Championship in the same year.

Why "controversial?" The Icers trailed 5-4 in the waning seconds of the game, then...

Dave Murphy scored what appeared to be the game-tying goal with one second remaining. The ensuing celebration was stifled when the referee waved off the score, ruling that the net was dislodged before the shot went into the net.

After an seemingly endless debate involving referees, coaches and players, it was ruled that the net was intentionally knocked off by a Buffalo State defenseman. In the National Hockey League, such an infraction would result in a goal for the scoring team. But not in the college game.

"Knowing the rules, you have got to give the defenseman credit," Battista said. "He did what he had to do to win. I don't teach my players to win that way."

Penn State was thusly awarded the penalty shot.

And of course, why would it be controversial if the penalty shot was successful?

[Andy] McLaughlin took the puck at center ice, skated to his right. He reversed his direction, cut across mid-ice and attempted to juke the goalie with a backhand shot to the left side of the net. Economou never bit, and the puck died amidst his pads. The red light never flashed. No goal. The Bengals' celebration begun.

One unusual quirk of those days: this season-ending game took place after Penn State had already finished third at the first national championship tournament under the ACHA banner (incidentally, this was also the only time PSU hosted nationals). This odd timing led to situations like 1989, when the Icers skipped nationals to focus on the ICHL tournament - can you imagine that happening today? The tactic proved successful, as PSU won their only other ICHL title, this one of the tournament variety, on home ice against Buffalo 8-6 after twice overcoming two-goal deficits in front of a raucous, standing-room-only crowd.

So what of the actual banner? Well, there's a reason I waited until the end to talk about it. I assume they were given to members of the team or something. I have no idea though. A bunch of years later, someone found a box of them somewhere, and they sold them at a game. I bought one. It measures about 9.5" x 17.5" and is made of a felt-like material that may actually be felt for all I know about fabric. Riveting stuff there.

Payday Memorabilia: Lukas DeLorenzo WUG jersey

Sticking with the World University Games theme that's been so prevalent here over the last week-plus and in honor of Team USA's quarterfinal tilt with Belarus in a few hours, this week's Payday Memorabilia is a replica of the jersey former Icer Lukas DeLorenzo wore at the 2009 event in Harbin, China.

Before I go any further, I want to offer an unpaid endorsement for IceJerseys, the people who helped me put this together. If you're a true jersey nerd like myself, you'll appreciate the fact that they're also jersey nerds who are insane about details and able to customize more than just current NHL styles. Check them out, you won't regret it.

Basically, my starting point was DeLo's shootout winner against Slovakia in group play, which looked something like this.

I'd always wanted a Team USA jersey, and figured hey, why not get one of a Penn Stater who was part of a big moment in an international competition? So I scoured the internet for pictures, but unfortunately had little luck beyond this USA Hockey photo gallery. Among the best pictures from that:

Hey, that's Jamie Zimmel!

From these, I concluded that the team was wearing jerseys modeled after the old Nikes worn by the silver-medal winning US team at the 2002 Olympics, and in a few other competitions from that era. Next stop: eBay, to find someone selling a blank one of those in 2009, which I found for about $15 after a couple months. After that, it was off to the post office to mail it to the Montreal area with instructions to "do it like the 2002 Olympic team." A few weeks later it came back as you see it at the top of the post, complete with DeLorenzo's No. 19 that he wore in the WUG and the A on the front, as he was an alternate captain on the team as well.

PS. If you're another jersey nerd reading this, I know it's not a perfect match. For starters, the WUG team wasn't wearing Nikes, just K1s meant to look like Nikes. Which of course means no swoosh on the front for the WUG version, and no star shoulder patches. Also, the numbers on the WUG jerseys, to me, look to be a little thicker and cut slightly differently. But until you can do it better based on the information available, don't hate.

Payday Memorabilia: Joe Battista BWI

The only thing I hate about hockey is the fact that lazy headline writers love it. How many times has "Iceman Cometh" been used for a hockey story in a non-hockey publication? Twelve billion? Yes, it's played on ice. Good on you for picking up on that.

You know what's always a blast? Hindsight. This autographed edition of Blue White Illustrated, dated August 21st, 2002 and featuring Joe Battista on the cover, offers that in spades as it takes a look at the "fight to make hockey a varsity sport." How was that fight going over eight years ago?

Next stop, the coach hopes, is Division I. He said people in the hockey world are "dumbfounded" that Penn State has not yet made that transition, that it has not become the sixth Big Ten team to field a big-time program.

"We're just chomping at the bit for a chance," Battista said. "I would really like to see it happen."

They will need that new arena, and that will take, by Battista's estimate, $10 million to $15 million to build. They will have to jump through other some other bureaucratic hoops.

"I believe it's only a matter of time before it's going to happen," he said. "You've got to start somewhere."

$10 million to $15 million? Glad he didn't start at that number with Mr. Pegula. The majority of the piece though, despite how the cover makes it sound, was not on that particular topic. In fact, I just gave you 90% of what was said about going varsity. Really, it was a glowing profile marking Battista's being named as BWI's Penn State coach of the year. A couple other passages I liked:

So they don't get the best of everything - so what. They make do. They thrive. And they thrive in large part because of Battista's drive.

How was he able to recruit so well at the ACHA level?

"We recruit for the school," [Battista] said. "What we're doing is, we're going after the kid who's a borderline NCAA Division I talent, or a kid who's small Division II-Division III-caliber who doesn't want to go to a small liberal-arts school. What we're doing is selling the kid on a Big Ten education, a large alumni association and one of the most recognizable names anywhere in the world. It's an opportunity to be a big fish in a smaller pond, as opposed to a guy who's lost in a bigger program."

Players' coach? Players' coach:

[Former defenseman Josh] Mandel remembers the Icers playing in "horrible conditions" at Iowa State his freshman year, and several of the players retreating to a hotel hot tub afterward. Battista soon joined them, and spent the next hour unfurling "some of the best stories I've ever heard," according to Mandel.

One interesting note to close this: of Battista and the five coaches given honorable mentions for the coach of the year honor, only fencing's Emmanuil Kaidanov is still coaching at Penn State. The others: Paula Wilkins (women's soccer), Rene Portland (women's basketball), Bill Dorenkott (women's swimming/diving) and Harry Groves (men's track).

Payday Memorabilia: 2003 ACHA National Tournament Souvenirs

Since we're going to Athens, OH this week, I decided to drop another one of these with a theme - stuff from the last time OU hosted nationals (forever, until they add a sheet or the format changes). Program, ticket, puck if you can't tell. I hope you can, because you have no idea how hard it was to get that picture. Flashes reflect off of pucks, glossy paper and plastic. No flash, and it looks like it was taken in the Ice Pavilion.

My most recent attempt at not stealing a Collegian photo for my phone background.

The tournament:

Pool A: 1. Illinois, 8. Drexel, 12. Saint Louis
Pool B: 2. Penn State, 7. Iowa State, 11. Eastern Michigan
Pool C: 3. Minot State, 6. Delaware, 10. Towson
Pool D: 4. Ohio, 5. Arizona, 9. Michigan-Dearborn

Illinois, Penn State, Delaware and Ohio advanced to the semifinals by virtue of beating both of the other teams in their respective pools. In the Icers' case, this involved scoring two goals in the final 5:13 to force overtime against Iowa State, where Josh Mandel buried the winner 2:46 in, much to the dismay of the ISU hockey cheerleaders. Goaltender Scott Graham, to Blue White Illustrated:

"With five minutes left I had serious thoughts in my mind that our career and season might be over. That first goal was a huge relief. The second goal to put it into overtime, seeing that made me realize this team was meant to win one more year."

True to Graham's words, the Cyclones proved to be the Icers' toughest challenge. A 5-1 win over Delaware in the semifinals followed, and after that game and an OU upset of top-seeded Illinois, Penn State faced the Bobcats in the championship game. Even though that game wasn't ever really in doubt - PSU won 5-0 to earn a fourth straight/most recent ACHA title - the normally hostile atmosphere in that place reached an unprecedented intensity, both on the ice and in the stands. Joe Battista (from this point forward, I'm not attaching a title to him, you know who he is) told the Centre Daily Times shortly afterward that this enhanced the victory.

"You always hate to compare victories, but this may be the sweetest because we shut out Ohio in their rink, in front of their crowd, and the fact that it was four in a row. We have a senior class that knows nothing but how to be a champion."

Had the CDT cared to ask me for a quote, it probably would've read a little differently:

Yes! Yesss! Oh, let me taste your tears Ohio! Mmm...your tears are so yummy and sweet! Oh, the tears of unfathomable sadness! Mmm...yummy! 

In the aftermath, I may have been an accomplice to a theft of some signage. Unlike the job I pulled solo six years later, this one wasn't my idea, and I am not in possession of the property.

Epilogue: The place you can't get to without driving through West Virginia (even if you live in Ohio) exacted some revenge for the sign thing and my constant hate-on when my car ended up in a ditch alongside I-77 on the way home. Guess they got that second sheet after all.

Payday Memorabilia: 2001 WUG Puck

Cheesebag cross-promotion time: with the World University Games team exhibitions next week, I thought it would be a good time to drop this one: a USA Hockey puck signed by all four Penn Staters on the 2001 US University Select team that competed in Zakopane, Poland - the first team the ACHA sent to the event on behalf of USA Hockey.

The players: Greg Held, Mike Blevins, Josh Mandel and Scott Curry (who wore an A in Poland). They actually signed with their numbers for Team USA, which is kind of cool, although with the numbers being the same as their PSU numbers on three of the four, maybe it was just Curry making the effort there (he was No. 15 with the Icers). Essential stats:

         GP   G   A  PTS PIM

Held      4   0   3   3   2

Blevins   4   1   0   1   4

Curry     3   0   0   0   0

Mandel    4   0   0   0   4

Held's three points were good for a share of the team lead with Ohio's Sean Kass. The 2001 team went 1-3-0 in the tournament, including a huge upset of Russia, and finished eighth of nine teams (thank you, Korea). Believe it or not, this stood as the ACHA crew's best performance at the event (placement-wise, not record-wise) until 2009's 3-2-0 record leading to a seventh-place finish.

Payday Memorabilia: Bill Downey jersey

First off, the essential playing career details.

Bill Downey
Right Wing
Born May 12 1981  -- Pittsburgh, PA
Height 6.01 -- Weight 180 -- Shoots R

                                        --- Regular Season --- 
Season   Team                    Lge    GP    G    A  Pts  PIM
--------------------------------------------------------------
1999-00  Chicago Freeze          NAHL   47    4   11   15   49
2001-02  Pennsylvania State U    ACHA   26   12   16   28   29
2002-03  Pennsylvania State U    ACHA   32   15   20   35   21
2003-04  Johnstown Chiefs        ECHL    4    1    0    1   18
2003-04  Pennsylvania State U    ACHA   37   21   30   51   20
2004-05  Wheeling Nailers        ECHL    5    0    0    0    0
2004-05  Asheville Aces          SPHL    4    0    1    1   20
2004-05  Johnstown Chiefs        ECHL    2    0    0    0    0
2004-05  Richmond Riverdogs      UHL    15    2    2    4   21

2005-06  Wheeling Nailers        ECHL   44    4    3    7   13

2006-07  Reading Royals          ECHL    2    1    0    1    4

2007-08  Reading Royals          ECHL    1    0    0    0    2

--------------------------------------------------------------

Downey wore the blue and white with great distinction, averaging well over a point per game for his career, serving as captain in his senior year of 2003-04. And of course, there's those three ACHA national championships in 2001, 2002 and 2003. He was truly one of the great Icers of his era. Four years after his last game at Penn State, he returned as an assistant coach in 2008, a position he held for two seasons.

He left Penn State for a second time to become Harvard's director of hockey operations this season, the latest step in what's been a very successful (and mobile) post-playing career. It probably isn't logically deficient to think that Penn State will meet the Crimson for a weekend set or two come 2012. PSU, of course, will have dates galore available in those first two seasons as an NCAA D-I independent, just ask Alabama-Huntsville.

Oh, right, the jersey itself. As you can see from the patch on the back hem, it came from MeiGray, which is a great place to look if you want an Icers-related jersey that's a little bit different from the third jerseys and 1998-2000 models that everyone else wears - Curtiss Patrick and Justin DePretis are among those with pro jerseys on the site.

The Wheeling Nailers have one of the best, most recognizable logos in minor league hockey, and this jersey manages to avoid the usual pitfalls of minor league jerseys. Somehow, it even managed to escape that staple of jerseys in the ECHL or lower: the giant Best Western (or comparable) ad below the number - I'm sure this being a road jersey didn't hurt on that front. Borrowing the numbering style of the Penguins is a nice way to nod to the parent club without going overboard.

I have it on good authority that this particular jersey is from 2004-2005, not 2005-2006, which explains the fact that it has almost zero wear, as Downey only played five games with the Nailers that season. I'll be honest though, I very rarely wear it because it's a parachute. It's a 56, but from back when 56 meant something.

Payday Memorabilia: 1983-1984 Schedule

For the third edition of this feature, I did what I said I was unlikely to do in the first edition: use something I bought on eBay. Sue me for turning four while this season was happening. Also, sue me for getting excited when something popped up searching "penn state hockey" other than the usual assortment of those awful Colosseum jerseys and a bunch of smashed The Game bar hats.

One of my favorite things about this schedule is the fact that one of the opponents doesn't exist anymore. And when I say that, I'm not just referring to the hockey team, but the entire school. Seriously. Upsala College, which notably also helped Penn State christen the Ice Pavilion three seasons prior, closed in 1995.

The other opponents provide an interesting mix as well. Notre Dame had dropped their NCAA Division I program after 1982-83 and spent a year as a non-varsity program before rejoining D-I in 1984-85. Kent State was a few seasons away from their own ill-fated D-I experiment. The Navy Crab Pot is one of the ACHA's great traditions. The rest of the schedule is a cross-section of the familiar (Ohio, Delaware, Arizona) and the not-so-familiar (Alabama, St. John's, Ramapo).

Notably the Icers, coached by Jon Shellington, captained by Art McQuillian and featuring all-time leading scorer Lynn Sipe, navigated this schedule with a 24-15-1 record (a TON of games for back then) and went on to win the program's first club national championship.

You know what's crazy to me? How little the schedule cards have changed in the last 27 years. Here's this year's:

Same font, same stylized "Hockey" with a puck for an O, same Fightin' Blue Hens and Bobcats. I just wish we still put road games on the schedules, something we haven't done since (I think) 1998-1999.

Payday Memorabilia: 2009 ACHA National Tournament Sign

This is pretty much exactly what it looks like - a yard sign directing those attending the 2009 ACHA National Tournament to the available parking. You're welcome for the excellent shot of my faux wood closet door. Probably should've used a regular-wall background there. Oh well, lesson learned.

Here's how I acquired it: during the first intermission of the Lindenwood-Illinois championship game, I exited the rink, got in my car, and pulled up to the sign. I then opened my trunk and threw the sign in. Right about then, as I started to fancy myself Danny Ocean 3.0...THUD! My trunk won't close. THUD! THUD! THUD! Read that 17 more times, and you start to get the idea of how many times I tried to slam it shut before playing with the lever inside and finally getting it. I was extremely fortunate that it was dark and rainy out, minimizing witnesses. Back in the day, when the championship games were held on Sunday afternoons, I would've been busted.

Pretty sure I'm not going to be prosecuted for it. Is there any way yard sign theft has a statute of limitations longer than about 12 hours?

The 2009 tournament, of course, took place between March 14th and 18th and was co-hosted by John Carroll and the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission at the Gilmour Academy rink in Gates Mills, OH. Lindenwood won it - the Icers fell to Illinois in the semifinals, but not before beating Ohio in a thrilling overtime quarterfinal - but it will probably be best remembered for a carbon monoxide scare on the opening night of the tournament. Two first round games were pushed to the next day, which forced the cancellation of a couple of consolation games, and also caused a couple quarterfinals to be played on Monday the 16th, originally scheduled as an off day. Here's a convenient PDF visual aid for everything I just said.

I do really like the logo for this tournament, although that's probably a relative "like." They comply with that unwritten rule stating that an event taking place in Cleveland must use a guitar in the logo. Toss in Drew Carey and LeBron James and you'd pretty much have the only three two things anyone knows about Cleveland. At the very least, it's less bad than other ACHA National Tournament logos. Like the 2003 Division 2 logo for example:

People without faces freak me out.

Payday Memorabilia: Ohio Jersey

This will be a regular feature on the day before my paydays. Why then? Because it's my favorite day to hit up eBay and blow my earnings before they're even technically in my account, that's why. Except for this first edition, which I'm posting on a Wednesday due to the Icers playing a game tomorrow.

And actually, most of the stuff featured on here will just be items I've accumulated on my own over the years, no internet auctions needed. Like this Ohio Bobcats game-worn jersey, purchased from the pro shop at Bird Arena on October 10, 2009.

Here's what I know about this jersey:

• That patch on the right chest commemorates the 50th anniversary of Ohio hockey (1958-2008).
• The CSCHL logo is screened on the left chest.
• These were worn during the 2007-2008 season (the patch says that makes sense). Given OU's illustrious history of cycling through a vast array of mostly hideous jersey designs every year or two, it's unlikely that they wore them for more than a season or so outside of that.
• I know that I don't know the identity of the player who wore this jersey. But if you have a 2007-2008 Ohio roster hanging around, feel free to share.

Here's a better look at that patch, since patches can make a sweet jersey legendary:


A couple years of getting curb-stomped as an original member of the CCHA (2-24-0 conference record from 1971-73) are included in the 50. Not included: An opponent that enjoyed trying to get to Athens.


As Ohio jerseys go, I actually like this one. I'm not a big fan of shiny (not to be confused with "shinny"), but I'm a huge fan of tail sweeps, and this jersey delivers. Also, it's green, as an Ohio dark jersey should be, as it, not silver or black, is their primary color. One final positive: it doesn't smell like Ohio. The entire state, not just the university.

Just in case you're upset with me for putting money in the pockets of Penn State's longtime rivals, here's a picture of the Icers' celebration following Steve Thurston's game-winner with 0:01 left in overtime that night. Apologies for the fact that Jim Balsillie's people have yet to figure out how to make a decent camera.


Front: PSU owns OU yet again. Rear: White trash.