- Albany Choppers
The Albany Choppers was an independent professional
ice hockey team competing in the International Hockey League during the 1990–1991 season. The franchise originally existed as theFort Wayne Komets , whose owner, David Welker, opted to move his franchise toAlbany, New York and its brand-newKnickerbocker Arena , a major league-caliber facility, during the IHL's period of nationwide expansion. It had the regionalPrice Chopper supermarket chain as a major investor -- hence the name and colors of red, white and blue in Price Chopper's corporate hues.Among players for the Choppers were goaltenders
Rick Knickle , former St. Louis BlueBruce Racine and former Boston Bruin John Blue; former New York Islander and team captainDale Henry , former Minnesota North StarDave Richter , andMario Lemieux 's brother, centerAlain Lemieux , who was the team's leading scorer until he was traded for cash. A large number of players were ex-Springfield Indians , including Henry, Lemieux, forwardsStuart Burnie ,Bob Bodak andJim McGeough , and defensemenVern Smith , Manny Vivieros andGord Paddock .The team began play in the 1990–91 season, but ran into a major roadblock. It was the IHL's first foray east of its traditional Great Lakes stronghold, and fearing the competition, the entrenched
American Hockey League rushed an expansion team just across the Hudson in neighboring Troy, theCapital District Islanders . Not in recent history have so many minor league teams been crammed into such a small market -- the establishedAdirondack Red Wings were less than fifty miles north in Glens Falls, and the perennial college hockey powerhouseRensselaer Polytechnic Institute played in Troy -- and all suffered at the gate through the subsequent price wars.As an expansion team without an NHL affiliation, the Choppers suffered worst, and as they became a last place team, attendance plummeted; for numerous games attendance in the cavernous 'Knick' was no more than a few hundred fans. After local media reported attendance figures at odds with the ones management was reporting (by physically counting heads), the team ceased to report attendance altogether, while giving season tickets away outright. [Chuck Miller, "Like Trying to Build a Skyscraper Out of Chopsticks," "Hockey Digest", April, 1996.]
As it was, the team hemorraged funds, held back by the costliest travel budget in the IHL, payrolls were not met, and supplies became dear. One notorious incident came during an overtime game against the new
Fort Wayne Komets (Welker's franchise had been replaced by the relocatedFlint Spirits team), whenJim McGeough was sent out for the final shot in a shootout because he had the only sound hockey stick remaining on the bench. [Ibid.]The Choppers folded due to lack of funds on
February 14 ,1991 ; theCapital District Islanders promptly honored all Choppers season tickets in an attempt to boost their own attendance. Somewhat ironically, Henry, Knickle and Vivieros finished the season back in Springfield, where they helped the Indians to their finalCalder Cup championship, while leading goal scorerYves Heroux would move to the Peoria Rivermen and prove key in their own Turner Cup championship in that same season. Lemieux, Burnie and Richter retired after the season. DefensemanScott Drevitch was the final Chopper active in professional hockey, playing for theElmira Jackals of theUnited Hockey League in the 2006–2007 season.References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.