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While one league official ominously predicts this could be Dayton’s “last chance” to support professional hockey, new team owner Barry Soskin denies he will use fear as a marketing tactic.
“No, that’s a negative,” Soskin said. “I want to fill up the place.”
Soskin, a Chicago-area businessman who once owned the ECHL’s Toledo Storm, is partnering with Pat Pylypuik, a former Storm player, to bring an as yet unnamed Federal Hockey League entry to town. They held a press conference Wednesday at Hara Arena, where the team is expected to fill the void left by the Dayton Gems, a Central Hockey League member that went out of business after sustaining heavy financial losses over two seasons.
The Gems had replaced the Dayton Bombers, who closed up shop in 2009 after a run that began in the early 1990s.
Soskin thinks the FHL’s business model, complete with reduced travel expenses, can work in Dayton even though two hockey teams have folded here in recent years and the level of play, Class A, is a rung lower than fans have grown accustomed to watching.
Whether Soskin wants to incorporate it into his marketing or not, it does seem to be now or never for hockey in Dayton.
“You only get so many opportunities to support a team,” FHL Vice Commissioner Andy “Sarge” Richards said. “This may be Dayton’s last chance.
“There isn’t any other team going to come (to Dayton) in any other league. (Hara) is an older-generation building, and not exactly in the best of areas, from what I understand. If it was a successful building, the CHL wouldn’t have left.”
The FHL, starting its third season, will have either six or seven teams, Richards said. At present, the least grueling bus trip for Dayton would be Danville, Ill. Franchises are envisioned for West Virginia and perhaps Williamsport, Pa., eventually. The rest are on the East Coast.
Boasted Richards, “We’re the only league where (owners) won’t lose their shirts. And the product is better than people think. There’s a natural tendency to think that if you’re not in the CHL or the ECHL that you don’t have any good players, but the product is good.”
Soskin did not rule out moving the team back to the Class AA level, saying it would depend mainly on fan support.
“We’re a league of prospects,” he said. “We want players, coaches, referees and office staff to move up. Why can’t the team move up? Show me we can have a higher level of play and I’ll do what we can do.”
About 200 people showed up at the press conference, pleasing Soskin, who had been nervous about the turnout.
“This league will be very successful here in Dayton,” he said. “I didn’t have a single season ticket-holder say they wanted their money back.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2408 or smcclelland @DaytonDailyNews.com
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