Post by UnoBomber on Jan 4, 2008 11:07:37 GMT -5
From the InsideErie email coutesy of the Erie Times. Talks about how the Erie Otters owner Ron Sertz does not want a d-league team coming in to the Tullio. Sorry Ron but when your team is 8 and forever you need to stfu.
One of the rewards of stopping in an old haunt on New Year’s Eve was a chat with a ghost of hockey past.
Stan Gulutzan was passing through the town where he made his name as a bruising left wing with the Erie Blades championship teams of a quarter-century ago.
One thing we talked about was the overall level of talent and toughness on Erie’s ice in those days, which translated into a habit of winning. The names still resonate: Poulin, Rhiness, Sheard, Hansis, Legace, Walker.
Winning hockey isn’t exactly the habit in Erie these days. And chatting with Gulutzan somehow only emphasized the disconnect in the words of Erie Otters co-owner Ron Sertz.
Sertz was quoted in that morning’s Erie Times-News in reaction to word that Erie might be in line for an NBA Developmental League team affiliated with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Sertz doesn’t like the idea of sharing the Tullio Arena, and of the region’s sports fans having another option for spending their time and money.
“If they do this, that tells me they don’t want us. … It would be like building another comedy club across the street from Jr.’s,” he said.
Well, not really, but let’s go with his analogy. The first thing Jr.’s would have to do under that scenario is make sure its comics were funny.
Sertz helps direct an operation that so far this year has fielded the worst team in the Ontario Hockey League. That follows up a 2006-07 season when the Otters were … the worst team in the Ontario Hockey League.
Sertz is just looking out for his bottom line, of course. But that combined with his team’s performance in recent years sends a clear message to Erie sports fans, including those who prefer hoops: You’ll watch bad hockey and you’ll like it.
Casey Wells, who manages the Tullio Arena on behalf of the Erie County Convention Center Authority, has his own bottom line to worry about. That means filling seats on as many dates for as many events as possible.
Rattling the saber at arena management is an old story in Erie hockey, and Sertz very well might mean business. Wells has to take into account that the OHL is a going concern and the Otters no doubt have other options.
But granting hockey a winter sports monopoly isn’t a reasonable expectation. And whether or not Sertz’s team ends up having to compete for entertainment dollars with a basketball franchise, the Otters’ main challenge can be summed up in two words.
Get better.
One of the rewards of stopping in an old haunt on New Year’s Eve was a chat with a ghost of hockey past.
Stan Gulutzan was passing through the town where he made his name as a bruising left wing with the Erie Blades championship teams of a quarter-century ago.
One thing we talked about was the overall level of talent and toughness on Erie’s ice in those days, which translated into a habit of winning. The names still resonate: Poulin, Rhiness, Sheard, Hansis, Legace, Walker.
Winning hockey isn’t exactly the habit in Erie these days. And chatting with Gulutzan somehow only emphasized the disconnect in the words of Erie Otters co-owner Ron Sertz.
Sertz was quoted in that morning’s Erie Times-News in reaction to word that Erie might be in line for an NBA Developmental League team affiliated with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Sertz doesn’t like the idea of sharing the Tullio Arena, and of the region’s sports fans having another option for spending their time and money.
“If they do this, that tells me they don’t want us. … It would be like building another comedy club across the street from Jr.’s,” he said.
Well, not really, but let’s go with his analogy. The first thing Jr.’s would have to do under that scenario is make sure its comics were funny.
Sertz helps direct an operation that so far this year has fielded the worst team in the Ontario Hockey League. That follows up a 2006-07 season when the Otters were … the worst team in the Ontario Hockey League.
Sertz is just looking out for his bottom line, of course. But that combined with his team’s performance in recent years sends a clear message to Erie sports fans, including those who prefer hoops: You’ll watch bad hockey and you’ll like it.
Casey Wells, who manages the Tullio Arena on behalf of the Erie County Convention Center Authority, has his own bottom line to worry about. That means filling seats on as many dates for as many events as possible.
Rattling the saber at arena management is an old story in Erie hockey, and Sertz very well might mean business. Wells has to take into account that the OHL is a going concern and the Otters no doubt have other options.
But granting hockey a winter sports monopoly isn’t a reasonable expectation. And whether or not Sertz’s team ends up having to compete for entertainment dollars with a basketball franchise, the Otters’ main challenge can be summed up in two words.
Get better.
