The Illinois team is also rumoured to be setting up their home ice in the David S. Palmer Arena (see photos to the left. ).
But here is the very interesting part of this story. The rumoured owner of the Danville team is to be Barry Soskin. Barry has had his hands many different teams at different levels. At the Junior levels: USHL, SEHL, CEHL, NAHL, and NJHL. At the pro level: ECHL (Toledo Storm), Central Hockey League (Nashville Nighthawks) and some minor pro baseball teams. Despite his vast experience, it is clear that most of his ownership ventures ended not so well. He wanted to get an AAHL team but, again rumours, the AAHL directors wanted nothing to do with him.
The news site Traverse-City Record Eagle.com did a story on what the local Jr.A team was going through with Barry as its owner. Article Here.
Here are some quotes:
The Soskin-owned Albert Lea Thunder franchise is being investigated by the NAHL for possible improprieties after it came to light that the team signed players to "pay-to-play" contracts that guarantee players not only make the team, but receive playing time in exchange for significant sums money. Steve and Lori Sempeck, the parents of a Thunder player, acknowledged signing a contract for $12,500 to guarantee their son's spot on a team that lost an NAHL-high 49 games in last year's 58-game slate.Important to note that the North American Hockey League (Jr.A Tier 2) is NOT a pay-to-play league, it is actually against league rules.
This is just a short list of many different actions that cause a lot of people to question this guys integrity. Now comes the kicker for the FHL.
Soskin has a history in junior hockey of owning and folding teams.In 1998, he was sued for $29,626.41 over non-payment of employee leasing services while the owner of the now-defunct Nashville Nighthawks.Soskin signed a four-year contract to run the Toledo Storm of the East Coast Hockey League in September of 2005, but the Storm -- a Detroit Red Wings affiliate -- folded in 2007. Soskin founded the Storm, and owned the team from 1991-98.He also owed money to many sources when the Enforcers folded, said Marchand and Jeff Price, who ran the pro shop at Centre ICE while the Enforcers were tenants there.
Barry placed a independent junior hockey team in Danville in 2010 to play in the un-sanctioned Norther Junior Hockey League (which Barry owned). The team folded before it started after a lot of issues (no money being the main one). But this situation gets better. The coach/GM of the Danville Express wrote an open letter to Barry and sent it to the blog AmericanJuniorHockey.com announcing is resignation and airing some issues in the public. The full letter can be read here. What is great about this letter are the comments below, here is one:
Barry Soskin is a scam artist. He owes everyone money, makes deals and promises he can not live up to and then blames or tries to blame others for whatever went wrong. Anyone in hockey should run as far as they can whenever they hear his name. Every rink in the country should ban him from ever doing business with them. He is a complete idiot and ruining hockey for many people.Now comes the best part, the coach of the Danville Express was Andy Makal. I know the name doesn't ring a bell right now, but guess who the new GM is for the other new FHL team, Green Mountain Rock Crushers? That's correct, Andy Makal is the new GM. Nice little rivalry to start the league!
It is still a surprise that the FHL is deciding to partner with a known crook in the hockey world. Partnering with Soskin is just as bad as partnering with Jim Cashman (another infamous hockey crook). Its a black eye on a league doesn't need any black eyes after losing 2 franchises to financial issues.
Looks like the AAHL is finished (finally!!) and in other FHL news the Rock Crushers are having a press conference on March 9.
Great post. You're right Soskin does have an, I'll say checkered past when it comes to many of his dealings. But he also has a habit of getting out of town in a hurry. I am hoping that after getting the team up and running he flips the club to a decent local owner. Then he can quietly return to his cave or wherever he lives.
ReplyDeleteside note: Thanks for the sec.125 plug