- Who is Ray Miron and how did this championship cup get named after him? I knew he was an original owner of the league because Bill McDonald had told me when he was recruited from Thunder Bay to coach in the CHL it was Ray Miron who recruited him. Since the league owned all of the franchises Macker didn't know where he would coach when he was being recruited. Here is some detail on Miron:
Ray Miron (born 1929 in Cornwall, Ontario) is the former owner of the new Central Hockey League, founded in 1992 by Miron and William "Bill" Levins. Miron was a former National Hockey League executive, serving in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization and as General Manager of the Colorado Rockies (NHL). Miron and Levins founded the league under the concept of central ownership of all the teams. Miron had previously coached in the "old" Central Hockey League (1963-1984). He also was president of the league for three weeks, before leaving to accept the role of GM with the Rockies.
Miron served as the president of the new league after Levin's death. He sold the league in 2000. In recognition of his importance to the league, the championship trophy, formerly known as the Levin's Cup, was renamed to the Ray Miron Cup. After the CHL merged with the competing Western Professional Hockey League, the trophy was renamed to the "Ray Miron President's Cup." In 2004, Miron was awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy by the NHL, a recognition he described as his "greatest hockey accomplishment." Today, Miron is retired and resides in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
If you look at stories about Miron it certainly is not all positive. He was General Manager of the Colorado Rockies in the 1970's and had five different coaches in five years. One of them, Don Cherry, in his book about hockey tells the story of Miron showing him a book shortly after he arrived in Denver. It was intended to be a joke as the book was titled, "All I Know About Hockey" by Ray Miron. When you opened up the book all of the pages were blank. Cherry ends this story by saying, "Little did I know this was more truth than humor".
- Went back to revisit our last trip to the Ray Miron President's Cup finals (2010) even though it is etched in my mind and I am sure many of yours as well. Allen was the second seed in the Southern Conference as Odessa was the class of the league having scored 101 points and was the odds on favorite to win the cup. Allen played Laredo (number three seed) in the first round and even though we lost the first game (4-3) at home we won the series in six games. In the semi finals, which was the conference championship, we took on the mighty Jackalopes. We started on the road and won the first game in Odessa (4-3). Jarret Lukin had two goals in that game but the game winner was a shorthanded goal scored by Mike Salekin. Game two we lost in overtime so returned to Allen for three games with the series teid 1-1. We won the first two games at home to take a 3-1 series lead but Odessa won the fifth game of the series 6-3 so Allen headed back to Odessa for the last two games. It looked like Allen was going to win the series in the sixth game when Nino Musitelli scored with less than five minutes remaining in the game to make the score 3-2 but Odessa scored less than two minutes later to tie the game and won in overtime. The seventh game was probably the greatest victory in franchise history for the Americans as they beat the best team in the league, on the road to make it to the finals. Tobias Whelan and Nino Musitelli each had a goal and Colton Yellow Horn had two in the 4-2 win.
In the finals the Americans took on the Rapid City Rush who was the top seed in the Northern Conference and had defeated Missouri (4-0) and Bossier-Shreveport (4-3) to reach the finals. Rapid City had home ice advantage so we started on the road for the first two games. In game one, four unanswered goals (O'Nabigon, Musitelli, Whelan, Musitelli) in the second period gave the Americans a 4-0 lead and they cruised to a 4-1 victory. The second game in Rapid City was a major disappointment because the Americans were within 39 seconds of taking a 2-0 series lead and heading home for three games. Nino Musitelli had given the Americans a 4-3 lead scoring a goal with just over five minute remaining in the game. Rapid City pulled the goalie and tied the game with the extra attacker with 39 seconds remaining and went on to win in overtime. Back in Allen the Americans won the first of three games at home 5-2 with Colton Yellow Horn getting a hat trick but Rapid City won the next two games (4-2 & 7-2) so the series shifted back to Rapid City for the games six & seven with Rapid City leading the series 3-2. The sixth and what ended up being the final game was a game that anyone who was there, watched on TV or listened to remembers as the one that got away. Who knows what would have happened in a seventh game but game six Allen should have won. The Americans took a 3-0 lead in the first period on goals by Nino Musitelli, Bruce Graham and Christian Gaudet but allowed two Rapid City goals late in the third period to tie the game. Scott Wray, who is now the captain of the Rush, scored the championship winning goal with 38 seconds remaining in the second overtime.
While the finals ended up being a major disappointment the year was a tremendous success as the upstart Americans, in their first year, definitely over achieved. Jarret Lukin is the only player still on the team that played in that finals. Erik Adams who is now in the front office also played. If you ever get the chance ask Jarret, Erik or Tommy Daniels about the 2010 finals and you will get an earful. Sorry for that long winded trip down memory lane.
- Brian McMillin and Jamie Schaafsma are at two ends of the spectrum when it comes to championship finals. This will be Brian's first championship final including high school, college and four years as a professional. For Jamie Schaafsma this will be the fifth year in a row he has played in the championship finals. This will however, be his first CHL championship final.
- Speaking of Jamie it was nice to see the following article in his hometown on line paper: Chatham-Kent Sports Network.
Schaafsma Heading For Central League Finals
Jamie Schaafsma – Photo by Chip Crail
In game four, a high scoring 8-4 win, Schaafsma had another two point performance, scoring the first goal of the game, only 29 seconds into the contest, and assisting on the last goal of the game, a Chris Doyle goal with less than a minute to play.
Schaafsma was held pointless in games five and six, before putting in yet another solid offensive effort in game seven, chipping in with two assists as the Allen Americans rolled to a 7-3 win to send them to the finals.
After finishing with 24 goals and 23 assists in the regular season, and getting his first career recall to the American Hockey League, Schaafsma has put together an impressive playoff performance, with four goals and four assists in twelve games thus far.
The Allen Americans and Schaafsma will now take on the Wichita Thunder for the Central Hockey League title.
- I bet it has been nice to have a couple of days off for the team following the grueling series with Missouri even though it hasn't been the best golfing weather. Back to the rink for practice on Friday to get ready for the Thunder.
- The team leaders thus far in the playoffs are:
Goals - Brian McMillin (8)
Assists - Todd Robinson ( 11)
Points - McMillin & Robinson (14)
Plus/Minus - Tyler Ludwig (+12)
Penalty Minutes - Booter Bootland (41)
Game Winning Goals - Eight different players have had the game winning goal in our eight victories.
- Finally, I want to had my congratulations to the Missouri Mavericks for a great year. I have gotten to know some front office folks, fans, and blogger The Sin Bin (@sinbinmavs for you twitter followers) and they have all been class acts. I have also heard from many Americans fans who visited with Mavericks fans who attended the games at the Allen Event Center and those that went to Independence for games how nice the Missouri fan base is. The Missouri fans and front office represent the franchise very well and I wanted to publicly acknowledge it was both noticed and appreciated. I want to personally thank Patrick Armstrong, Vice President of Communications for the Mavericks for spending time with me and sharing his knowledge about the team and the league.
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