Vermilion County Bobcats' Struggles

How long do the Vermilion County Bobcats last?


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GindyDraws

#HutchOut
Mar 13, 2014
3,004
2,326
Indianapolis
Even if they survive this season, I doubt they'll return. They struggle at the gate (a really godawful product and lack of advertising will do that) and there's just too much turnover.
 
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jabberoski

Registered User
Aug 1, 2011
334
316
This article from the Peoria paper includes a blurb on the Bobcats situation. The key takeaways:

League sources said the team's off-ice business staff resigned.

SPHL owners were meeting on Wednesday to discuss the situation and waiting to see what Tully intends to do. They are scheduled to play Quad City twice this weekend and host the Rivermen on Sunday.

"We don't know what the status of that game is right now," Trudel said. "We're preparing as best we can, the game is on our schedule and we'll be ready to go."
 
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sabremike

#1 Tageaholic
Aug 30, 2010
24,279
37,426
Brewster, NY
This thread is about to get more fun…
Yup:
FB_IMG_1675638590778.jpg
 

TJW

Registered User
Oct 31, 2013
22
7
My home rink- what a mess. That lawsuit after last year really was the proverbial nail in the coffin, both sides wanted out, but this is just embarrassing. QC was classy and stayed to skate with the 20 fans since it was a “skate with the team night”.
 

sabremike

#1 Tageaholic
Aug 30, 2010
24,279
37,426
Brewster, NY
The only time I can remember something like this was in 1997 where Scotland went to Estonia for a WCQ and the Estonians never showed up so Scotland (which brought a large traveling support) won via forfeit. At matches to this day you will hear the Tartan Army sing "There’s only one team in Tallinn!".
 
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JMCx4

#HopeForHUTCH
Sep 3, 2017
15,138
10,042
St. Louis, MO
There was an FPHL game in my semi-recent memory (maybe last season or the one before?) where one team refused to take the ice because of a previous mega-brawl between the 2 teams (part of it being a hallway rumble). I just remember tuning in on the home team's You Tube channel pre-game time & seeing one team on the ice warming up before disappearing. Then the YT feed went dark.
 
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JMCx4

#HopeForHUTCH
Sep 3, 2017
15,138
10,042
St. Louis, MO
Does anyone recall some semi-famous hockey exec-level guy being added to the Boob-cats' front office for awhile (early this year or maybe first season)? I can't recall the name, but I've always wondered if he was hired by the other owners to keep the team from an early(-er) exit. If so, that bolsters my opinion that significant blame should be shared by the League in today's unforgivable display of sports business practice in Danville.
 

JMCx4

#HopeForHUTCH
Sep 3, 2017
15,138
10,042
St. Louis, MO
My home rink- what a mess. That lawsuit after last year really was the proverbial nail in the coffin, both sides wanted out, but this is just embarrassing. QC was classy and stayed to skate with the 20 fans since it was a “skate with the team night”.
My hockey heart is saddened by what you & your fellow Danville hockey fans have been subjected to by this team owner & the Palmer Arena management & the VC Board & whomever else didn't step up to correct it all in time. :facepalm:
 
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sabremike

#1 Tageaholic
Aug 30, 2010
24,279
37,426
Brewster, NY
There was an FPHL game in my semi-recent memory (maybe last season or the one before?) where one team refused to take the ice because of a previous mega-brawl between the 2 teams (part of it being a hallway rumble). I just remember tuning in on the home team's You Tube channel pre-game time & seeing one team on the ice warming up before disappearing. Then the YT feed went dark.
I think that was many years back between the Danbury Whalers and (IIRC) Thousand Island (was at the game but can't remember the opponent). There were multiple line brawls in the first seconds of the game and the visiting team went to the locker room like the Russians did in Philly and refused to return. Eventually after a long delay they returned and the game resumed. A funny part is that in the second line brawl both goalies skated at each other until both coaches screamed at them to stop as they both would've been tossed and neither side had another goalie left.
 
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JMCx4

#HopeForHUTCH
Sep 3, 2017
15,138
10,042
St. Louis, MO
I think that was many years back between the Danbury Whalers and (IIRC) Thousand Island (was at the game but can't remember the opponent). There were multiple line brawls in the first seconds of the game and the visiting team went to the locker room like the Russians did in Philly and refused to return. Eventually after a long delay they returned and the game resumed. A funny part is that in the second line brawl both goalies skated at each other until both coaches screamed at them to stop as they both would've been tossed and neither side had another goalie left.
That one was before my FHL time, but thanks for adding that story to the narrative. I was thinking Elmira vs. somebody - and I found a news article to fill in the holes/mistakes in my memory ...
 

mk80

Registered User
Jul 30, 2012
8,219
8,830
So the Bobcats are done right? We can finally turn out the lights on this sideshow? Also it looks like most of the fans at least got the same memo the team did saying not to show up.

Props to the Storm though for making the best of it for the fans who did come out though

Edit: Peoria's reporter is tweeting as though it is a done deal, and really how can it not be?

 
Last edited:

TJW

Registered User
Oct 31, 2013
22
7
My hockey heart is saddened by what you & your fellow Danville hockey fans have been subjected to by this team owner & the Palmer Arena management & the VC Board & whomever else didn't step up to correct it all in time. :facepalm:
It’s been a ride- the arena and the board are equally to blame, although Tully had no idea what she was doing and how deep over her head she was. I think she probably saw it as a can’t miss as Danville was supposedly getting a casino, but that never happened and they have been paddling in the deep end from day 1. The worst part is, this will give the people that don’t want hockey in the arena a talking point with how embarrassing this all has been. The arena pulling the ice last April and violating the contract really sped this all up if ya ask me, it’s a complete mess on both sides.
 
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CrazyEddie20

Registered User
Jun 26, 2007
1,918
1,221
Back of a cop car
It’s been a ride- the arena and the board are equally to blame, although Tully had no idea what she was doing and how deep over her head she was. I think she probably saw it as a can’t miss as Danville was supposedly getting a casino, but that never happened and they have been paddling in the deep end from day 1. The worst part is, this will give the people that don’t want hockey in the arena a talking point with how embarrassing this all has been. The arena pulling the ice last April and violating the contract really sped this all up if ya ask me, it’s a complete mess on both sides.

I mean, sure, the arena didn't help, but the real blame here is on Doug Price and the league's board of governors, who did almost no vetting of Ms. Tully and her business plan before awarding her a franchise. The SPHL, through Price and the Board of Governors, clearly thought that they could just walk in and take the Danville market by opening the doors and yelling, "Hockey! Get your hockey!" while firing a shotgun into the air like Homer Simpson. This is the same league that issued McBob a new franchise after he burned Winston-Salem and Pee Dee. The same league that let a team call itself the "Surge" four years after Hurricane Katrina's storm surge destroyed the city they played in. But as long as Keith Jeffries and Knoxville are making money, that's all that matters - not the health of the sport or the league's weak franchises.

A competent league administration would never have let this happen.

And yet again, we have an example of a poorly capitalized business that doesn't bring in knowledgeable managers, burning the market. Could Danville be a good hockey market? Maybe. But not with Ellen running the shitshow. And not with the clowns that run Class-A hockey at the helm either.
 

Af77

Registered User
Sep 23, 2020
46
20
Does anyone recall some semi-famous hockey exec-level guy being added to the Boob-cats' front office for awhile (early this year or maybe first season)? I can't recall the name, but I've always wondered if he was hired by the other owners to keep the team from an early(-er) exit. If so, that bolsters my opinion that significant blame should be shared by the League in today's unforgivable display of sports business practice in Danville.
That was Robbie Nicholls. What really blows my mind after everything that has happened in Danville is how the hell the league was convinced the Bobcats would actually play this weekend. I have generally enjoyed the SPHL for the most part since the Storm have joined but this has been a disaster.
 
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CrazyEddie20

Registered User
Jun 26, 2007
1,918
1,221
Back of a cop car
That was Robbie Nicholls. What really blows my mind after everything that has happened in Danville is how the hell the league was convinced the Bobcats would actually play this weekend. I have generally enjoyed the SPHL for the most part since the Storm have joined but this has been a disaster.

Again, this all falls on Doug Price. He should have been in Danville all week figuring out WTF was going on. The league should have issued some kind of statement regarding the Bobcats early last week, when the rumors were flying.

They did neither.

The league wasn't convinced of anything because they didn't know what was going on or didn't care to know what was going on. They sent officials and a visiting team to Danville. The arena was open, the lights were on, and the officials did their job when game time rolled around.

Of course, none of that would have been necessary had the league office done its job earlier in the week.
 

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