January 24, 2012
Fourth time's a charm
Jamestown market looks to have finally found a winner with the NAHL's Ironmen
by Gene Morris/Correspondent
Western New York is a hotbed for hockey.
Blue-collar, frost bitten towns continue to churn out some of the top American-born players. From Ryan Callahan (Rochester, N.Y.), Patrick Kane (Buffalo, N.Y.), and Brian and Stephen Gionta (Rochester, N.Y.) in the NHL, to recent World Junior Championship team members Adam Clendening (Wheatfield, N.Y.) and Andy Iles (Ithaca, N.Y.), players from the region are littered across the hockey landscape.
It was only fitting that a town like Jamestown, located just north of the Pennsylvania border and about 90 minutes south of Buffalo, would continue to have a hockey team to cheer on during the winter.
The Jamestown Savings Bank Arena is home to the town’s newest hockey team, the Jamestown Ironmen of the North American Hockey League. Formerly known as the Motor City Machine and Metal Jackets, the club is the fourth different franchise to call Jamestown home in the history of the Savings Bank Arena, which will be celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2012.
The Jamestown Titans of the North Eastern Hockey League was the arena’s first tenants. The league dissolved after one season and Jamestown was without a hockey team until 2007, when the Vikings were brought in.
That team didn’t even last a full season and, when players were alerted of the team’s demise, they destroyed the Old Viking Lodge, a 100-year old historical landmark in downtown Jamestown, making national news.
The arena again quickly filled the void, bringing in the Jamestown Jets to start the 2008 season. The Jets would have begun their fourth season in 2011 but had their lease terminated by the arena in order to bring in the Ironmen, which led to a lawsuit filed by the team’s owner against the arena.
“We have had a relatively unsuccessful history with junior, amateur and professional programs in the past,” arena general manager Mike Ferguson said.
The NAHL is the highest-caliber league that Jamesport has ever attracted. It was not easy to get the team to relocate, considering the vandalism and lawsuit that followed the two previous teams out of town, respectively.
“We were looking for some stability,” Ferguson said. “Had the Jets stayed in the building it would have been their fourth league in four years and that doesn’t help with the fan base. Right now, our focus is really on getting the Ironmen known in the community and establishing the team as a tremendous source of entertainment. We’re combining the two – serious hockey and in-game entertainment make it the place to be.”
Ferguson, who has been the arena’s general manager since 2006, said the arena has been talking to the NAHL for years. “That was our goal – our goal was either to have a North American hockey league team or a USHL team,” he said. “We realized that while we’re one of the newer and modern arenas our seating capacity of about 2100 sort of limited us from the hockey point as to who we could have in the building.”
Through late December, the Ironmen had an average attendance of just around 570 fans a game, Ferguson said, up from the 200 or so the team drew while in Michigan.
“We’re winning over the community slowly,” Ferguson said. “In 10 years there have been four teams through Jamestown, but for the last four years we’ve been pretty adamant in our discussions that the NAHL or USHL were our ultimate goal and we hoped to get there soon. Obviously, we got there a lot quicker than we thought – we thought we were another 3-5 years away from being able to get a franchise.”
That all changed when Kenji Yamada purchased the franchise. Then the Ironmen hired Dan Daikawa, a former Miami University player who spent 11 years playing hockey in Japan, to lead the team.
“There have been some bridges to build for sure, but the focus of our organization is to try to move kids on to college,” Daikawa said. “Obviously, the fan base is used to try and offset all the costs and our bills for the year, but our main focus … when I signed my contract I asked the owner if it was all about making money. He wants to develop kids – he bought the team for the love of the game.”
The Ironmen’s biggest prospect, goaltender Joey Ballmer, is one of a handful of players getting interest from Division-1 colleges.
The Ironmen brought eight of the 10 potential returning players to Jamestown that were on the roster last season in Michigan. They lost two potential signees when news of the move broke and used tryouts to fill the rest of the squad.
“The move was never easy,” Daikawa said. “We had a locker room but it really wasn’t what we wanted it to be for the North American Hockey League – meaning showers, lockers and a lounge area. We put a lot of money into building this really nice locker room for the boys where they have a flat screen TV, couches, bikes, treadmills and a shower area with eight shower heads. We have two offices for the coaching staff and a separate equipment room across the hall.
“If they don’t want to be in the locker room or in the rink, then they’re never going to succeed.”
Success hasn’t come easy for the Ironmen, who sported an 11-18-2 record as Christmas loomed. But everyone involved knew nothing would come without work.
“The town is coming around, is the best way to put it,” said Daikawa, who with Ferguson noted that the success of the area’s high school football teams was a big detractor from the team’s attendance, especially on Friday nights.
Now that football season is over and the Ironmen have become the main attraction in town, management knows it’s especially important to entertain the fans that are coming out to the games. Ferguson said the arena management controls all of the in-game entertainment and handles sponsorships and marketing.
“It’s not a typical tenant and franchise relationship,” he said. “It’s more of a partnership – not in the ownership but in the outcome. We benefit by the number of people who come to the arena and so does the team. It’s a great working partnership.”
Ferguson said the franchise is working hard to develop a relationship with the Buffalo Sabres and is looking to promote some of the stars who are alumni of the NAHL, including Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek.
But getting those fans into the arena in the first place is at the top of the list of everyone involved with the Ironmen.
“The main thing is communication and listening to the people in town,” Daikawa said. “The people that come are really excited about the product. We’re getting out into the schools and doing hockey clinics and doing readings to students. It’s been a little bit of work but the boys are getting out and helping with youth hockey. I think the future is really bright and it’s just a matter of making change in Jamestown.”
Gene Morris can be reached at feedback@nyhockeyjournal.com.
