Icemen’s UHL Schedule Due Out Next Week

July 3, 1997

Ron Grotke, Staff Writer

Press & Sun Bulletin

With the B.C. Icemen ownership and Broome County having come to terms Wednesday, expect the new team’s United Hockey League schedule to be released next week.

“The schedule is virtually complete,” UHL commissioner Richard Brosal said Wednesday afternoon from his office in Lake St. Louis, Mo. “We’ll have it released, probably on Monday of next week.”

Brosal said the opening date is Oct. 17, but said not all teams will play that day.

He also said the situation in Utica, where another UHL franchise is encountering difficulty reaching an agreement with the authority operating that city’s ice rink, “is still being worked on.”

Ronald D’Amore, chairman of the Upper Mohawk Valley Memorial Auditorium Authority, said Wednesday, “At this moment in time, there is no professional hockey team (in Utica).”

Brosal was very pleased about Binghamton being locked in for his league’s upcoming season. He played a role in negotiations on Wednesday.

“I was a mediator,” Brosal said. “I think the key element where negotiations are going on, there are going to be situations that arise where the two parties want to see who is willing to give in first.”

“There must be a sense that getting this done is very important, so let’s move forward.”

“When (County Executive) Jeffrey P. Kraham contacted me, I got ahold of the ownership group so they would both go back to the table and make a situation that was win-win for both parties. Once that took place, the deal took place in a matter of minutes.”

“I would not do what I did today for any of our ownership groups.”

Brosal said getting the Midwest based UHL—formerly the Colonials Hockey League—a presence in the Northeast was important, but getting into Binghamton itself was most important.

“Broome County has a great 24-year history, an AHL history—who wouldn’t want to be part of that?” he said.