Elmira Jackals’ History

The hockey team was found at the very beginning of the century in the city of New York, Elmira. It was part of the United Hockey League from 2000 to 2007. United Hockey League is originally known as Colonial Hockey League from 1991 to 1997 and then as the International Hockey League from 2007 to 2010. The league is a low-level minor professional ice hockey league with teams in both the USA and Canada. Afterward, the team played in the ECHL from 2007 to 2017. ECHL or East Coast Hockey League is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Princeton, New Jersey with teams in both the USA and Canada.Bets can be placed on ECHL matches, as well as several other ice hockey leagues. Make sure to shop around in order to find the best betting bonuses, too. Going back to Elmira Jackals on the 10th of March 2017, the First arena was sold to Brian Barret and the Jackals would play their last season ever.

At the beginning of their career, in their first season, they were affiliated with the Blue Jackets of Columbus, which played in the National Hockey League (NHL). For a few years there, they were doing great until the affiliation with the Blue Jackets was severed and they remained unaffiliated for the rest of their career. Whilst affiliated the Elmira Jackals had 31 sellouts, and the biggest crowd was 4,000 people in the capacity of 3,874 standing seats. Elmira Jackals is a special team, which is missed by many fans and there is hope for the resurrection of the team in recent years.

Defining Moments in Jackals’ History

The year is 1998 and the date 2nd of March when the officials from Elmira announced the First Arena project. The Chemung County Legislature set a deadline on the 1st of December to secure an arena needed for the team to play on. After the Elmira officials announced the 11.6 million projects, the owner of the team Mostafa Afr secured an additional 7.25 million and on November 24th, 1999 a groundbreaking ceremony was held. Afterward, on the 27th of March 2000, the team was awarded its United Hockey League expansion. Two months afterward the Jackals’ mascot was announced. The coach of the team was no one else than Todd Brost. He is part of the 1992 Winter Olympics who also had four successful seasons as coach at WPHL’s El Paso Buzzards. Upcoming in the events is the first game of the team.

Elmira Jackals played the Knights and around 300 spectators and they enjoyed a filled with fights game, as the game finished in a tie 3-3. In those years the fights were defining part of the game of hockey, as we know it nowadays. That game was the first official game of 10 seasons in the low to mid-level hockey career. Continuing with the moments of the team as the next one is about the fights that the Jackals have been involved in for a single season and do not worry the number does not disappoint. Generally speaking, in hockey to have fights is something inevitable. There could not exist a match without one but to have 10 fights, not in 5 or 10 games but one is something that the Jackals could be a proud record of.

Gross or not there was more blood on the ice than ice. That is the reason why the highest average percent of fans per game was very high for the team as the attendance never dropped below 3000. Elmira was very famous for its games and its fights. Some spectators even state that they are going for the fights not for the game as there were not wrestling matches nearby and that is the substitute for a brutal melee fight. There still exists a legend, saying that a father-son relationship is most strong when on a hockey match.

In the USA maybe the goal every team across every sport is trying to reach are the Playoffs. The same logic could be applied in hockey as since the start the Jackals have been trying with each game to reach the Playoffs. Anyone can say that in their first year they have been successful enough as they manage to reach the playoffs in the first professional season and even though they do not win further, it is still enough for spectators, players, coaches. Having in mind that this was not their best season with not so great 32-33-9 they still managed to achieve what they hoped for. For a couple of seasons, the Jackals have been playing in the higher ECHL, and they hoped that they will stay there and be one of the best in the league.

Well, that was not the destiny that met the team. At some point, they returned to UHL and have dominated there since day one. They have been exceptional as they have a 45-21-8 record, amazing numbers which only prove how much better they were. They have outscored the opposition by 44 goals and 12 points clear from anyone. In the conference semi-finals, the Jackals have beaten the New Haven Knights 3-0 and went on to the finals. What they met is The Muskegon Fury team with which they played 6 championship series. In the end, the Jackals have lost to the other finalists in game 6 with a score of 2-1, although they lost a couple of thousand people went on to parade the team for going to the finals and the fan base expanded and some fans became even more loyal.

There are two persons in the records of the Jackals that have been to every game in every season and that is what I call loyalty. In the 5th season, the Jackals have granted free access to every game and the ice arena to those two players as a show of gratitude for their support. You know what they say, loyalty is a two-way street. If you do not give, do not expect to receive. One of those men was even put in the game for 5 minutes as he was already a hockey player in retirement. Amazing show of gratitude by Elmira Jackals. The team needed two more seasons to go again to the finals of the UHL and were playing the Muskegons again which only made them hungrier for the win. Being highly motivated and knowing what you want does not always mean you will achieve it, and that is the story for the Jackals.

They lost again and each of the 4 games played was quite close as each one of them was decided by one goal. Sadly, the team never got to win the finals. Surprisingly, the team was doing well, as they have reached the Play-Offs in 4 consecutive seasons but in the following one, the coach Todd Brost was fired for the reason that the Jackals have had their worst ever record 19-35-5. After that, the team changed over 12 coaches for the rest of their career and only one stated for more than one season his name is Steve Martinson who has changed the image of the Jackals to the good old days of Todd Brost. He took the team to three Play-Offs and that is after Elmira joined the ECHL. The next defining moment in the history of the team is Eddy Lowe.

You cannot say the Elmira Jackals without Eddy, he is the heart of the club and has been a major part of their history, the fans beloved key players. On the 10th of February 2007 in First Arena in front of 3722 people, the number 26 was retired together with the player wearing it namely Eddy. Coming up on the list is the Jackals joining the ECHL. On April 13th, 2007 the team officially joins the league as president Tamer Afr pays a 2 million dollar fee to join it. The team made it to 6 out of 10 possible Play-Offs. Those were the most exciting times in the history of the team as in that time there were two brothers the Donati. They both ranked top scorers of the league in the 2009-2010 season. The furthest the team went was the second round of the Play-Offs. To make it shorter:

• The Foundation of the Team
• First Game
• Most Fights in One Season
• Play-Offs
• First Final
• Second Final
• New coach
• Eddy Lowe
• Joining the ECHL

Those are some of the best moments in the history of the team and if you want to know the other side of the story bear a little bit more.

Worst Moments in Jackals’ History

Great things have been stated about their achievements and believe it or not there are not so many bad things to say. Starting with the first final loss. The audience wanted the Jackals to win the final, the team wanted to win, but their game was not on the needed level. There were some mistakes in the offensive part of the team as they have hit 3 times the bar of the goalie and did not see the disk go any further. After the match surprisingly there was no grief or sorrow or any sight of sadness. The people even went on the parade the losers in the finals but you cannot be surprised that a dozen of fans were enraged and have gone on an anger rampage to insult the players and swear that they are never going to another Jackals game ever again.

Having in mind how well most of the supporters reacted you would think that the second time of failing a final should be another story. The first time at the finals okay it’s normal to lose, the second time you lose to the same team in 4 games, with one goal difference in each game. In those games, the defense was to blame as even one of the goals fell in the last minutes of the game and was a mistake from the Jackals for letting a long horizontal pass cross all the ice. So after that, you would expect that the fans were enraged by that loss, but quite the opposite they are going on parade again and the same people who have been insulting the players are going on an anger rampage again, in short, is the same story all over again and it is quite the coincidence. Next up on the list is the worst season the Jackals could have.

With a record of 19-35-5, they are firing the coach Todd Brost. In that season luck has been on their side, but not the good one the bad one as they have so many close games lost by 1 goal or even a draw that should have been with at least 2 3 goals difference in the favor of the Jackals. Next up is bad luck, as in one game for the Jackals there were 5 injured players all with either sprained ankle or sprained wrist and if that is not bad luck I do not know what is it. Finally, something not so serious but quite hurting. At one game one of the players starts a fight. At halftime, the mascot goes on the ice to do his thing, and out of nowhere a disk flies into his ribs. Afterward, there is a rib broken and the Jackals are left without a mascot for a month. Something that some fans defined as the games without belief. In other words, the mascot in every team is a big part of the club and without him sometimes it is not the same, as they are a beloved part of one game. Those are some of the worst moments in their history:

• First Final Loss
• Second Final Loss
• Worst Record
• Injured Mascot
• Injured Players

Conclusion

To sum up, everything stated so far the Elmira Jackals are a team from New York with a loyal fan base and have been an amazing team to watch. They have their ups and downs like any other team, but at some point, they have been either granted a lot of luck or taken out of any. Losing and winning is part of the game and another lesson that we can take is that when you achieve something, but lose a greater thing, some might congratulate you on winning, others might try to take you down and make you feel bad.