Published: June 22, 2007 02:11 pm            

Coach in place; work remains

Chiefs shooting for affiliation, recruits

This has been an active offseason for the Johnstown Chiefs hockey team.

Whether it is an offseason of positive developments remains to be seen.

The team confirmed last week that former National Hockey League player Ian Herbers had been named the eighth coach of the ECHL franchise.

He replaces Frank Anzalone, who had led the Chiefs to the playoffs in each of his two seasons, but was let go in April by owner Jim Weber.

Anzalone left along with the Chiefs’ affiliation with the Tampa Bay Lightning of the NHL. Weber severed ties with Tampa and struck out on his own, even as he acknowledged that the Lightning essentially had financed the team here.

He says Chiefs fans wanted a new direction for the franchise.

“Night in and night out, I stand out in front of the War Memorial and I talk to fans,” Weber said while introducing Herbers. “I heard you say you want a different product on the ice. I made a couple tough decisions and decided to make some changes.”

Weber also has been pursuing a share of the concessions revenue at the War Memorial.

No agreement has been finalized, although Weber and the War Memorial Authority Board exchanged proposals in February and seemed headed toward an accord.

Unfortunately, nothing is certain except that the Chiefs will play in Johnstown in 2007-08, and Herbers will be their coach.

“I want to do all that I can to make the team healthy so it stays in town,” Weber said then.

Weber says the Chiefs are contacting other NHL organizations in the hope of forging a new pact that would bring some players to Johnstown.

And recruiting players not already under contract with an NHL team is also on the front burner for the Chiefs.

Herbers will be charged with helping to make both of those things happen.

“We don’t want to just get into an affiliation just for the sake of an affiliation,” Herbers said. “We want to make sure it’s the right fit for Johnstown.”

We agree, and we like what we’ve heard from the coach in the early going.

“You want to be in a place that loves hockey and wants a winning team and supports the team all season long,” Herbers said.

“We’re going to be competitive every night,” he added. “We’re going to have that work ethic. We’re going to play a physical style of game. We’re going to pressure the puck all over the ice.”

All that said, the long-term fate of the Chiefs is Weber’s responsibility.

Ultimately, his decisions will determine whether the team survives in Johnstown or is gone in a year or two.

A coach has been hired.

But more work lies ahead for this hockey owner.

We hope the Chiefs aren’t skating on thin ice.

        

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