Johnstown Chiefs

Johnstown Chiefs Logo

The Johnstown Chiefs are a minor league ice hockey team located in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, playing in the ECHL. The team was founded in 1988 in the All-American Hockey League, and moved to the East Coast Hockey League (now just 'ECHL') when that league was formed. The Chiefs are the only original ECHL team still playing under its original name, and the only one still in its original city.

Official Johnstown Chiefs Website: http://www.johnstownchiefs.com/

Franchise History

The owners originally wanted to name the team the Jets in honor of a team that had played in Johnstown from 1950 to 1977, mostly in the Eastern Hockey League. However, the old Jets' former owners still held the trademark for the name and refused to allow the new team to use it. Fortunately, they had a second choice. A contest was held by the owners, allowing the people of Johnstown to vote for the new team name. The cult hockey movie Slap Shot had been filmed in Johnstown, and featured a minor league team called the Charlestown Chiefs. The fans readily jumped on the tie-in, and the Johnstown Chiefs were born.

The Chiefs play their home games in the historic 3,745 seat Cambria County War Memorial Arena in Johnstown, where most of the hockey scenes in the movie Slap Shot were filmed. The team colors are black, gold, and white (following an early affiliation with the Boston Bruins), and its uniforms were based on 1970s-era Bruins jerseys.

Among the franchise's notable players has been defenceman Brent Bilodeau; Dmitri Tarabrin (the career leader in games played with 427); Bruce Coles, who holds the career mark for points scored with 227, having played in only 132 games for the team; Scott Gordon, the team's goalie in 1988–89 who played for Team USA at the 1992 Winter Olympics, and became the first ECHL player to advance to the NHL when he suited up for the Quebec Nordiques in 1989–90; all-star defenceman Perry Florio, the franchise's career assist leader with 171; right wing Lukas Smital, the career goal scoring leader with 107; enforcer Jeff Sullivan, the career penalty minute leader with 1205; and goaltender Frederic Deschesnes, who leads the franchise in goaltending games with 152, wins with 69 and shutouts with 5. Goalie Arturs Irbe played for the Chiefs briefly in 2003–2004, going 10–3–1 with a GAA of 2.13 and a .927 save percentage.

Ian Herbers was named as the team's head coach on June 18, 2007.

On August 17, 2007, the Chiefs announced that they entered into an affiliation agreement with the NHL's Colorado Avalanche. During the 2007–08 season, the Chiefs served as the Avalanche's secondary minor league affiliate. The Lake Erie Monsters of the AHL being Colorado's primary affiliate. On September 18, 2007, the Chiefs announced they had also entered an affiliation agreement with the Boston Bruins for the 07–08 season.

Prior to the 2008–09 season the Chiefs renewed their affiliation with the Avalanche and entered into an affiliation agreement with the Columbus Blue Jackets who replaced the Bruins on August 22, 2008.

The Chiefs along with the Wheeling Thunderbirds (now known as the Wheeling Nailers)played the role of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1995 film Sudden Death starring Jean Claude Van Damme. The premise was the Penguins playing the Chicago Blackhawks for the Stanley Cup when terrorists attempt to hold the Vice President hostage in the arena.

Season-By-Season Record

Records as of 2007–08 season.

Season	League	Division	GP	W	L	T	OTL	SOL	Pts	PCT	GF	GA	PIM	Coach(es)	Result
1988–89	ECHL		60	32	22	-	6	-	70	.583	295	251		Steve Carlson	Lost in Finals
1989–90	ECHL		60	23	31	-	6	-	52	.433	233	291	2047	Steve Carlson	Out of playoffs
1990–91	ECHL	East	64	32	29	-	3	-	67	.523	324	287	1646	Steve Carlson	Lost in round 2
1991–92	ECHL	West	64	36	23	-	5	-	77	.601	294	248	1750	Steve Carlson	Lost in round 2
1992–93	ECHL	East	64	34	23	-	7	-	75	.585	281	264	1647	Ed Johnstone	Lost in round 2
1993–94	ECHL	North	68	37	27	-	4	-	78	.573	323	308	1978	Ed Johnstone	Lost in round 1
1994–95	ECHL	North	68	31	32	-	5	-	67	.492	256	297	1656	Ed Johnstone	Lost in round 1
1995–96	ECHL	North	70	21	38	-	11	-	53	.378	249	322	2481	Nick Fotiu	Out of Playoffs
1996–97	ECHL	North	70	24	39	7	-	-	55	.392	253	354	2287	Nick Fotiu	Out of Playoffs
1997–98	ECHL	Northeast	70	23	41	6	-	-	52	.371	219	297	2118	Nick Fotiu Scott Allen	Out of Playoffs
1998–99	ECHL	Northeast	70	27	34	9	-	-	63	.450	218	265	1734	Scott Allen	Out of Playoffs
1999–00	ECHL	Northwest	70	33	28	-	9	-	75	.535	235	234	1959	Scott Allen	Lost in round 3
2000–01	ECHL	Northwest	72	28	36	8	-	-	64	.444	207	238	1865	Scott Allen	Lost in round 2
2001–02	ECHL	Northwest	72	39	31	2	-	-	80	.555	220	232	1688	Scott Allen	Lost in round 3
2002–03	ECHL	Northwest	72	28	33	11	-	-	67	.465	214	243	1700	Toby O'Brien	Out of Playoffs
2003–04	ECHL	Northern	72	45	20	7	-	-	97	.673	223	195	1491	Toby O'Brien	Lost in Q/R
2004–05	ECHL	North	72	22	36	14	-	-	58	.402	191	258	1421	Toby O'Brien	Out of Playoffs
2005–06	ECHL	North	72	30	26	16	-	-	76	.527	223	243	1119	Frank Anzalone	Lost in round 2
2006–07	ECHL	North	72	33	33	-	3	3	72	.500	216	232	1179	Frank Anzalone	Lost in round 1
2007–08	ECHL	North	72	36	30	-	3	3	78	.541	235	234	1568	Ian Herbers	Lost in round 2
2008–09	ECHL	North	72	37	30	-	5	0	79	.549	228	232	1472	Ian Herbers	Out of Playoffs

GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, SOL = Shootout losses, Pts = Points, PCT = Winning percentage, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Retired Numbers

The Chiefs have retired four numbers: The numbers of Don Hall, Dick Roberge, Galen Head and Reg Kent. Hall and Roberge numbers were retired in 1990, Galen Head in 2003 and Reg Kent in 2009. None of these players ever played for the Chiefs, but for the Johnstown Jets. In their 22 seasons of existence, the Chiefs have yet to retire a numbers of a players who played for the team.

7 - Reg Kent 8 - Galen Head 9 - Don Hall 11 - Dick Roberge