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May 9, 2000
Volume 1, Number 3
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Memories of the
Old CHL
by Paul O'Neill
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Tulsa Oilers (1973-75) |
Like many collectors I was born and grew up near a major northern city. For
me it was New York City. I grew up following the New York Rangers. When
my dad could swing some tickets from work, we would take in a Ranger game. I
went to my first hockey game in 1969 when I was seven. I remember seeing Ed
Giacomin playing in net without a mask, Brad Park with a big smile on his
face with most of his upper teeth missing and big Jim Neilson who the Ranger
fans called "Chief". Like many other kids at the time, I collected baseball
and hockey cards. We also played street hockey and when the local lakes and
ponds froze over we'd hit the ice. |
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In 1976, we moved away from the New York City area and moved to Oklahoma.
For awhile I thought that might be the end to seeing any hockey games for
awhile. But, my dad reassured me that where we were moving had a minor
league hockey team. That team was the Tulsa Ice Oilers of the Central Hockey
League. After we settled in a bit, dad and I went to the arena on the night
of the game to see if we could get tickets. Inside the arena near the ticket
window, some guy was scalping tickets. Most of you that live near a
NHL team know that scalpers can sometimes stick it to you on the ticket
prices or even sell you fake tickets. Well this guy sold my dad two tickets
below the walkway for $3 bucks each. Dad thought well maybe this guy took us
but we'll see if these ticket are any good. The tickets were good and we
went to our seats which happened to be right behind the players bench about
10 rows up off the glass. Dad and I said "Wow, great seats !!". When we took
our seats, guess who was sitting next to us? The same guy who just sold the
tickets to my dad. Today dad and I still laugh about that night. |
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I followed the Oilers a lot more than I did the New York Rangers. Dad could
take me to more games and when I got old enough to drive I would attend the
games with my friends. In 1984, the Oilers folded in mid season. The league
supported the Oilers but they played as a road team the remainder of the
year. The CHL Oilers went on to win the League Championship that year.
But the League itself folded that summer. It was a sad day in Tulsa when the
Oilers left.
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Salt Lake City Golden
Eagles (1972-76) |
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Years had passed, a friend and I were talking about the old
Oilers and how
great it would be to have them back. We started taking about where all the
old jerseys, sticks, Championship banners, etc, went to. I told my friend
that I would love to have an old Oiler game worn jersey but neither one of
us knew were to start looking for one. A few more years went by and another
friend and I were talking about the old Oilers and I mentioned
that I was
looking for an old Oiler game worn jersey. He said " My
uncle has one, let
me see if he would want to sell it". I said great. The next day his uncle
came up to my work and left a Tulsa Oiler jersey with the PBX operator. The
PBX operator called me and I went to get it. It was a mesh green road
jersey from the mid 70's. It was great looking with just a little wear. I
couldn't wait to get home to look through my old programs to
see who wore
it. After a few minutes of comparing photos and checking lineup rosters, I
found out it was worn by Michel Belhumeur during the 1976-78 seasons. I
called to thank my friends uncle and asked him how much I owed him for the
jersey. He said " Nothing, you'll enjoy it more than I will just having it
sit in my dresser drawer". I wore it once during a hockey game but
was
scared to death that I would tear it or get it caught in the
boards and rip
it. Needless to say, I never wore it again to play hockey in. Somewhere in
that jersey was a little bug. Once it bit me I was hooked to this hobby. My
second jersey was a Salt Lake City Golden Eagles jersey from a guy in
Pennsylvania. This jersey was worn by one of the greats of the old
CHL, Doug Palazzari. |
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Chicago Blackhawks?
Nope,
it's the Dallas Blackhawks
(note the tomahawk "D"). |
One thing that I liked about collecting these older CHL jersey was most of
the players in the league were young and upcoming stars in the
NHL. Or they were NHL Players trying to keep their careers going with a hope to
get back to the NHL. Many others were sent down to the minors to get into
shape or to rehab their injuries. Many teams in the Old
CHL never wore nameplates so its also fun doing a little research and maybe lucking out and
finding that some big name NHL player wore it during his career. Another
thing that started me in collecting the older jerseys was that these were
the jerseys I used to see on the ice when I was young. The styles and logos
were plain and simple, nothing like today with the shiny materials, fancy
logos and odd colors. I guess I'm just old fashioned.... If anyone reading
this has an Old CHL jersey and is not sure who wore it, please drop me a
line. My reference library is quite big and I'd be glad to help.
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Soon this internet thing came along. A friend of mine made a web site about
collecting autographed hockey cards. I asked him if he would show me how to
make a web site. He showed me the basics and I started off making a site
about the Old Central Hockey League 1963-1984. At first I thought it would
be no big deal to do a web site on a defunct league. But don't fool
yourself, it takes a lot of work and research. At first, I had bit off more
than I could chew. Currently, I'm starting to get a handle on the site and
have done some major updates. But still many more hours will be needed to
finish it. Too bad I couldn't do it full time but like many of us we still
have to work our 40+ hours regular jobs.
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In 1992 hockey returned to Tulsa. The new Central Hockey League was formed
with teams in Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Wichita, Dallas, Memphis and Fort Worth.
The league was a "AA" level not like the old league which was "AAA" level.
But it did matter to us, we had hockey once more. My dad and I bought season
tickets this time. My friend and I were so excited about hockey coming back
to town we went down to the arena to scout out the best seats. |
Houston Apollos
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With the new league in town, I started collecting the newer CHL
jerseys. My
friends and I started collecting other teams in the league. One of my
friends even has one sweater from every team in the new CHL except for two,
which he is still trying to find. I still collect the older CHL jerseys but
the newer ones are easier to find. Somehow I wanted to put mine and my
friends jerseys on my site, but never got around to doing it. Then one
day "Doc" Ellis started his site "Drop the Pucks". That was the
push I needed. I got my site on Jerseys of the Old Central
Hockey League together. I took pictures of mine and my friends
jerseys and like "Docs" I asked for others that happen to visit the site to send in their pictures. About 90% of my
collection and my friends collections are minor league jerseys. We like
collecting minor league jerseys, yeah I know most of these guys
will never make it to the big show. But we saw these guys play
in these sweaters and we
know them better than most of the NHL players we watch on
TV. Like many other minor league hockey fans, we are 5 hours away from an
NHL. city and by the time you throw in ticket prices, motel room, gas, food, etc. It
gets
to costly to see an NHL. game. So we are limited to seeing
NHL Games on TV and everyone knows it is not the same as
being there.
Overall the site has done well, I now have 33 photos of Old
Central Hockey League jerseys on the site. Hopefully some more
will be added by some
readers. Eventually, I will make a site with some of the newer
CHL jerseys. Remember guys, let others enjoy those jewels you have hanging up in
the closet.
Happy collecting,
Paul O'Neill
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Paul O'Neill operates
his own website,
Jerseys
of the Old Central Hockey League (1963-1984), a
photo archive showcasing a variety of elusive game
worn jerseys of the defunct CHL.
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If
you're a game worn jersey collector who has an
interesting collection, story or experience to
share, drop an e-mail to the Webmaster at info@gameworn.net |
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