by Katie Hamlin | AHL On The Beat
From the Syracuse Stars, to the filming of Slap Shot, and now to the Syracuse Crunch of their thirty first season, town of Syracuse holds a wealthy hockey historical past.
Skilled hockey arrived in Syracuse when the Stars joined the previous Worldwide Hockey League in 1930 and claimed the first-ever Calder Cup in 1937. Since then, eight totally different skilled groups and tons of of people have contributed to creating a house for hockey in Central New York.
It was lengthy overdue that Syracuse established a Corridor of Fame honoring and celebrating these people for his or her excellent achievements and contributions to hockey within the metropolis. On Nov. 23, the Crunch enshrined Scott Walker, Howard Dolgon, Ed Kochian, Alan Taylor and Brian Elwell because the inaugural class of the Syracuse Hockey Corridor of Fame with a particular induction ceremony.
The primary Crunch participant endlessly enshrined was Walker, referred to as “The Wild Factor.” Walker rapidly grew to become a fan favourite in Syracuse together with his blue-collar work ethic and physicality on the ice. Within the inaugural Crunch season of 1994-95, he performed 74 video games and racked up 334 penalty minutes. He totaled 67 factors in 89 regular-season video games with the Crunch and went on to skate in 829 video games within the Nationwide Hockey League with Vancouver, Nashville, Carolina and Washington.
“It’s an incredible day,” Walker stated of the dignity. “It’s clearly one thing you don’t develop up dreaming about, a minimum of I didn’t. I grew up dreaming about scoring a purpose, sport seven additional time winner taking part in avenue hockey. However that is wonderful. It’s past plausible.”
Walker states his time in Syracuse made him the participant and individual he grew to be.
“It is part of who I’m now,” stated Walker, who got here to Syracuse when the Canucks moved their AHL affiliate from Hamilton, Ont., in 1994. “I’ve been again loads as a result of it signifies that a lot to me. I couldn’t have been happier and extra fortunate, as a result of finally if you get drafted and also you go play within the [AHL] you don’t know the place you’re going to play. Lucky for me, Howard (Dolgon) and his group introduced the group to Syracuse and possibly we are saying it was an ideal match. I attempted to embody what they needed, and it actually helped my profession.”
Together with the gamers and group on the ice, it’s the quite a few executives behind-the-scenes that construct a long-lasting hockey group. Tradition begins on the prime and with the Crunch, that begins with proprietor Howard Dolgon.
Dolgon has been the driving drive behind the Crunch because the group’s creation in 1994. From holding the first-ever AHL out of doors sport to setting a United States indoor skilled hockey attendance document, Dolgon and his group are on the forefront of creativity and promotion in hockey. He has been honored by the AHL with quite a few awards and was most lately inducted into the New York State Hockey Corridor of Fame in July.
“ it’s a cliche, but it surely’s a dream come true,” Dolgon stated. “Thirty years after the group was born, to see this and what we’ve all achieved is one thing to be actual happy with.”
Initially from Brooklyn and now residing in Florida, Dolgon has discovered a house away from residence in Syracuse.
“I’ve been welcomed by the folks that reside right here and work right here, and you already know they make me really feel like one in all them,” he stated. “It’s so essential to us that this franchise continues to thrive and do effectively as a result of the folks on this group deserve it.”
The Crunch proprietor knew Syracuse could possibly be a particular place for hockey, and the franchise has continued to show hockey belongs in Central New York.
“There have been a variety of doubters, like folks stated this was a hockey graveyard. We’ve proved it is a vibrant hockey market that retains getting greater and greater, and with an amazing fan base and now an incredible historical past.”
With out an enviornment to name residence, there can be no place for a group to play. That’s the place Kochian got here in. He served because the deputy county government for Onondaga County for 28 years and performed a vital position in bringing the Crunch to Syracuse. As the purpose individual for the county, he labored intently with the Crunch and the Battle Memorial enviornment to create a good lease settlement that may be certain that skilled hockey might flourish in Syracuse. His dedication to the county, its residents and the Crunch performed a key position in each bringing the group to Syracuse and protecting it right here 31 years later.
“It’s a kind of issues that after I first received that decision it was like, ‘Are you certain?’” Kochian stated of his choice. “I’m fairly honored. I couldn’t be any prouder, and it’s so significant to see after I come downtown on Crunch nights. There’s stuff occurring on the Oncenter, stuff occurring right here, to see some life, it’s improbable. Now we have so many loyal followers that I now know by face a minimum of for 30 years, it’s actually cool.”
Taylor and Dolgon have an extended historical past as enterprise companions. Dolgon was a founding member of Alan Taylor Communications, Inc., the main unbiased sports activities public relations company within the nation. When Dolgon approached Taylor with the thought of proudly owning an American Hockey League franchise, Taylor performed a key behind-the-scenes position within the creation of the Crunch and stays one of many group’s basic companions, a place he has held since 1994.
Taylor’s youngsters, Stephen Taylor and Ginger White, accepted the induction on his behalf.
“Proudly owning a group was a dream come true, so when a then-young Howard stated, ‘Let’s purchase an AHL group,’ I stated, ‘Let’s go for it,’” stated Stephen Taylor, quoting his father. “And I did, and I went alongside for the trip. The primary few years I used to be lively in serving to arrange the entrance finish of the enterprise. The remaining is historical past… with one exception. I can’t have fulfilled my dream till I put a Calder Cup ring on my finger.”
It wouldn’t be a Syracuse Hockey Corridor of Fame with out highlighting those that got here earlier than the Crunch. Initially coming to town to play for the Japanese Hockey League’s Syracuse Blazers in 1968, Elwell spent 4 years and 233 video games with the group. He grew to become probably the most common gamers to ever gown for the Blazers and stayed within the Syracuse space after his retirement. His love for the sport and town, effectively after his taking part in days had been over, impressed him to take a lead position within the “Ice the Future” effort aimed toward attracting an AHL group again to Syracuse, and he grew to become an integral half in bringing the Crunch to city.
Elwell handed away on March 20, 2023. His daughter, Ashley Dastyck, accepted the induction in his honor.
“For my dad, he beloved hockey, he beloved watching hockey, he beloved all sports activities and fishing,” Dastyck acknowledged. “However this group was extra about folks and the sense of group that it dropped at a metropolis that he ended up in and by no means left as a result of he beloved it a lot. We want he was right here, however we all know he’s so completely happy wanting down.”
Walker, Dolgon, Kochian, Taylor and Elwell are enshrined on the Syracuse Hockey Corridor of Fame wall situated on the Montgomery Road facet of the second-floor concourse of the Upstate Medical College Area.
The Corridor of Fame means one thing totally different to all people. To Walker, it’s in regards to the metropolis of Syracuse and the ever-lasting affect on him.
“If the Corridor of Fame wall means something, it means individuals who cared about being right here in Syracuse and cared about being a Syracuse Crunch and had been keen about it.”
