Home team no-show: The weirdest thing I've seen in 40 years of watching hockey

Oh, the stories I can tell after spending nearly 40 years covering 2,000 professional hockey games.

The game has been so good to me. I've been blessed to see the Peoria Rivermen set a professional hockey record with 18 straight wins, seen them win four championships and have their name and feats read into the official record of Congress in Washington, D.C.

But I've seen some bizarre things, too. Morganna The Kissing Bandit standing at center ice in Carver Arena and eating a ticket after the Rivermen lost to Milwaukee in the old IHL. She had hyped her appearance by vowing to eat a ticket if the Rivermen lost. The chivalrous Milwaukee team gathered around and gave her a chocolate bar to help get the ticket down.

The stories go on — but nothing like what happened Sunday in Danville.

The Quad City Storm packed up their bus in Moline, rolled 215 miles east to Danville to play the host Vermilion County Bobcats in a Southern Professional Hockey League game at David S. Palmer Arena — and ended up in a moment that has gone viral around the hockey world.

Vermilion County didn't show up for its own home game.

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What transpired for the world to see on live stream was the Quad City team standing alone along the blueline, while game operations people played the national anthem. They had gone through pre-game warmups alone, the Vermilion County side of the ice empty.

Next, Quad City lined up for the opening faceoff at center ice. The referee and two linesmen were there. Vermilion County was not. They waited five minutes, and QC players started doing hot laps around the ice — skills competition style — while a couple hundred people in the grandstand looked on.

More waiting. Then a penalty for delay of game was issued to Vermilion County. Then another wait, then another penalty, a 10-minute misconduct issued to Vermilion County for refusing to take the ice under SPHL Rule 73.3.

That was it. The SPHL issued a statement later that night: "The Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) on Sunday announced the Quad City at Vermilion County game scheduled for Sunday, February 5 has been declared a forfeit in favor of Quad City pursuant to Rule 73.3 of the SPHL Rule Book."

Quad City, by the way, did more for the Danville fanbase than the home team did. The game was promoted as an opportunity for fans to skate with the Vermilion County team after the game. Instead, Quad City stayed and filled in so those fans had someone to meet and skate with.

"We got there and the arena was ready," Quad City president Brian Rothenberger said in a published report. "They had concessions set up, they had stick kids there getting the ice ready, they had officials, they had off-ice officials. Unfortunately, their team did not show up and their coach did not show up."

League commissioner Doug Price did not respond Tuesday evening to a request for comment. Vermilion County owner Ellen Tully did not respond to an interview request.

Why did this happen?

A look at the Vermilion County team website this week shows only an equipment manager and security officer with the organization. Everybody else is apparently gone.

Chuck Sergent, former vice president of public relations and marketing for Vermilion County and recently fired by Tully, told a Danville TV station the team was absent because players aren't getting paid.

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"There’s been some conflicts about money owed to presidents, to players," Sergent said. "So, you got some financial issues that probably is a part of it."

It's something that was echoed by others I talked to. Sergent was fired before Christmas.

Vermilion County head coach Chris Blaisuis said he paid for some postgame meals for the team in January, and that general manager Todd McIlrath had paid for some bus trips to road games.

McIlrath was fired by Tully on Jan. 28, according to Blaisuis.

The head coach then cleared out his office and texted and emailed an immediate resignation to Tully a day later.

The day after that, Jan. 30, play-by-play voice Sean Zears resigned. That same night, trainer Haley Cruz resigned.

On the ice, the team was down to eight forwards listed on its roster and had not had an official practice since Jan. 26. Under SPHL bylaws, a coach and a trainer have to be present for a team to practice, and the Bobcats had neither.

The league, trying to give Tully time, removed Vermilion County from a two-game weekend road trip to Quad City on Friday and Saturday, sending the Peoria Rivermen there in the Bobcats place.

The league then set up a Vermilion County home game with Quad City for Sunday, and well, you know what happened with that.

"For the week leading up to Sunday's game, the entire organization, outside the players, was an equipment manager and Ellen," Blaisuis said. "That's all that was left."

There's much more, all of which indicates an organization fractured and devouring itself after 1.5 seasons of relentless losing on the ice and off it. In 1.5 seasons since launching in the SPHL, the Vermilion County Bobcats went 9-70-7 and had 10 head coaches.

"Niedert … Hughes … some guy whose name no one knew … Sarcona ... Ayres ..." an SPHL league figure said, ticking off the coaching names.

"I have not spoken to Ellen Tully since New Year's Eve. The situation is just sad," Blaisuis said. "A lot of people put a lot of work into the team. We were doing our very best to make it as professional as possible for our players. It's a really unfortunate set of events that has transpired, and I feel bad for the players that still have to go through with it."

Blaisuis said he has not told any player not to play, and he understands their careers could be at stake. Even though he's not with the team anymore, he still works on his own trying to help players get ECHL call-ups.

"I and others have heard from players seeking advice on whether to play," Blaisuis said. "I told them to consult with the league."

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Play-by-play voice Zears, meanwhile, is a central Illinois native. And quite a story in his own right. He grew up watching the Rivermen play. And his father, the late John Zears, actually named Peoria's team, winning a Journal Star name-the-team contest in 1985 in which his submission, Rivermen, was chosen.

"To be able to call my first pro road game in Peoria, where I grew up watching the Rivermen, it was unreal," Zears said. "I never thought in my wildest dreams I would be able to call pro hockey games.

"But now, this is a disappointment for the city of Danville, it's a disappointment for the fans and it's a disappointment for the players. The entire organization, the way it was run, never in my life have I seen anything so unprofessional."

Why it had to be this way

My video clip of Sunday's scene on the ice in Danville, which I tweeted on Sunday evening, has reached 1.4 million accounts and been viewed 390,000 times as of Tuesday night. The tweet has been included in reports on Outkick, ESPN and Spittin' Chiclets, a major national hockey podcast.

Much of the reaction is people wanting the SPHL to take the team away from Tully. Or wondering why Sunday was allowed to happen.

Vermilion County players told the SPHL at mid-week they had no intention of traveling to Quad City to play that two-game weekend series. That was done as a courtesy to give the league time to get an opponent for Quad City's two home games.

By the time Sunday arrived, everyone was braced. Vermilion County players had already cleared out their lockers. No players were in the building. The coach had resigned and the front office staff was either previously fired or had resigned.

Pensacola owner Greg Harris — a steady hand and prominent figure in SPHL circles — was in Danville on that day, presiding in part over the league's interests.

It is not feasible to just take a team away from its owner. Not unless you want to face litigation, and the SPHL surely didn't want to face that. Tully was current with a line of credit all owners have to post, and she was current with her league dues.

There were no SPHL bylaws that allowed the league to do anything other than what it did. Vermilion County will have to hire a coach and a trainer, book bus travel, and probably add players — all during this week — to get on the ice when the Bobcats are due to launch a road trip Friday at Huntsville and Saturday at Birmingham.

No one seems to know if Tully is trying to do that, or if her team will forfeit again with another opponent lined up alone at center ice.

"Sunday was all about a process that was necessary in order for the league to take action," Blaisuis said. "Quad City had to travel to the game. The faceoff had to be held. The penalties had to be assessed. The forfeit had to be declared.

"It's a series of steps that need to be taken, in careful order."

What happens next?

It's all about protecting the home games for the SPHL's member teams. With season tickets and corporate sponsorships sold for a 28-game home slate, and single-game ticket revenue and shares of concessions and parking plus merchandise sales, not to mention giveaway items or special theme nights invested, it's a complex web of revenue streams at stake. It's essential to make sure every team gets its 28 home games.

The league would love for Ellen Tully to regroup and operate her team.

The team could also fold. Vermilion County players would go through a dispersal draft or just be declared free agents. In that case, the holes created in the schedule will have to be filled for teams that were set to host Vermilion County.

The Rivermen have seven games left with the Bobcats. Four of those are at Carver Arena. The league will have to accomplish an emergency re-working of the schedule to put four replacement opponents in those Peoria home games. League commissioner Doug Price is a wizard at schedule-making. He could pull it off.

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Making sure every team gets its 28 home games on the 56-game schedule might mean some teams have to play more than 28 road games in the process.

How will that impact the standings and seeding for playoffs? Most likely, the league would shift to an order of finish format, based on pointsmaking percentage instead of point totals.

Could the league build a case to take the team away from Tully? Perhaps. But then what? Send someone in to operate it? There's half a roster of players, no coach, no trainer, no front office staff and no time.

The whole thing is hard to swallow. Maybe Morganna can loan some candy bars.

UPDATE: It's over, the Bobcats are gone

Vermilion County Bobcats owner Ellen Tully on Thursday morning announced via social media that her Southern Professional Hockey League team has folded.

"Regretfully, the Bobcats have ceased operations," Tully said in a statement. "It is a sad day for hockey fans in Danville, but I want to personally thank them for their loyalty to the Bobcats over the past two seasons."

Tully said information on season ticket refunds will be announced in the future.

The SPHL has not responded as of Thursday morning, but will likely begin the process of adjusting its game schedules to assure all of its teams get their full home schedules protected.

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Hockey forfeit: Home team no-shows for game in Danville, Illinois