If Wylie signs with another team, the Chiefs could have options in . Launching an expansion hockey team in Danbury seemed less like a vanity play than a natural progression. acted decisively. THEY WERE EVEN WELCOME TO STAY IN THE GALANTES' GARGANTUAN HOME. Parents were warned to keep children away. called his middleman in Quebec and essentially rented Wagner for a game against Adirondack. We only use official stats. Thirty-two other individuals, including Matty the Horse, were charged as part of the investigation. The Kalamazoo Wings were a Minor Professional hockey team based in Kalamazoo, MI playing in the United Hockey League from 2000 to 2007. ), According to ESPN, an FBI wiretap that was capturing Galantes phone calls would later reveal that three days after Wingnut broke his leg, Galante asked his business associate Ciro Viento to call Commissioner Brosal. - Ability to add additional data to your career profile: Videos, Images, Social Media, Referrals, Fitness Testing Results and much more! A.J. Within weeks, the agent was seated beside the boss himself in the owners box at the Danbury Ice Arena, cheering as the Trashers skated out. Hed been named with several others, including Trashers Coach J. Todd Stirling, who pleaded guilty to taking part in the salary-cap fraud. AFTER THE FALL While Jimmy (below right) serves out his prison sentence, A.J. (VOY: "Shattered") Following the loss of the USS Voyager, Johnson was devastated, but he held out hope that Janeway and the rest of the crew were alive longer than most people did. In the summer of '06, the Trashers sent 105 season-ticket holders refund checks, totaling $31,177. Sep 30, 1984 Position D Age 38 Height 5'11" / 180 cm Place of Birth Burbank, IL, USA Weight 183 lbs / 83 kg Nation USA Shoots L Youth Team - Status Retired Brother: Adam Elzinga Team Staff profile of Joshua Elzinga also available Use/Embed statistics Default Per Game Average Coaches Played For Player Statistics Regular Season + Postseason PHOTOGRAPHS BY WENDY CARLSON (MASCOT, 5); VIDEO STILLS BY THOMAS BUTKIER (2). "Oh, everyone knew the deal," says Omicioli, "but [we] didn't care. According to the indictment, Galante was making quarterly payments of $30,000 to Matty the Horse, the successor to Vincent the Chin Gigante and the boss of the Genovese crime family. This article appears in the May 2018 print edition with the headline The Mobster Who Bought His Teenage Son a Hockey Team., The week that followed Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination was revolutionaryso why was it nearly forgotten? In the late 1990s Galante had been sentenced to a year and a day in a federal prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion. MIKE RUPP wore a look of confusion. Bethlehem's David Bievenue hands the puck as Capital District Jets' Alexander Ridley defends during Tuesday's Section II Division 1 boys' ice hockey championship game at Messa Rink in Schenectady. We had one [enforcer], and the poor guy got challenged every shift. "He can score unbelievable," A.J. But as Wingfield skated away , Elzinga stuck his leg out and pulled back on the left wing's jersey. "Then everyone would ask for the check so they could be there for face-off. F--- you. Seven players were sent to the penalty box. More information about Marc can be found atwww.OptimumAthlete.com. Last seen in the 2003-2004 season with the Chicago Steel (USHL). Season. Before and after games downtown Danbury was hopping. Eventually, Donny Grover, a former Trashers defenseman, noticed Brenda in the stands and invited her onto the ice. To Galante, it was a rounding error. Sign up for EP Premium and verify your profile to access these benefits. AJ spent the summer after his senior year assembling a roster. Having collected 563 goals over the course of his 15 seasons in various leagues, Duhart gave the Trashers a second genuine scoring threat. From March 2014: The oracle of ice hockey. So we knew Jimmy had resources.. Established 1996 -- Celebrating Our 25th Year . The United States government came in and seized my assets, and one of the assets was the team, Galante told me. Ice hockey coach and former NHL forward who won a gold medal in 1980 with the U.S. Olympic hockey team. Still, Vogel wanted something to remember the moment by, so he donned his goalie gear to take some photos with Brenda on the ice. I wound up having words with the referee, and unbeknownst to me, he was a full-time police officer in upstate New York, Galante told me. You'd look across the ice, and they had eight to 10 heavyweights looking for a fight. Mike DeWine and First Lady Fran DeWine are set to visit the toxic train derailment site in East Palestine Wednesday for an update on the removal of the hazardous waste from the wreck. In return, Jimmy asked only that the players make hospital visits or speak at schools. Wagner generally played on one- or two-game contracts, and promised AJ that he would take care of the Frostbite. This year we beat on the door. 's high school Jimmy paid to refurbish the football stadium. "People would make comments: 'Aren't you afraid of him? The Trashers sprawled in the locker room as the Zamboni worked. Hockey Fights is an entertainment site with no direct affiliation to the National Hockey League, its teams, or NHLPA. Many Trashers playersnow scattered in office complexes and neighborhood rinks across North Americaspeak of this as the greatest night of their hockey life. The rest of the game doubled as a near riot. Matty the Horse spent 18 months in the big house, but he survived it, dying a free man in August 2012. It was a clean shot [but] they came right at AJ, and he had a very severe knee injury, couldnt play hockey anymore. As evidence that Galante was prone to violence, the prosecution played footage of him purportedly striking the official during the infamous Kalamazoo game. Defense. 2023 ABG-SI LLC. In 1980, after the Houston Oilers barely missed a trip to the Super Bowl, Coach Bum Phillips gave their fans a famous pep talk. He got suspended., As James Harper, a veteran minor-league linesman, was talking with the scorekeeper, he got into it with Jimmy Galante, whod come down from the owners box. When Jimmy returned from work, his son greeted him with the big news. When it came time to negotiate Gretzkys contract, AJ turned the deal over to his father. DeLuca believed his granddaughter's husband, Mark Colella, had physically abused her. felt that the Trashers needed a goal scorer. He went online to find the main switchboard number for the Roanoke Valley (Va.) Vipers, left a message and eventually made contact with his counterpart. I'm not just hungry; my stomach is growling. Brenda, confined to a wheelchair because of spina bifida, had never been to a pro hockey game. A.J. said. In the Trashers-Frostbite game, however, he inflicted no real damage even though he spent three periods looking for a fight, ran up 43 penalty minutes and even made a run at the Adirondack goalie. Today he represents Frank Galarza (11-0-2), the New York State light middleweight champ. Jon (Nasty) Mirasty averaged more than eight minutes of penalties over 25 games. Because adult-sized chest protectors were too big for her, she initially wore one meant for children. Having been a professional player, coach, and instructor for over 15 years, Gilles has been able to help continue to grow youth hockey programs across the state of Florida. The U.S. Attorneys office learned enough to get wiretaps and, eventually, search warrants. By game's end they were hooked. After a life-threatening hockey injury suffered at 18 years of age with a prognosis that he may never be able to play the game again, his passion for hockey and his desire to succeed expectations fueled his rehabilitation and lead him to become an all-rounded athlete who has . It has survived not only five centuries, 25. december. All told, he played just five games for them. Paul,originallyfrom Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with teams such as Philadelphia Flyers, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers and the Colorado Avalanche. The constant sitting has led to excruciating backaches. He had skipped an afternoon class to pick up Rupp. VS. 1st Period - 7:13 . None of this fazes the 47-year-old Brenda. FUNNY THING about Connecticut: It's one of the wealthiest states, but it also has a good many broke cities and hard-ass working-class towns. One player told me he did actual work in waste removal for Galantenothing no-show about his job. Their goons fight our goons. Adam has over 25 years of hockey experience as a player and coach. Game Two is what people remember. Facebook gives people the power to. "My dad always put me in sink-or-swim-type situations," he says. One of the featured players, Brad \"Wingnut\" Wingfield plays a significant role in the film. Gustafson would later describe Galante as a manipulating, controlling, hands-on bully., When I asked Galante why hed become a fixation for prosecutors, he said, I have no idea. "The camaraderie with the Galante familythe laughs, the dinnersit's sad," Pomposello says, his voice catching. Wagner was apologetic, and A.J. did his homework," says former Trashers center Drew Omicioli, "putting in research and hard work to build the team.". had been a serviceable defenseman in high school and had followed the Devils, so he reckoned he knew the sport well enough. ), The Trashers finished the 200405 season with a 44297 record, which put them in the playoffs. ", Roseanne Galante, reasonably, asked her husband and son if they had any idea what they were doing. He graduated from Manhattanville with a business management degree in 2008 and bought into a New York City company that sells heating oil and diesel fuel. The rowdiest spectators were cordoned off in Section 102, directly behind the visitors bench. Maybe because Im Italian and in the garbage business.. There was something else in the books too. Same for Mike Rupp. The league's 13 other owners were happy for the cash infusion. There was a tremendous infusion of talent, Christiansen said. "You can't have him," Roanoke Valley's GM responded. That meant late-night sessions on hockeydb.com, where he searched for telling stats. sensed a fight coming, he headed down near the ice to capture it on his camcorder. We had 10 goons! He fashioned his club as the bad boys, the evil empire of the UHL: If we cant beat you, were at least gonna beat you up. Wingfield's skate caught on the ice, and as he fell back his left tibia, fibula and ankle broke with such force that the crack could be heard in the stands. Asked what hes up to these days, he said, Enjoying life.. Section 102 became a subtribe whose members had nicknames like Capone and Jackass. It was four years to the day from the Trashers' first game. . Wagner had once set a West Coast Hockey League single-season record with 503 penalty minutes. A.J. Wingfield challenged a Kalamazoo player, Josh Elzinga, to a fight. But Galante got around it in classic mob fashion: no-show jobs. Elzinga declined, but as Wingfield skated away, Elzinga pulled on his jersey and stuck out a foot to trip him. The former Director of Hockey Operations for the Jacksonville Ice and Sports Complex, Gilles is no stranger to youth hockey. was on the phone with agents for some of the best hockey players in the world. Rupp had played two seasons in the NHL and had even scored the decisive goal for the Devils in the 2003 Stanley Cup finals. And Brenda was given a new on-ice opportunity when Mad Hatters goalie Jeff Hill jokingly yelled at her to Be a man. signed him for another game against Adirondack, in Danbury on Feb. 23, which was also WWE Night. He reportedly spent more than $3 million to expand the rink from a 600-seat bandbox to a 2,500-seat showplace called the Danbury Ice Arena. A.J. He reportedly spent more than $3 million to expand the rink from a 600-seat bandbox to a 2,500-seat showplace called the Danbury Ice Arena. Many signed with the American Hockey League, the league directly below the NHL, pushing AHL players down to teams in the UHL. "When we got him," A.J. After he was released on $1 million bond, he was asked whether he had any comment. During a 1994 junior hockey game he was on a breakaway when he caught a high stick under his visor. He knows how to treat people. I suspended his son." says wistfully. He allegedly kicked a referee. A view of the scene Friday, Feb. 24, 2023, as the cleanup continues at the site of a Norfolk Southern freight train derailment that happened on Feb. 3, in East Palestine, Ohio. However, hed been to prison for tax evasion. The gangster shrugged: What can I say, right? His job was to be the Kevin Costner to Brent Gretzkys Whitney Houston. Asked how the payback made him feel, Wingnut said great, but I would have liked to have seen him leaving the ice on a stretcher or in a body bag.. Galante passed him a note that asked, Do you want me to have someone pay him a visit? That team was uniquely physical, to put it nicely, Doug Christiansen, a 6-foot-5 Trashers wing, told me. Gilles is a Level 4 Hockey Coach with USA Hockey. One was Rumun Ndur, a Nigeria-born Canadian who was known for his aggression. It started becoming urban legend.. It will have mobsters. And it all ended in an FBI raid and subsequent indictment that landed Galante in the slammer, along with the infamous gangster Matthew Ianniello, aka Matty the Horse, the then-86-year-old capo di tutti capi of the Genovese crime family. "A.J. Most teams rode in a rickety, Partridge Familystyle bus. John was the originalfounding member of the South Florida First Youth Hockey League. Josh Elzinga has an equally impressive professional playing career and has served as Adam's Assistant Coach for the past 4 seasons. They also saw the Trashers as a kind of validation: Someone believes in Danbury. We're here to win.". The Trashers were hosting the Kalamazoo Wings, and Brent Gretzky was being shadowed by the Kalamazoo defenseman Josh Elzinga. The pediatric emergency room at Danbury Hospital was named for Galante after he helped fund it. He has talked casually with A.J. "He's the only thing this team has going for it.". You have to understand, Dave MacIsaac, who played 62 regular-season games for Danbury, told me. Besides, what choice did he have? He was one of those players who had everything except whatever mysterious quality it is that separates Wayne from Brent, the Yes from the Not Quite. The most famous tough-guy team ever was whothe Broad Street Bullies, 7475 Flyers? ", In their box above center ice the Galantes heckled refs and sometimes pelted opposing players with Skittles. Gilles was the Lead Hockey Instructor for National Hockey Development for 4 years. It turned into a brawl. Josh Elzinga Position: D Birthday: Sep 30, 1984 From: Burbank, IL United States Height: 5'11" Weight: 190 lbs. Toward the trade deadline, we were going through a slump. They stayed in the best hotels and ate at the best restaurants. said of Beauregard. The Trashers' marquee player was Brent Gretzky, Wayne's kid brother. When A.J. The Danbury arena, meanwhile, has returned to its old existence as a youth rink. It will have desperate people, lost causes, and crime. ", Rupp's skepticism did not diminish when Galante piloted his blue Escalade out of the airport parking lot and promptly got lost. After one desultory performance, he entered the dressing room carting a basket of tennis balls. In his first semester of college A.J. The players were aware that their owner was, well, connected. Furthermore, according to authorities, in April 2005 Galante had met with Louis DeLuca, a longtime Connecticut state senator. I sit in Section 102 and let the other parents have it. That May they played their hated rival, Kalamazoo, in the Colonial Cup finals. He was an owner of Automated Waste Disposal, a conglomerate of at least 25 trash-hauling businesses that held a near monopoly in western Connecticut and Westchester. In professional sports, there are usually two games taking place. It had to do with the acoustics. And the noisemy God, the noise! I remember asking, Why does he have the full mask? Someone told me, Hes only got one eye. Hed lost vision in the othera stick through the visor. began moonlighting as a boxing manager. They loved playing for Jimmy, because he took care of them. According to the subsequent indictment, the investigation was part of an effort to thwart illegal practices in the trash hauling industry. It had been kicked off by a complaint. So Im like, How the hell am I going to get a trade? I ended up taking this Vipers fan booklet and calling the merchandise number. And so it was that Jimmy Galante's "property rights system," as the government called it, became one of the largest racketeering cases in U.S. history. She started playing hockey, in her wheelchair. Adam Elzinga. See latest post and follow all instructions. It was populated by the die-hard, the angry, and the drunk. They led the league in penalty minutes. Players - FM Leaders; Teams - FM Leaders . SON NATE WAS DRAFTED BY MISSISSAUGA IN THE 2021 OHL DRAFT. In a nod to waste management he named his team the Trashers; the logo was a garbage can armed with a hockey stick, the Zamboni resembled a trash truck and the mascot was called Scrappy. Before a big game a team employee might check into the visitors' hotel and pull the fire alarm. A later indictment alleged that in 1992, Galante and associates conspired to set fire to a truck from a rival carting firm and kidnap a driver at gunpoint. Like any father, you want to be able to do something for your son.. Not a subscriber? Ndur charged the Kalamazoo bench and tried to kick a linesman. It was a big to-do. Although Galante claims that he never actually made contact, he was charged with assault. In the summer of 2005, federal agents raided Galantes offices, coming away with more than $500,000 in cash and more than 5,000 boxes of documentsreceipts, account books, you name it. I'll own it. But by 1 a.m., the Trashers were out of fresh shirts. Danbury, Connecticut, is the ultimate small city. Wagner's career stats in the league: two games and 73 penalty minutes. Mathieuhasbecome a staple in the Tampa area over the last 2 years coaching kids and offering private lessons at Lightning Hockey Schools and Camps, Lightning Community Hockey Development, Lightning Made, Street Lightning, Chase Your Dreams, Future Goals and as a goalie consultant for the Lightning Development Camp. A tale of goons, no-show jobs, and a legendary minor-league franchise that helped land its owner in prison. But now, in the fall of '04, with his league in the throes of a lockout, Rupp had agreed to play for a minor league club in Danbury, Conn. His agent had said a team honcho would meet him at the Westchester County (N.Y.) Airport. For face-off players make hospital visits or speak at schools returned from work his... Through the visor aware that their owner was, well, connected oracle of ice hockey first! Them in the othera stick through the visor hockey Coach with USA hockey Wings, and crime, eventually search... 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