Evansville IceMen: A Menace Best Served Cold Nick Durcholz
Born of a schism between two
national hockey leagues, the Evansville IceMen are ready and willing to be an
outstanding team.
The IceMen are Evansville’s
one and only premier hockey team that is not affiliated with a local
educational institute. Although, a considerable amount of its players presently
go to or went to the University
of Southern Indiana.
There are also a couple players who attended the University of Kentucky.
In any case, these young men are ecstatic about representing Evansville and the tri-state area. General
Manager Chip Rossetti seems to be the most enthusiastic of all of them.
“I think the
Tri-State is going to love every aspect of an IceMen game,” Rossetti said.“The on ice product is going to be very
talented, and the show that goes on around the game is all about
entertainment.Fans are going to be
entertained from the minute they walk through the door until the head back out
to their cars at the end of the night.”
There is no way around the fact that most of these young
men are newbies to the All-American Hockey Association; they will get a chance
soon enough to prove their worth on the ice. The Icemen will skate their way
into the real action starting on November 14th when their season officially
gets underway. All games will be held at Swonder Ice Arena and the whole
organization invites and encourages all to come and represent. The IceMen are
owned by Ron Geary, a Kentucky
business man who recently purchased Ellis Park. Unfortunately, the Icemen do
not have the charismatic leadership of Emilio Estevez in their frozen arsenal
but I would bet that Head Coach Jason Reichart could beat the crap out of him
if he really wanted to.
Another tough customer who is an essential to the
operation of the IceMen is General Manager Chip Rossetti. It is Rossetti’s job
to make sure the fans have an awesome experience every time they come to a
game. He is also helping the coaches in recruiting more players and makes sure
that every game goes on without a hitch.
For a long time hockey has been very important to
Rossetti. What first attracted Rossetti to the sport was the emphasis that
hockey puts on teamwork.This is a
lesson not only vital in hockey but important in every day life. If one player
is slacking off or playing selfishly it is automatically apparent and a team
that does this frequently will not be successful. He also thinks that hockey
stands out dramatically from most other sports because of its rapid nature.
“No other sport has so few breaks in the action.There is always a chance that something
exciting is going to happen,” Rossetti said.
It is no doubt that Rossetti is important to the IceMen
and the IceMen are important to Rossetti but the support that takes precedence
in his life is his family. He credits his wife and his two daughters (a third
on the way) to being the most valuable players in his own life. Most everyone
in sports always has a personal mantra to best remind them of how to do their
job as a player, coach, or manager. Rossetti is no different.
“Winners make commitments, losers make excuses,’” Rossetti
said. “I love this saying because I believe that when you get involved with
anything, sports or otherwise, you need to commit yourself to it and give it
everything you have.That way, even if
you don’t succeed, you can walk away knowing that you gave it everything you
had.”
With a strong and consistent team there is no question
the IceMen could very well win the AAHA Championship. However, without the
support of the community in which they represent the title does not mean nearly
as much. Find a game you can attend and be there to cheer until your face goes
numb. Tri-state, as far as local hockey goes, the puck stops here.
Home Game Schedule
All games played at Swonder
Ice Arena and start at 8 PM
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