Toledo Storm

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Toledo Storm
Founded	1991
Home ice	Toledo Sports Arena
Based in	Toledo, Ohio
Colors	Red, White
Championships	2
Division Titles	6
League	ECHL
Head coach	Nick Vitucci
Team President	Barry Soskin
General manager	Patrick Pylypuik
Owners
NHL Affiliates	Detroit Red Wings / Chicago Blackhawks
AHL Affiliates	Grand Rapids Griffins / Norfolk Admirals

The Toledo Storm is an ECHL ice hockey team located in Toledo, Ohio, USA. The team is in the North Division of the ECHL's American Conference and is affiliated with the Grand Rapids Griffins and Norfolk Admirals of the AHL and the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL.

The Storm play in the Toledo Sports Arena and their colors are red and white. Their jerseys are almost identical to those of the Red Wings, their NHL affiliate.

In fact, the Red Wings' octopus tradition has made it on the Storm a few times, with one image of an octopus holding two Riley Cups making the rounds after their consecutive wins. The tradition of the octopus thrown onto the ice is also a large part of a game. in fact, it is rare to see a game where the squid isn't thrown on the ice, at least once.

The Storm have adopted many of their own, original, traditions. Before every game, during the national anthem after the line 'Oh say does that star-spangled banner yet wave' the crowd shouts HIT SOMEBODY!. Another tradition, adopted somewhere around the 2003-2004 season was a chant that the crowd uses when the Storm score. During the song Rock n' Roll part 2 by Gary Glitter, the fans yell 'YOU SUCK!' after the lyric Hey. This is, of course, directed towards the visiting team.

In 2005, the Storm unveiled a commemorative 15th-anniversary logo designed by Thread Information Design, a firm based in Maumee, Ohio. The logo features colors of light blue, dark blue, black and red, with a lightning bolt extending from the "R" in "STORM". The team had originally planned to use this logo from the beginning of the 2005-06 season, however because of ECHL rules regarding advances for logo changes, the new logo was not officially used until 2006, featuring a modified version of the logo with a red "XV" to the right of the lightning bolt.

The previous Storm logo, used from 1991-2005, was often voted as the worst in professional American athletics. After the 2005-2006 season closed, however, the original logo was comissioned again, putting an end to the rumor that the 15th anniversery logo would be adopted permanently.

[edit] Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

[edit] Current Roster

As of December 31, 2006. Numbers taken from ECHL website. ^[1]

Goaltenders
#		Player	Catches	Date of birth	Place of birth
30		Ervins Mustokovs	R	April 7, 1984	Riga, Latvia
31		Dominic Vicari	R	October 30, 1984	Clinton Township, Michigan, USA

Defencemen
#		Player	Shoots	Date of birth	Place of birth
2		Brett Angel	L	Apr 29 1981	Kingston, Ontario, Canada
3		Tim Songin	L	May 22, 1981	Hamburg, New York, USA
4		Jason Maleyko	L	May 24, 1980	Windsor, Ontario, Canada
6		Dan Watson	L	March 12, 1979	Glencoe, Ontario, Canada
23		Gerry Burke	L	July 6, 1982	Milton, Massachusetts, USA
25		D. Clayton Kirstein	D	January 7, 1983	Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, USA

Forwards
#		Player	Position	Shoots	Date of birth	Place of birth
9		Matt Zultek	LW	L	March 12, 1979	Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
11		Chris Blight	RW	R	October 14, 1982	Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
14		Jeff Attard	C	R	November 27, 1978	London, Ontario, Canada
16		Mike Walsh	RW	L	January 12, 1982	Northville, Michigan, USA
17		Ken Magowan	LW	L	July 22, 1981	Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
18		Nick Parillo	LW	L	May 16, 1977	Schenectady, New York, USA
18		Bruce Mulherin	LW	L	February 3, 1982	Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
18		TJ Sakaluk	C	L	April 27, 1983	Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
18		Evan McGrath (from Grand Rapids, AHL)	C	L	Jan 14, 1986	Oakville, Ontario, Canada

[edit] Women's Hockey Firsts

The Toledo Storm once featured a female goaltender, Erin Whitten, who on March 7, 1996 became the first woman ever to appear in a professional hockey game in a position other than goaltender; she played at forward for 18 seconds in a game against the Madison Monsters. She was the first U.S.-born woman to play professional hockey when she appeared for the East Coast Hockey League's Toledo Storm, and on October 30, 1993, became the first woman goaltender to record a professional victory. Erin was a goaltender for the United States National Women's Team for the 1992, 1994, and 1997 World Championships. She was cut from the American national women's hockey team shortly before the 1998 inaugural trip to the Olympics where the US Women's took home the first ever gold medal in women's ice hockey in Olympic history.

[edit] Miscellaneous

1991-2006 Official Logo. A new logo, based on the 15th anniversary logo, will be officially adopted as of the 2006-07 season.

Division Titles: 6 - 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2003, 2006

Riley Cup Titles: 2 - 1993, 1994

Brabham Cup Titiles: 2 - 1992, 2003

Main Rivals

Cincinnati Cyclones

Dayton Bombers

Wheeling Nailers

[edit] External links

• Toledo Storm official site
• Toledo Storm Hockey Boosters (fan club)
• Erin Whitten Pictures
• Women's Sports Foundation Erin Whitten Page
• Erin Whitten as Assistant Coach at UNH
• Women's Behind the Mask Profile on Erin Whitten
• PBS Story on Women's Olympic Team, Erin Whitten Commentator.
• 1999 Article on Erin Whitten