WPCNR VIEW FROM THE BALCONY. March 19, 2005: Those Bad Boys of Hockey, the Danbury Trashers, the scourge of the United Hockey League, the biggest fastest meanest men on ice are skating on the road in the hinterlands this weekend, but their fans follow them on the internet. A fan, reading the WPCNR feature on the Danbury Trashers exciting and well-supported first season in Danbury, has sent along this letter to explain why he and his friends head to The Hatter City (Danbury) for their hockey. He writes:
SHOT...SAVE! AND A HONEY BY STERLING. Danbury Trashers -- The Men in Black in action. Photo, WPCNR Sports Archive.
Dear Mr. Bailey,
No, the Trashers are not the old New Haven Nighthawks, but there are a couple of people in the Trasher organization that I know of who worked for the New haven franchise, along with quite a few fans that regularly attended New Haven games. I am one of those fans.
New Haven's Coliseum was closed down in 2001 following 75 years of hockey and is currently being demolished to make way for a theatre and a college, claiming that they could not compete with the opening of the Bridgeport Soundtigers Arena in 2000(?). Many of the old, hardcore, New Haven fans despise the Bridgeport Arena, a beautiful, much larger, and more modern facility than Danbury's.
We choose the metal bleachers at Danbury mainly because of the atmosphere it provides and the excitement this team creates, (never a dull moment) and the fact that the "greatest owners in hockey", the Galantes, have embraced the New Haven fans with open arms, as opposed to the Bridgeport organization who turned their backs on us. Also ticket prices are quite reasonable.
I did attended 2 of the Bridgeport games in 2002 and it truly was "like a library", the prices were high ($24.00 a ticket), and the atmosphere was boring as the style of hockey the Soundtigers played, I never went back.
Danbury is the only arena/franchise in the Northeast that even comes close to the excitement that originally attracted me to New Haven hockey some 20 years ago and I will be purchasing season tickets in Danbury and looking forward to some very entertaining hockey for the upcoming 2005/2006 season.
Thanks again for that great article!
Vinny P.
West Haven, CT
