FRASER, Mich. – Following a day of meetings and discussions, it appears that the Detroit Dragons of the AAHA may still have some breath in them. In a late afternoon phone interview, Evansville IceMen General Manager and AAHA co-founder Chip Rossetti told ProHockeyNews.com that alternatives were discussed that could be in place later this week that would keep the Dragons – and subsequently the association itself – alive for the remainder of the season. “I can assure you and everyone else that the AAHA will continue with four teams and at least for the very near future the Dragons will be one of them,” Rossetti said. “Now we just have a few things to decide and a few things to look at. Some big news will be coming down Wednesday or Thursday this week about all of the particulars in which the Dragons are involved. Ultimately we are trying to finalize a deal for some alternative ownership to come in.” The Dragons, who play out of the Great Lakes Sports City complex in Fraser, have led the AAHA in terms of on-ice affairs, coming out of the gates quickly with a 9-5-0 record. Detroit also boasts the top three scorers in the league in Ryan Webb (38 points), Mike McRae (31 points) and Jordan Bowman (29 points). Unfortunately, for all that was good on the ice, it was not so good off. According to Rossetti, the Mitchells, who owned the team, may have misunderstood the upfront commitments needed to successfully operate a team. “I think they (the Mitchells) underestimated what the initial capital for one of these things might be,” Rossetti said. “They were planning on bringing in more money in terms of sponsorships and things like that to sort of offset some of the initial startup (costs). I don’t believe they had a contingency plan in place if that stuff didn’t happen.” Rossetti acknowledged that some bills, including those for the ice rentals at GLSC, went unpaid but added that it is not as much as message board discussions have alleged. He also did note that the players were owed paychecks but said that the AAHA did not have an complete accounting of what was owed. “The majority of the ice bills are up to date. They may be a little behind on things that have transpired in the last couple of weeks,” he said. “It (the circumstances with the players) was not brought to the Association’s attention so we can’t even at this point say how much is owed and to whom.” Rossetti said that Detroit coach Steve Shannon was told of the alternatives and he assured them that he and the players would be willing to return. “We talked with Coach Shannon today and he implied that should the Association be able to work out some new ownership for the team and it could continue in its current form, that the players are all still available,” he said. “Most of them, from what I understand, are from the Detroit metro area or within close proximity to it. Should we able to get everything worked out, they’re prepared to continue what they’re doing. They’re a heck of a team. They’ve had a lot of success this season. Now its just a matter of getting some of these problems fixed.” Stay with ProHockeyNews.com for continuing coverage of this developing story. Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.