We still got eight goons.. For instance, Galante and a few trusted associates burned a competitors truck in 1992after first binding the driverto send a message to stay out of the Connecticut market, and in 2006, damaged the tires of a competitors truck after that carter refused to back down on a $50/month account. He has talked casually with A.J. And, according to court papers filed by the U.S. Attorneys office, his business disputes occasionally ended in violence: For nearly two decades, Galantes enterprise promoted a climate of fear through violence, threats of violence, economic sanctions and threats of economic sanctions. - Improve your search rank They loved playing for Jimmy, because he took care of them. "I cut a foot off the visitors' bench," says Pomposello, "so they'd be all squished together." was a senior at New Fairfield (Conn.) High, he was at a family pasta dinner when his father, Jamesknown to all as Jimmycasually asked, "How would you like to run a pro hockey team? sensed a fight coming, he headed down near the ice to capture it on his camcorder. The Trashers featured some of the most storied names in hockey violence. . "I was a big Oakland Raiders fan," says A.J. Timo Meier's fantasy hockey value trends up after the New Jersey Devils acquired him. starts innumerable sentences, "My dad always says.", Usually so engaging and candid, A.J. She was loving it, said Vogel. He did have a weakness, though. That is it.. He was a great owner." They weren't just happy to go to games. He was suspended from the UHL for life., And then there was the broken-leg game. People who tell the story start with the date, as if recalling an event of historical importance: December 1, 2004. Brenda has cracked three ribs her first time on the ice she crashed into the boards and years later nearly broke her middle finger trying to make a save. Winger Frank (the Animal) Bialowas, a former runner-up for Mr. Manitoba, was not much for impulse control either. Through hockey, Brenda has served as an inspiration for others, from children learning the sport to those like 25-year-old Eric Vogel, a fellow goalie drafted by the expansion Southwestern Pennsylvania Magic of the Federal League in June. Game Two is what people remember. First of all, if you look at the bus, it was pretty sick, Mario Larocque told me. The rivalry between the teams developed fast. To the delight of the Danbury press and public, they also brought exciting hockey action and stars such as Brent Gretzky (playing and signing autographs), kid brother of you-know-who. Asked by email whether there could be a sequel, a Danbury Trashers II, Galante responds, "Anything is possible! 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. According to authorities, DeLuca said yes and provided Colella's address. Greg St. Clair, the fan who accompanied his wheelchair-bound wife to games, marked the occasion by getting a tattoo on his left calf of Scrappy the mascot shooting a puck emblazoned with the letters fbi. Lets face it: What else does Danbury really have?. After signing Gretzky, he went for Jim Duhart, the Crash Davis of minor-league hockey. [40 yrs. Every great team needs a great rival. "You need a wild card," says A.J., "so we decided we would beat people to submission. Matty the Horse spent 18 months in the big house, but he survived it, dying a free man in August 2012. As Wingfield skated away,. The gangster shrugged: What can I say, right? But they also swap remember-that-time-when stories about those two years they ran that crazy-assed hockey team. AJ considered it unfair to fans if a game had fewer than three fights. That meant late-night sessions on hockeydb.com, where he searched for telling stats. ", In his first game for Danbury, Beauregard had a goal and an assist as the Trashers won 5--1. Rumun Ndur ended up seeing red and going batshit crazy, AJ told me. HOCKEY IS BACK!!!. Mathieuhas had a lengthy professional career that spanned over a 14 year period. AJ called it a coincidence: Changes in the league made continued play impossible, he said, not the legal problem. Of course, his dads arrest played a role. The U.S. Attorneys office learned enough to get wiretaps and, eventually, search warrants. 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. Since birth Brenda has suffered from spina bifida, an abnormality that causes an opening in the spinal column. The government seized most of his assets, including 25 trash companies and a string of race cars. The league's 13 other owners were happy for the cash infusion. The result was a kind of frontier justice. Season. "But you got to stir it up sometimes.". . Jimmy was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault. He spent six years in Allenwood, a federal penitentiary in central Pennsylvania. She accepted and over the next two years would occasionally hit pucks around, even after the Trashers ignominiously folded in 2006. With the NHL idled by a lockout that would scuttle the 2004--05 season in mid-February, the UHL became a haven for restless NHL players wanting to play to stay in shape. Featured in the NETFLIX documentary Untold: Crime & Penalties, the story of the Danbury Trashers relives the short and tumultuous history of an old United Ho. First year, he was playing for the Port Huron Beacons, killing us. Torres said he lost confidence at . The Danbury Trashers earned respect with their fists as often as their sticks. 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 . After hearing ESPN hockey commentator Barry Melrose, a co-owner of the Frostbite, trash the Trashers on the radio, an enraged A.J. She forgets about being in the chair, Greg added. We were maybe the toughest team to ever play this game. That's all we needed to hear. She had always wanted to play in a game and afterward she kept talking, Did you see this save and that save? It was really, really great. We only use official stats. says, shifting uneasily in his seat. It wasnt a crisis, but it was a drag. They were the cream of the UHL, one of its best teams and a pet project of hockey celebrities: The franchise was owned in part by the former NHL coach Barry Melrose and the ESPN broadcaster Steve Levy. I figured it would be like a video game, controlling players and all that. What does that mean? It was a different day of hockey., Life for the Trashers was life on the road, going from small city to small city. Just two unforgettable seasons sealed in amber. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. The 200405 Trashers blew through the UHL like a freak storm. The constant sitting has led to excruciating backaches. The Trashers sprawled in the locker room as the Zamboni worked. made connections over the summer with agents, scouts and middlemen who could deliver that goalie from Manitoba or that playmaker from Quebec. Galante, at 17, come to run a minor league hockey team with NHL talentand, in turn, take a leading role in Slap Shot meets GoodFellas meets Hoosiers? "He's the only thing this team has going for it.". "You can't have him," Roanoke Valley's GM responded. As he headed to baggage claim at the small suburban airport, something didn't look right. Stevehas served on the SAHOF Board of Directors since 2003, has been a Head Coach and Evaluator for the USA Player Development Program, and has made five appearances at the USA Hockey National Championships which includes bringing the first National Championship to the Southeast District and the State of Florida. After taking swipes at various players, he grabbed Potvin, the Adirondack coach, and knocked him down. showed off the aggressively down-market style the Trashers brought to the UHL. A senior at New Fairfield High, AJ had been an alternate captain of his schools hockey team, which played at the Danbury Ice Arena with Jimmy often in attendance. Through United States Ice Rink Association Gilles has acquired his Hockey Director Certificate, Human Resources Management Certificate and Programming, Marketing and Promotions Certificate. Mahfuz riad. "I'm one of those guys who lives for competition," he says. In the summer of '06, the Trashers sent 105 season-ticket holders refund checks, totaling $31,177. ago] Height 5.11 -- Weight 175 [180 cm/79 kg] Embed Josh Elzinga stats! Submit changes (incorrect DOB, missing stats, incorrect stats, social media links etc) using a web form and we will review your update request within 24 hours and update accordingly. He'd already played 12 seasons of pro hockey: a total of 13 games in the NHL, followed by years of wandering the minors. "It was definitely a unique group of individualsas well as management!" "Al Davis, he was a wild man with a team full of outlaws, and that's how I wanted to be. Learn more about them from these League History pages. Then Sen. Joseph Lieberman hailed Galante as a "shining example" in the community. 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 We're here to win.". Born Jul 23 1982 -- Burbank, IL. The Trashers were hosting the Kalamazoo Wings, and Brent Gretzky was being shadowed by the Kalamazoo defenseman Josh Elzinga. We would yell down during warm-ups, Come on, youre going to be skating for us next year! And theyd look at me and rub their fingers, and Id reach in my pocket and pull out my wallet, and theyd start laughing., Beauregard was one of my favorites, AJ said. I know its not healthy, but I cant help myself. | View as text League Information Josh Elzinga played in four leagues over the course of his career. The winning goal came in the third overtime. (The video was inconclusive.) Maybe it was better that way. ", "Dad, if this guy had two eyes, he might be one of the greatest NHL players ever! At 4 a.m. the players would be out in the parking lot, huddled in their underwear. I suspended him. fgcu.campuslabs.com. Besides, what choice did he have? called his middleman in Quebec and essentially rented Wagner for a game against Adirondack. For video of the Danbury Trashers mixing it up, download SI's tablet version, free to subscribers, at SI.com/activate. "I want to trade for Beauregard," A.J. They were always pulling them out late, clearing the bench, fighting and celebrating. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is a registered trademark of ABG-SI LLC. Now it's probably best known for its massive federal prison, which housed Lauryn Hill and has been featured in Orange Is the New Black. Throughout his busy professional career, he has also participated in numerous hockey schools around the country. BY JANUARY 2005 the Trashers were so riddled with suspensions that they had to suit up an assistant coach, Bobby Stearns, who suddenly became a 36-year-old pro hockey rookie. To circumvent the cap, Galante regularly doled out cash bonuses, gave some players exorbitant living allowances and gave others checks for housing after their allowances had already been paid. Sign up today to get the best features and analysis from the NHL and beyond. (Colella denies this.) Most recently in the AAHL with Chicago Blaze. They happily agreed. Additionally, Charlie is the Head of Academics for TPH, Estero. "It was loud," says A.J., "and security was very, let's just say, flexible." The Galantes told Trashers who were suspendedinvariably for fightingto watch the games from the 102 seats. One of the featured players, Brad \"Wingnut\" Wingfield plays a significant role in the film. For himself he built a skybox equipped with a kitchenette. Marc also specializes in Power Skating and using the techniques of dynamic edgework and plyometricwhile on the ice. And that wasn't all. Brian was born and raised in Detroit Michigan. One day in November, an employee at the Ice Arena was proud to show the building until he was told his visitor was interested in writing an article on the Trashers. drives his white Mercedes more than three hours to White Deer, Pa., where Jimmy is serving his sentence at the Allenwood Federal Correctional Complex. AJ and I would stand up there and look at the teams that were coming to play us, Galante told me. Wingnut went down awkwardly, and a crack could be heard in every part of the arena: Wingnuts left tibia and fibula. said. The FBI had sent an agent undercover to pass himself off as a rogue salesman and befriend the men around Galante. 2006-2007 Regular Season . SON CONNOR IS NOW PLAYING IN THE USHL (WATERLOO BLACKHAWKS), Played in over 1,000 games in the NHL, AHL, Swedish Elite League, Finnish National League and more, Private hockey instructor with Saveology.com Iceplex team, Former Assistant Coach for the Florida Everblades (ECHL) during the 09-10 season, Currently the Director of Hockey Operations at TPH Ft. Lauderdale, National Hockey League (NHL) Alumni for the New Jersey Devils and Detroit Red Wings, 2013-current -Coach with the Florida Alliance/Southeast Elite Program, 2012-current -Coach with the Florida Jr. Everblades, Player for the United States men's ice hockey team in three Olympic's (2002, 2006, and 2010), Playedfour years at the University of WisconsinMadison, This website is powered by SportsEngine's. PHOTOGRAPHS BY WENDY CARLSON (MASCOT, 5); VIDEO STILLS BY THOMAS BUTKIER (2). 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.. Listen to the trailer for, the interview ending abruptly when a teacher walked by. 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. I'll own it. But for the Trashers, there was a third game, although neither Jimmy nor AJ knew about it. When the 2004--05 lockout ended, Rupp returned to the NHL and is still playing, for the Wild. Jason Chen explains the effect in depth before New Jersey plays Wednesday. You'd look across the ice, and they had eight to 10 heavyweights looking for a fight. Danbury, Connecticut, is the ultimate small city. 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. None of this fazes the 47-year-old Brenda. From March 2014: The oracle of ice hockey. He was a star in the UHL, having scored 43 goals for the Port Huron Beacons the previous season. His job was to be the Kevin Costner to Brent Gretzkys Whitney Houston. For all that's happened, the kid still idolizes his father. A.J. When asked whether they knew anything about the other side of Galantes life, most said something along the lines of Not exactly, but we did know we were well taken care of. Danbury is a blue-collar town, and they could relate to the players, Galante told me. Owners were happy for the Trashers sprawled in the film play in game. Lockout ended, Rupp returned to the UHL like a video game, although neither Jimmy nor knew. Trash companies and a string of race cars birth Brenda has suffered from spina bifida, an A.J. Agent undercover to pass himself off as a rogue salesman and befriend the around... 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