Saginaw Lumber Kings (UHL, 1996-97)

1996-97 Regular Season
Lumber Kings vs. Quad City Mallards

      The Saginaw Lumber Kings, in fact all three versions of the UHL's run in Saginaw, represent the "Dark Ages of Hockey" in the Tri-Cities. Poor attendance, mediocre-at-best teams, and ownership instability plagued Saginaw during the mid-late 1990s. The franchise, arriving from Chatham, Ontario, in the summer of 1994, went through four ownership changes (and one takeover by the league) and three rebrands before moving away in December 1999.

     The Saginaw Wheels were purchased from the Colonial Hockey League by 26-year old physician Dr. Muhanad Jondy, a colleague of Flint Generals owner Dr. Khaled Shukairy. A name-the-team contest was held during the summer, and "Saginaw Lumber Kings" was chosen, to represent the region's lumbering tradition. Team colors were wineberry, gold, black and white, and the jerseys were modeled after the Colorado Avalanche. Home games were played at 4,727-seat Wendler Arena (reduced capacity due to no ice-level seating). Ex-Red Wing John Blum was hired as Head Coach/General Manager. The Lumber Kings were also an affiliate of the IHL's Houston Aeros.

     The Lumber Kings dropped to the basement of the Colonial Hockey League's Eastern Division, with a 21-48-5 record. Their 47 points were seven behind the fourth-place Utica Blizzard and 64 behind regular season champion Flint. The only reason the Lumber Kings didn't have the worst record in the league was due to the Dayton Ice Bandits being beyond horrible (13-53-8) in their lone season. The Lumber Kings also set an embarrassing record as the first (and only) team in the Saginaw-Flint hockey rivalry to be swept in a season series, as the Generals won all 13 games against Saginaw. Due to the poor on-ice product, attendance slumped to 2.062 per game, fourth-lowest in the CoHL and a decrease of 413 from the 1995-96 Wheels.

     Saginaw was next to last in both offense and defense. On offense, the Lumber Kings scored just 263 goals, 47 more than Dayton. By far the team's most dangerous weapon was left winger Mark Green. Green, signed from Utica, scored an incredible 80 goals and 145 points in 72 games. Both numbers are city records and will likely not be broken. After that, there's a major dropoff, as the next-highest scorer was defenseman Keith Whitmore, with 11 goals and 77 points. Ken Blum (24) and JD Eaton (23) were the only other Lumber Kings to score over 20 goals that year. Longtime NHL veteran defenseman Lee Norwood played 12 games for Saginaw, scoring three goals and six points. 

     The Lumber Kings surrendered 399 goals this season, just 13 fewer than Dayton. John Blum used an incredible 11 goaltenders that season. The one that played the most was ex-Detroit Falcon Dan Ryder. Ryder, a 1991 draft pick of the San Jose Sharks, had a 12-24-3 record with a 4.91 GAA in 46 games. Jason Carey played the next-most games, 36, and had a 9-16-1 mark with a 5.34 GAA. The other nine goaltenders played between 1-5 games.

     With a team this bad, the +/- numbers are bound to be ugly, and they were. The worst was held by JD Eaton, who was -70 on the year. Green was next with -65 (which means he was on the ice for 65 more goals than scored, even though he put in 80!!). In fact, only three players were in the plus side: Rob Hutson (5 games, +2), Doug Matteson (1 game, +1) and Sergei Shilov (10 games, +1). Brano Ballar (1 game) and John Heasty (1 game) were the only non-goaltenders with a +/- of zero.

     The one thing the Lumber Kings could do better than any Colonial League team was pile up the penalty minutes. Saginaw spent 2,228 minutes in the penalty box, 80 more than second-place Port Huron. The chief tough guy that year was 21-year old right winger Bryce Davidson. Davidson, in his second and final year of pro hockey, had a whopping 440 PIM in 48 games, to go along with 5 goals and 14 points. High penalty minute numbers were not unusual for Bryce, as the lowest number he had in his career. (junior or pro) was 316). JD Eaton was next, with a career high 301 PIM in 64 games. Ken Blum (165), Rob Striar (115), Keith Whitmore (110) and Mike McCready (105) were the other players with over 100 minutes in the sin bin. 

    Saginaw, along with Dayton, were the only two teams to miss the Colonial Cup Playoffs that year. In fact, Saginaw would never make the postseason again while in this league.

     This is a decent program from the Lumber Kings, it's 48 pages long and each page has a maroon border around it. Jondy wrote a welcome letter to Saginaw hockey fans on page 1, promising the Lumber Kings would "be a competitive team on the ice", which, unfortunately didn't happen. Mayor Gary L. Loster welcomed Lumber Kings fans to another season of hockey on page 4. Head Coach/GM John Blum and assistant Rudy Varvari are profiled on pages 8-9. Each Colonial League team has a profile throughout the program. An article about Saginaw hockey history is on page 43.

     I went to a few Saginaw Lumber Kings games that year. This program is from the November 30, 1996, game between the Lumber Kings and Quad City Mallards. The Mallards were a strong team that season, off to a 13-5-1 start, while Saginaw limped into this game with a 6-13-0 record. Records meant nothing that night, as the Lumber Kings won in a shootout, 4-3, in front of just 2,090 at Wendler Arena. 

     Quad City was significantly improved from their inaugural season. They were led by 66-goal scorer Glenn Stewart and 48-goal scorer Hugo Proulx. Former Generals defenseman John Batten had 29 goals and 68 points on the blueline. Former General Brett Strot was with the team for 44 games, scoring 20 goals and 45 points before being traded to Madison. Quad City was especially strong in net, with Sergei Zvyagin playing 60 games, with a 42-15-12 record, 2.99 GAA and 1 shutout. Zvyagin was acquired from the Detroit Falcons in 1995-96, and would play four seasons in Quad City, and also play for the Falcons, Adirondack Ice Hawks and Flint Generals. In my opinion, Sergei Zvyagin was the best goaltender in league history (and that's coming from a Flint Generals fan). 

     Here's Saginaw's roster for that night. Not as talented as Quad City's roster, but there are some notable names. Green scored a ridiculous amount of goals, but he was a one-dimensional player. Former Generals Keith Whitmore and Jim Duhart were also on the team. Duhart would be traded just 27 games into the season to the Madison Monsters, where he would turn into one of the league's top goal-scorers. Dale Greenwood had 10 goals and 36 points in 50 games that year, and eventually would win a Colonial Cup with the Generals in 1999-2000. Sergei Stas would be a two-time Olympian, playing for Team Belarus in 1998 and 2002. Ken Blum is John's younger brother, and would play several years in the UHL. 

     Local advertisements include Blue Lakes Charters and Tours, Schaefer Bierlein Chrysler/Dodge of Frankenmuth, The Saginaw News, Garber Saginaw (Dick Garber would eventually own the OHL's Saginaw Spirit), Z93 WKQZ FM, and Big John's Lamplighter Family Restaurant.

Aftermath: John Blum would be fired midway through the 1997-98 season, another brutal year for the Lumber Kings. Jondy would eventually sell the near-bankrupt franchise to Dr. Shukairy midway through that season, who would rename the team Saginaw Gears. Sadly, Jondy and Mark Green passed away several years ago, both way too young. Green passed away in 2004 at age 36 and Jondy in 2007 at age 35.

Reference:

Colonial Hockey League Statistics: 1996-97, from hockeydb.com