United Hockey League (1999-2004)
Tombstone
Born: June 14, 1999 – The Winston-Salem IceHawks relocate to Glens Falls, NY
Re-Branded: 2004 – Adirondack Frostbite
First Game: October 15, 1999 (L 7-2 @ Flint Generals)
Last Game: April 11, 2004 (L 5-2 @ Kalamazoo Wings)
Colonial Cup Championships: None
Arena
Glens Falls Civic Center (4,806)12003-04 Adirondack IceHawks Program
Opened: 1979
Branding
Team Colors: Red, Black, White & Grey22003-04 Adirondack IceHawks Program
Ownership
- 1999-2004: Art Shaver & Lori Shaver
- 2004: Dr. Eric Margenau, Glenn Morelli, Steve Levy, Barry Melrose
Background
In the spring of 1999, Glens Falls, New York lost its longtime minor league hockey club, the Adirondack Red Wings. For 20 seasons, the Wings were the top farm club of the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings. The team won four Calder Cups as champions of the American Hockey League during the 1980’s and early 1990’s and routinely packed the small city’s 4,800-seat Civic Arena in those years.
Into the void left by the Red Wings stepped Art & Lori Shaver, who moved their United Hockey League franchise from Winston-Salem, North Carolina to Glens Falls in June of 1999. The UHL played a considerably lower calibre of hockey than the American Hockey League. According to sportswriter Gary Blockus of Allentown, Pennsylvania’s Morning Call, the league sent just four marginal players to the National Hockey League from its founding 1991 until the 1999-00 season when the Icehawks arrived in Glens Falls.3Blockus, Gary. “Calling the UHL ‘Developmental” Is A Stretch. The United Hockey League Has Sent Only 4 Players To The NHL Since Starting in 1991-92.” The Morning Call (Allentown, PA). January 22, 2000
The IceHawks lasted five seasons in Glens Falls. The last year, 2003-04, was marred by the Shavers’ extensive debts to the city and local businesses. During a game against the Port Huron Border Cats at the Civic Center on January 9th, 2004, Warren County Sheriff’s Department officers seized the cash from the team’s concession stands to settle a judgment against the Icehawks’ owners. The Shavers relinquished the team later that month in a sale to a group that former NHL head coach Barry Melrose, ESPN Sportscenter anchor Steve Levy and veteran minor league sports investor Dr. Eric Margenau.
Shortly after the transaction, the new owners relieved Head Coach Bryan Wells of his duties and Melrose briefly assumed the coaching reigns himself. Melrose had previous ties to Glens Falls, having coached the Red Wings to the Calder Cup in 1992.
At the end of the 2003-04 season, the new owners re-branded the team as the Adirondack Frostbite. The Frostbite played two more seasons in the UHL before folding in 2006.
Trivia
Minor league warhorse Hugo Belanger (IceHawks ’00-’04) was the club’s all-time leader in games (298), goals (156), assists (325) and total scoring (481). He also skated both seasons for the Frostbite.
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