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ATLANTA, Ga—Out of the solitude of central Virginia deep from within the Blue Ridge Mountains; (hard-by the trail of the lonesome pines), comes a roar which hds startled the locals in the Roanoke Valley like nothing since the days of the revolution. . . „The roar is the “Rebel yell,” the din and clatter cast off by the suddenly voiciferous and numerous fans of the Roanoke Valley Rebels hockey team. The Rebels have developed in their seventh year into the early favorites to take the first championship of the new Southern Hockey League.The Hebels fans came alive toward the end of last season, coincidental with the rise of the Rebels’ fortunes, and packed the ice arenas in Roanoke and Salem for games in the old Eastern Hockey League. The fact that the team advanced to that league’s finals before bowing 4 games to 2 to a superpowerful Syracuse squad, plus the,natural rivalries existent in the new Southern Hockey League, lead Rebel fans to wax enthusiastic about their team this year.• “Hockey has finally come alive in the Valleysays team president Gene Hawthorne, “and the creation of the Southern Hockey League can’t help but make things better fur us. Our fans relate very intensely to southern rivalries, with particular emphasis on teams from North Carolina,” he says.Hawthorne points out that more than 3,000 Rebel fans travelled 95 miles to Greensboro, N.C. last year to cheer their heroes into first place in the last game of the season.“The additon of a team to Winston-Salem, which is even closer than Greensboro, plus, of course, the continuation of our rivalry with the Charlotte Checkers, ought to bring more fans out than ever before,” says Hawthorhe. “This, in turn, can’t help but affect'the adrenalin flow of the players, with the result that the games will probably be more exiciting for everyone.” ...That hockey has taken root in Virginia is a solid fact, says Hawthorne. More than 300 youngsters are enrolled in various youth programs in the Roanoke Valley, and last year the Rebels attracted more than 100 participants to their adult recreational'league.The Rebels have a “good working relationship” with the Vancouver (nee Philadelphia) Blazers of the World Hockey | , AssodfhUon, says Hawthorne, and the quality of players should improve dramatically this year. That cloesn'-t augur welflfor the rest of the teams in the league,' say most observers, since the Rebels already have h good, solid nucleus of talent. *■ • ■ ... - £ ■' “And*the f ulure^irol^ bBiht s WpTlS'We’re--hopeful expansion will taketfajnrgkifrTidewaifer and Richmond cfre high on the list of possibilities - and perhaps even in Charleston, West Virginia. Bftt, for this year'” he * says, “we’ll be content taking on the challengers from North Carolina-, Georgia and Florida; That will be a big enough task for us.”J
Newspaper Details
Pulaski Southwest Times
Pulaski, Virginia, US
Tue, Jun 12, 1973
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Library O.
USA 27 Oct 2023
Other Publications Near Pulaski, Virginia
The Pulaski News
Pulaski Times Journal
Pulaski News Review
Pulaski Staunton News Leader
Pulaski Southwest Times
