An unusual weekend took another unexpected turn on Sunday for the Quad City Storm.
QC had its weekend home series with Vermilion County scrapped just hours before Friday’s scheduled game and Peoria brought in as a replacement opponent for two games at Vibrant Arena on short notice.
The Storm were then told they would be playing at Vermilion County on Sunday afternoon in a game added to the schedule this weekend.
QC at least salvaged a victory over the Bobcats in that contest – without the game even being played.
“It’s been an interesting day,” said Storm president Brian Rothenberger from a McDonald’s in Danville, Ill., on Sunday evening.
Quad City was awarded a 1-0 victory when the last-place Bobcats did not field a team for the contest.
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Video shared on social media showed the Storm lining up for the puck drop at David S. Palmer Arena. Officials were on the ice ready to get the game started, but there were no Bobcats players anywhere to be found.
“We got there and the arena was ready,” said Rothenberger. “They had concessions set up, they had stick kids there getting the ice ready, they had officials, they had off-ice officials. Unfortunately, their team did not show up and their coach did not show up.”
These issues were cropping up last week that resulted in the altered weekend schedule with home games at Vibrant Arena featuring first-place Peoria instead of the Bobcats.
Rothenberger said he was not sure if Bobcats owner Ellen J. Tully was in the building on Sunday, but did say that Steven Street, director of Team Security, was on hand.
Chris Blaisuis has been coaching the club, but apparently had not been with the team for at least a few days.
According to SPHL bylaws, a team must be represented by a coach and athletic trainer in order to take the ice.
As of Sunday evening, a Vermilion County team roster was posted on the SPHL website.
Apparently, issues are running deep in Danville and with the VC organization. Rothenberger said that a board of governors meeting (league owners) is being set up for early this week to determine what happens moving forward with the team that has won just four games in 30 starts. Its 10 points are four behind 10th-place Macon in the 11-team league.
A one-sentence notification appeared on the SPHL website Sunday evening. It reads: “The Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) on Sunday announced the Quad City at Vermilion County game scheduled for Sunday, February 5 has been declared a forfeit in favor of Quad City pursuant to Rule 73.3 of the SPHL Rule Book.”
According to Rothenberger, the Bobcats were given a delay of game penalty when the contest was ready to start.
“The team has five minutes to show up after that before the game is forfeited and that is, indeed, what happened,” said Rothenberger. “We got two points out of it.”
The victory moved ninth-place QC to 15-19-1-1, 32 points, still two points out of a playoff position.
While questions run deep as to what happens in the league moving forward, Rothenberger said that the Storm players did what they could to make the best of a bad situation.
Rothenberger said that for Sunday home games, VC features a post-game skate with players from the home team. Without those players in attendance, QC players stepped up and stuck around to interact with the Bobcats faithful.
“Our guys were very excited for the chance to hang around and skate with the fans,” said Rothenberger. “I think they made a lot of people’s day. It’s a very tough situation those fans are going through and I think they got to brighten some spirits, especially for some of the kids that were there.
“We just tried to make the best out of it that we can and we got to go home with two points. Certainly, a unique day to say the least.”
QC did have to incur the expense of making the trip. Rothenberger estimated that it cost the team roughly $3,000 for bus rental and per diems for the staff. He said “there is a good chance that the league is going to work with us on that” in regards to getting reimbursed for those expenses.
QC is scheduled for two games this coming weekend – playing at Evansville on Friday evening and returning to Vibrant Arena on Saturday to close the home-and-home set with the Thunderbolts.
QC is scheduled to play Vermilion County again on Feb. 14 at David S. Palmer Arena.
Vermilion County is scheduled for road games this Friday (at Huntsville) and Saturday (at Birmingham). The Bobcats are scheduled for 10 contests this month – an even split between home and road games.
