Wednesday, December 8, 2010

North Texas Vintage Series Returns

Game one set for next Friday

In remembrance of the Metroplex's early hockey rivalries, the Texas Brahmas and Allen Americans introduced the "North Texas Vintage Game Series" last season following a 28-year hiatus, with the teams representing the Fort Worth Wings and Dallas Black Hawks respectively. Both teams donned commemorative throwback jerseys representing their historic predecessor which they later auctioned off to the fans.

In efforts to salvage the memories of the good old days, the city rivalry that has now morphed into a suburbia battle, will continue for the second consecutive season this month with the teams under the monikers Fort Worth Fire and Dallas Freeze.

The first game will take place in Allen on Friday, December 17th at the Allen Event Center at 7:30 pm. The second game will take place at NYTEX on Tuesday, December 28 at 7:00 pm. Immediately following the game on the 28th, the Brahmas will host a live jersey auction for the game worn jerseys.

A rich history of hockey has been played between Fort Worth and Dallas since 1941 stemming with the epic rivalry of the Fort Worth Rangers and Dallas Texans. In 1967, the Fort Worth Wings, an affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings, played their inaugural season at the Will Rogers Coliseum in downtown Fort Worth. The same season, the Black Hawks relocated to Dallas to the State Fair Coliseum from St. Louis, birthing an intense rivalry in the heart of North Texas. With the addition of the Allen Americans to the CHL for the 2009-10 season, a classic cross-town rivalry returned to North Texas.

Last year the teams split the series, each earning a victory in their own barn. In game one, overtime was necessary for a decision, which was ultimately a 3-2 win for the Dallas Black Hawks (Allen). In net for the Fort Worth Wings (Brahmas) was rookie goaltender Joe Palmer who faced five shots in the extra period.

Two weeks later the series turned to the NYTEX Sports Centre where Palmer was able to redeem himself and the Wings with a 3-0 shutout. Fort Worth forward Tyler Skworchinski scorched the score card with a pair of goals handing the ‘Hawks the loss.

SLAPSHOTS:
Fort Worth Fire connections: Allen’s assistant coach, Bill McDonald was the behind the bench for the 1996-97 CHL Ray Miron Cup championship team with burly right winger Dwight Mullins in the mix of it all. Mullins retired following the victory over the Memphis RiverKings and is currently the head coach for the Americans.

Fort Worth Fire home arena: Fort Worth Convention Center/Will Rogers Coliseum
Dallas Freeze home arena: Fair Park Coliseum

Fort Worth Fire (1992-1999):
- 460 games 185-238-17-0-20
- 1996-97 won championship in game 7 victory over Memphis RiverKings; went 45-16-0-5 95 pts

Dallas Freeze (1992-1995):
- 190 games 86-86-18-0-0
- 1992-93 and 1993-94 lost in first round of playoffs


Here's a rare video of a Freeze/Fire game from YouTube:

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