Born 1984-09-30 in Burbank, Illinois. Dissatisfied with the response he got from police, DeLuca went to Galante. AJ and I would stand up there and look at the teams that were coming to play us, Galante told me. Says Andy Paproski, a lifelong resident of Danbury (pop. "Jimmy's a guest of the government, and I love that man." . Josh Elzinga has an equally impressive professional playing career and has served as Adam's Assistant Coach for the past 4 seasons. By accepting an offer he couldn't refuse. Team Information. what happened to josh elzinga hockey. According to the indictment, Galante was making quarterly payments of $30,000 to Matty the Horse, the successor to Vincent the Chin Gigante and the boss of the Genovese crime family. HOCKEY IS BACK!!!. Hockey Fights is an entertainment site with no direct affiliation to the National Hockey League, its teams, or NHLPA. He has ties,' " says Brosal. One player told me he did actual work in waste removal for Galantenothing no-show about his job. It was a different day of hockey., Life for the Trashers was life on the road, going from small city to small city. He was a defenseman and hit a kid, Galante said. SON NATE WAS DRAFTED BY MISSISSAUGA IN THE 2021 OHL DRAFT. "Every character they had, we had. And how is this kid running a hockey team?". All Rights Reserved. But as Wingfield skated away , Elzinga stuck his leg out and pulled back on the left wing's jersey. He scores like it's drinking water. He got suspended., As James Harper, a veteran minor-league linesman, was talking with the scorekeeper, he got into it with Jimmy Galante, whod come down from the owners box. That is it.. He was a great owner." The Galantes told Trashers who were suspendedinvariably for fightingto watch the games from the 102 seats. In the summer of '06, the Trashers sent 105 season-ticket holders refund checks, totaling $31,177. There were hundreds of fans like Greg and Brenda St. Clair, a Danbury couple who went halfway through the season to check out the new team. When father and son get together, they talk family, business, the future. In court, Matty the Horse was ruined and old, hard to understand. Kalamazoo Wings (Kalamazoo,MI) United Hockey League [Minor Professional] 2000-2007 [click to view all-time roster] (He also forfeited his ownership in 25 trash-hauling firms.) In the late 1990s Galante had been sentenced to a year and a day in a federal prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion. Then Jimmy went about being the Jerry Jones of the UHL. (Galante denies having had this conversation.) It will have mobsters. The wiretaps captured Galantes associates recalling a trip to Mount Kisco, New York, where they wentas Michael Gustafson, the lead assistant U.S. attorney who handled the case, would later state in courtto retain the services of a leg-breaker known as the Carpenter. Also caught on tape was Galante telling an associate to deliver a message to a would-be canary: Long Island says hello, referring to Matty the Horse Ianniello. It was a big to-do. Although Galante claims that he never actually made contact, he was charged with assault. And Galante had the money. Jimmy was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault. On Oct. 15, Jimmy began serving his time. The Trashers would sell out the arena regularly as fans of various ethnicities, ages and collars converged to cheer them on. After the game Wingfield told a local reporter, "It felt great to get back at Elzinga but I would have liked to have seen him leaving the ice on a stretcher or in a body bag.". Sep 30, 1984 Position D Age 38 Height 5'11" / 180 cm Place of Birth Burbank, IL, USA Weight 183 lbs / 83 kg Nation USA Shoots L Youth Team - Status Retired Brother: Adam Elzinga Team Staff profile of Joshua Elzinga also available Use/Embed statistics Default Per Game Average Coaches Played For Player Statistics Regular Season + Postseason "Lemme get this straight," he said. Following a successful junior hockey career, he played four (4) years of college hockey at Eastern Michigan University, where he was a CSCHL All-Star in 2001. says wistfully. There was a tremendous infusion of talent, Christiansen said. Al has coached youth hockeyfor the last 9 years and isa level 5 USA Hockey coach. An email sent to the team asking Rupp to share his recollections of the Trashers elicited this curt response: "Mike is not available for your story." Paul,originallyfrom Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with teams such as Philadelphia Flyers, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers and the Colorado Avalanche. He wore a full face mask. In that time he has been instrumental in helping change the face of hockey in Florida. At 32, Todd was younger than some of the players. Depending on whom you ask, Jimmy Galante was either one of its mobsters or a legit businessman whose waste-removal company had become associated with the Mafia. But AJs favorite was Brad Wingnut Wingfield. The second place AJ looked was where any other fan might have: hockeyfights.com, a website that aggregates footage of brawls on the ice. The Trashers were hosting the Kalamazoo Wings, and Brent Gretzky was being shadowed by the Kalamazoo defenseman Josh Elzinga. The United Hockey League's $300,000 franchising fee for a new team? "Well, he's like anyone else to me. On June 8, 2006, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office announced that Galante was the subject of an indictment that included charges of fraud, extortion, racketeering, tax fraud and conspiracy. I wouldnt look for the most penalty minutes, he told me. The players were aware that their owner was, well, connected. Torres said he lost confidence at . The Minnesota Wild have acquired forward Gustav Nyquist from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for a fifth-round pick in the 2023 NHL draft. DeLuca ended up resigning from office because of the scandal. You did right by him and were loyal, and he would do anything for you. The New York Yankees have the Boston Red Sox; the Chicago Bears, the Green Bay Packers. Get access to our unique free agency lists and many more premium features, Drafted 2001, 4 #48 overall by Cedar Rapids Roughriders in the USHL Entry Draft, Drafted 2000, 8 #157 overall by Windsor Spitfires in the OHL Priority Selection. Little separated the team from its fans, physically or culturally: They mostly made nothing, were going nowhere, and knew unfairness. Galante was a philanthropist; a pediatric suite in the emergency department of Danbury Hospital was named for his family. The Trashers had the Adirondack Frostbite. A senior at New Fairfield High, AJ had been an alternate captain of his schools hockey team, which played at the Danbury Ice Arena with Jimmy often in attendance. The teenage sports exec became an irresistible media story. Marc believes in helping each athlete to decipher through the plethora of good and misinformation to achieve optimal performance. We would yell down during warm-ups, Come on, youre going to be skating for us next year! And theyd look at me and rub their fingers, and Id reach in my pocket and pull out my wallet, and theyd start laughing., Beauregard was one of my favorites, AJ said. In many ways, the first round of that postseason was the high point: the Trashers versus the Frostbite, best of seven. When it came time to negotiate Gretzkys contract, AJ turned the deal over to his father. ), The Trashers finished the 200405 season with a 44297 record, which put them in the playoffs. Watch Unreal Save by TJ Semptimphelter. And, according to court papers filed by the U.S. Attorneys office, his business disputes occasionally ended in violence: For nearly two decades, Galantes enterprise promoted a climate of fear through violence, threats of violence, economic sanctions and threats of economic sanctions. . Facebook gives people the power to. The 200405 Trashers blew through the UHL like a freak storm. Josh Gratton vs Adam Elzinga - Sep 5, 2001 - YouTube NHL hockey fights, brawls, scrums, roughs, hits, cheap shots, and other incidents. Al lives in Lithia, Floridawith his wife and son. The constant sitting has led to excruciating backaches. Galantes payments were characterized as a mob tax to ensure his companies primacy in the trash trade. Vogel and the St. Clairs developed a friendship on Facebook thanks to their mutual interest in hockey. She was loving it, said Vogel. A.J. 's account.). I was on the bench, Doug Christiansen told me. It was a special experience, my best in minor league hockey. There was only one problem: it wasnt protecting her sides, leaving her exposed, and often, black and blue. Soon Jimmy was renting buses to take fans to big road games. Then, as A.J. Word of the incident quickly spread through the blue-collar Connecticut city, which soon embraced the fighting mentality of the Trashers. From November 2019: My family story of love, the Mob, and government surveillance. The former Director of Hockey Operations for the Jacksonville Ice and Sports Complex, Gilles is no stranger to youth hockey. Severely injured by a terrible cheap shot from an opponent, Winger is able to rehab his broken leg and get his revenge exactly 367 days later.The film footage is sort of grainy (unless you watch the documentary for some unique angles), but until this film, the audio from the home broadcast of the Danbury Trashers has never been available. The Trashers were even able to land a few genuine NHL players, one of whom was Mike Rupp. A UHL season was about 80 games followed by playoffs; the champion took home the Colonial Cup. Last seen in the 2003-2004 season with the Chicago Steel (USHL). "Then everyone would ask for the check so they could be there for face-off. For himself he built a skybox equipped with a kitchenette and a flat-screen TV. Jon (Nasty) Mirasty averaged more than eight minutes of penalties over 25 games. Some say he did it for the same reason he owned a race-car squad: He loved to compete. Barely two months into the season Ndur was suspended for 20 games after fighting not just opposing players but also officials and opposing coaches. The game turned into a riot, everyone taking a run at everyone else. He took a shot at us, AJ told me. If you search Jim Duhart, those are what you find: Jim Duhart versus Tom Clayton, Jim Duhart versus Jason Taylor. The game plan was 'Keep your cool and you'll get a power play,' but it didn't always work out. In the first period Wagner instigated a fight, and an all-out brawl broke out. The league's 13 other owners were happy for the cash infusion. Galante passed him a note that asked, Do you want me to have someone pay him a visit? ", Jimmy paused. called his middleman in Quebec and essentially rented Wagner for a game against Adirondack. The Danbury Whalers of the Federal Hockey League now play downtown, and it's fair to wonder whether they would be there were it not for the hockey culture Jimmy Galante started and the arena he built. 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