NO East Coast Hockey League action this weekend at the Greensboro Coliseun, due to the league lockout…
In what was supposed to be one of the biggest set of nights/gates of the season, has now become a weekend of lost revenue, with Greensboro Gargoyles fans left, SMH/shaking their heads…
No hockey games this holiday weekend because the East Coast Hockey League players have gone on strike…Walking out and demanding higher wages, better working conditions, better equipment, and MORE…
This was to be a festive Holiday Hockey Weekend at the old barn on West Lee Street, with Friday and Saturday being spotlighted as nights commemorating the old Greensboro Monarchs teams…Now they have that good old “Fifth Avenue Freezeout”, known in 2025 as the East Coast Hockey League Lockout….
No Hockey for the local fans who have Christmas Money to burn/spend…The league has said they are working to bring in replacement playyers, but have not heard back from any of those prospective fill-ins so far…No word from any of those old veterans like the ECHL hockey-playing Phil Berger, Dan Blysma, or even the old coach Jeff Brubaker…They would be prime emergency standbys, if their bodies would cooperate…
Who knows about that, but we do know this…You have a brand new team, with brand new players, and they have all just gone on strike, and the Lockout/Walkout is ON!!!!!
On a weekend where most everybody in the area is OFF from work, and they just got extra money and gift cards that they can cash in for Christmas, those potential Greensboro Gargoyle fans have no chance to come out to the First Horizon Coliseum to spend all that Cool Cash/Credit-Gift Card Dollars…
A brand new team, and the sports fans have time and money on their hands and are looking for some place to drop it, on what could be their biggest spending time of this year/season…
Who is at fault here??? The people at the top of the East Coast Hockey League, or the Gargoyles and other teams that make up the ECHL??? Got to kind of wonder why an issue like this one, wasn’t settled before the start of the new 2025 season…Seems like they are always able to settle the US Government Shutdown, but often it takes longer than wanted to get all the parties back in action….
How long will this ECHL Lockout Go On??? The longer the worse for the New Greensboro Gargoyles team…This is a brand new startup group, and their initial season and time in front of the public is very critical/crucial…The team needs to be in front of fans, and they need to be seen, not missing ICE TIME….
The clock is ticking, and fortunately for the Greensboro Gargoyles it is still early, and the negotiations are under way, but how LONG will this take???
This whole event gets worse as the hours become days, and the days might become weeks…I just don’t see local hockey fans flocking out to the Greensboro Coliseum to watch replacement players hitting the ice for the Greensboro Gargoyles…You can go over to Winston-Salem, and watch a lower level of hockey there, if you want it that bad…I don’t see a large majority of the Greensboro Hockey Fans coming out to the Coliseum just to get a Hockey Fix…Many of the fans are heading out there to the games because they are looking for someplace to go, and they are looking for something to do, and Greensboro Gargoyles Hockey Games fit their bill…
But, the team is on Strike, and what happens next??? There will either be an end to the Lockout, there will be replacement players coming in from the Greensboro Ice House to keep the team afloat, or there will be NO more hockey this season….
How will this ALL End??? Take or make your pick…You had the old 1960’s Greensboro Generals at the Colisuem, then you had the great comeback of hockey in the 1990s with the Greensboro Monarchs, who did real well…Then there was the Carolina Monarchs, the Carolina Hurricanes played here, then the Greensboro Generals came back, but it was nowhere near the same as the old days, with the return of the Generals…
Now we have the Greensboro Gargoyles, and are they here to stay??? Got to make sure these guys are ready to play…Ticket prices are not cheap, by any stretch of the imagination, and now there is NO Hockey at all…
Twas the Night of the Gargoyles Game, and all through the town, not a player was standing not even Matt Brown…When up on top of the Greensboro Coliseum there arose such a noise, we knew right away it must be the old boys…On Don Carter, on Ron Hindson, on Doug Carpenter, on Bill Young, on Stu Roberts, Butch McKay, Ron Spong, Wally Sprange, Brian Randall, on Howie Heggedal, you probably remember them all…The man upstairs said they would be ready to play again, just give them a call…And if you really need somebody as “The Boss”, we can toss in John Voss…
I have never been a huge Hockey Fan, but the exsistance of sports is what makes the Activities Merry-Go-Round, keep going around…And we need this balance of different types of sports to feed all the appetites of those who enjoy these activities as their Favorite PastTimes….
Bring it back, and ease up on the slack, and if the Hockey doesn’t come back soon, it may hinder in a large part, Success for the Greensboro Gargoyles in Year Number ONE….
from WFMY News 2.com:
Gargoyles game postponed due to ECHL strike, team says
www.wfmynews2.com
The Greensboro Gargoyles postponed a game due to an ECHL player strike over alleged unfair labor practices. The team aims to resume with new players soon.
GREENSBORO, N.C. — The Greensboro Gargoyles has postponed tonight’s game due to a strike impacting ECHL players.
The team announced in a statement Friday afternoon that they would be bringing in new players to return to the ice as soon as possible.
The Professional Hockey Players’ Association announced Thursday that its ECHL membership served a strike notice effective Dec. 26, following a strike authorization vote held Dec. 18. The move comes amid what the union describes as ongoing unfair labor practices by the league.
In a statement, the PHPA said the league made unilateral changes to mandatory subjects of bargaining beginning in late spring or early summer and engaged in regressive negotiations, actions the union says undermined the collective bargaining process. The PHPA has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board.
PHPA Executive Director Brian Ramsay said the union remains willing to continue negotiations, citing concerns over player health, safety and working conditions. He said players are unified and ready to return to the bargaining table if the league agrees to negotiate in good faith, expressing hope that a disruption to the season can still be avoided.
The Gargoyles said they hope the PHPA will take ECHL’s offer to raise salaries by 20% and “address other proposals”, but did not specify what those proposals were.
Additionally, the Gargoyles said the ECHL would be trying to keep as many scheduled games as possible during the strike.
“We remain hopeful that parties can reach an agreement that allows hockey to return to the ice as soon as possible.”
Questions about upcoming games or ticket exchanges can be directed here: info@gargoyleshockey.com or (336) 365-0295.
The future is not bright. Not just for hockey, but for all sports in Greensboro. This area is fading fast.