A moment of silence, please, for the Johnstown Chiefs. They were the toughest team in the Federal, um, East Coast Hockey League.
The War Memorial was the home of the Chiefs when they were created for the legendary hockey movie, "Slap Shot." While the team name was Charlestown, major filming was done right in Johnstown.
Eventually, Johnstown created the Chiefs to cash in on the movie's popularity. They were around from 1988 to 2010. The East Coast Hockey League (later ECHL) was sort of like Double-A baseball. The players weren't too bad but not nearly good enough for the NHL in most cases. Alas, the team couldn't make enough money in that location after that, and had to move to South Carolina. A pity.
The building is a classic hockey "barn." That's a term that was popularized in Canada; that country is filled with them. There aren't many frills, but it was a good place to spend a cold winter night if you liked your hockey. I'll bet there are still people in town that miss the Chiefs. At least the Johnstown Tomahawks play there. They are in the North American Hockey League.
Now the place is called the 1st Summit Arena at Cambria County War Memorial, and seats 4,000. Let's take a look around:
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