Hockey Editorial: Reader "Disgusted" By New Chatham Minor Hockey Name
New Chatham TekSavvy Cobras Jersey
Editors Note: This letter is in response to the original article regarding the Chatham Maroons changing their name to be the Chatham TekSavvy Cobras for all Chatham Minor Hockey Travel teams, which was posted in the Chatham Daily News.
To CMHA,
I have never been so disappointed, or more aptly disgusted, to learn that Chatham Minor Hockey sold out for the almighty dollar! The name Maroons has been synonymous with success in small town hockey. Basically every centre in Ontario has heard of the Maroons! Our colours were unique and never duplicated; a bold maroon, white and yellow. The moniker was one of a kind, in a world full of copy-cat, NHL wannabe look-a-like teams and jerseys. I do not have room to delve into the storied history and celebrated past and pride of the Maroons franchise. Every past player that has donned the Maroons colours were choking back the bitter taste of bile in their mouth upon reading what will become of our beloved Maroons.
Many local youth hockey players from tyke and up that attend the Junior B Maroons games aspire and dream of some day wearing that jersey in Memorial Arena in front of the home town fans. Now that sense of pride and accomplishment in earning a Maroons jersey has been taken from them, without any vote or input from the members that pay for the majority of those jerseys.
The insulting jersey style and name that TekSaavy and Chatham Minor hockey have proposed are an embarrassment. You mentioned that they are similar to the Phoenix Coyotes style, but that team is about to fold and leave town and has no following, a great franchise to model your new start after??!! No team in the league for one has the sponsor name incorporated in their logo on the front of the jersey. If TekSaavy wants to sponsor our teams, they should be allowed a name bar on the back or a patch or badge on the shoulder like other sponsors in the past. The jerseys shown in the paper look like 2nd rate practice jerseys, and where the heck in Chatham-Kent are there cobras to be found???
The notion that $40,000 is a lot of coin and hard to turn down is laughable! I have 2 kids in travel hockey that have played with the Maroons, Cyclones and Outlaws and I have likely spent more that $40,000 myself in the past 10 or so years on travel hockey. If TekSaavy wanted to drop $400,000 on a new double pad arena say, then hey, we would be all for it! Call it TekSaavy Arena, home of the Maroons!! But otherwise, I would say please give the kids back their team and take your money and go buy a clue!!
John Foster
Sorry you feel that way!
The cobras were revived from a few years back… Actually, the last year Chatham won omha titles was as the Chatham Cobras. As for sponsorships, all levels of cmha have title sponsors. TekSavvy paid for all the costs of the Jerseys and socks for the next 3 years…. Something the Maroons organization had not and were not going to do. The cost of jerseys being supplied head to toe will mean less costs being placed back on parents, something that is much needed these days.
The board made a decision that they felt was in the best interests of the cmha, it’s players and parents… If players can’t afford to play, we no future. The Maroons name has a lot of history at the Jr level especially, where many kids aspire to play one day. That has not changed…. The difference is the corporation of the Maroons has not purchased naming rights to travel hockey… They simply had to put up the money, new jerseys would have been purchased, and business as usual… Not what happened.
The new look is very slick, keeps with some of it’s history with both the cobra redesign and some of the maroon colors…..
Frankly, all this has done now is elevate the Maroons value…. It’s an exclusive club now! To wear it, you now have to earn it. I’m sure those who’ve sat on the Maroons bench as Jr players, having sweat, bled and fought for them will now be happy to say “I played for the Maroons” and not hear, oh yeah…. Was that for the atoms, the bantams, etc?
Although it would have been nice to have had the Maroons name honoured, the argument however, that kids aspire the wear the Maroons jersey should not change because they are now Cobras. The fact is, the Maroons Jr.B team have been wearing different jerseys from the minor hockey Maroons for years. I do agree the name change will be confusing across Ontario. At the very least we should be thankful to TekSavvy and Mr. Gaudrault for stepping up and giving in a time of need. We can’t and shouldn’t fault any business for that.
Kudos to TekSavvy for stepping up and making the donation here. Rocky, I know you play an integral role with TekSavvy, and you’ve been involved in CMHA as a coach and parent, so the contribution of TekSavvy needs to be celebrated here.
Obviously many will be upset with change. It’s true that the original logo, colours, and name were a part of Chatham’s identity, and the change will anger some.
But TekSavvy donated a substantial amount of money, more than many people make in a year. That saving will be passed on to Chatham-Kent families who will not have to foot the bill for new jerseys and socks. In this economy some level of corporate sponsorship is necessary for athletics to survive at the amateur and professional levels. Look at the WFCU Centre in Windsor, or John Labbat in London.
If you look at jerseys of hockey teams outside the NHL in the pros, they’re becoming riddled with advertisements and sponsors.
This is definitely a touchy subject, but it’s important to say thank you to a company that has community success, growth, and sustainability in mind.
Maybe they can put the original Maroons logo as a shoulder patch? Many teams are doing that now with new sweaters. At least having that patch on the shoulder would preserve the history of the name, town, and organization.
Change can make some people uncomfortable but that doesn’t necessarily make it a bad thing. Like many in Chatham, I too was disappointed in hearing that our rep teams were dropping the Maroons name. Personally, the name means A LOT . This name is synonymous with hockey in Chatham and is recognized by many around Ontario and Canada for that matter. Our colours were unique and rarely copied. Currently we have four centres in the BW league with almost identical colour schemes (Windsor/Riverside and BR/Southpoint). Ours stood out and was easily recognizeable anywhere. However, our local junior organization contributed little in the way of financial or hockey resources to CMHA rep teams. The Maroons name was just that, a name and a borrowed one at that. Here, we have a local business stepping up to the plate who is willing to make a significant financial contribution at a time when money is tight. We should be thanking Mr. Gaudrault and TekSavvy at this stage of the game. For the most part, we get to keep our traditional maroon colours and the laceup jersey is a nice touch too. Our kids will look sharp in their new threads. Cobras teams were successful (mind you in the pre-Cyclones era when they played at the “A” level but that’s a whole other story…) and did capture some OMHA titles. As for the corporate logo on the front, I could care less really. The sponsor is putting up $40 000 to outfit our teams. He should be able to put the logo where he pleases.
Sad to hear the name was the game. Anyone out there please please please, I’m looking for an old jersey!