by Katie Hamlin | AHL On The Beat
From the Syracuse Stars, to the filming of Slap Shot, and now to the Syracuse Crunch in their 31st season, the city of Syracuse holds a rich hockey history.
Professional hockey arrived in Syracuse when the Stars joined the old International Hockey League in 1930 and claimed the first-ever Calder Cup in 1937. Since then, eight different professional teams and hundreds of individuals have contributed to creating a home for hockey in Central New York.
It was long overdue that Syracuse established a Hall of Fame honoring and celebrating these individuals for their outstanding achievements and contributions to hockey in the city. On Nov. 23, the Crunch enshrined Scott Walker, Howard Dolgon, Ed Kochian, Alan Taylor and Brian Elwell as the inaugural class of the Syracuse Hockey Hall of Fame with a special induction ceremony.
The first Crunch player forever enshrined was Walker, known as “The Wild Thing.” Walker quickly became a fan favorite in Syracuse with his blue-collar work ethic and physicality on the ice. In the inaugural Crunch season of 1994-95, he played 74 games and racked up 334 penalty minutes. He totaled 67 points in 89 regular-season games with the Crunch and went on to skate in 829 games in the National Hockey League with Vancouver, Nashville, Carolina and Washington.
“It’s a great day,” Walker said of the honor. “It’s obviously something you don’t grow up dreaming about, at least I didn’t. I grew up dreaming about scoring a goal, game seven overtime winner playing street hockey. But this is amazing. It’s beyond believable.”
Walker states his time in Syracuse made him the player and person he grew to be.
“It is a part of who I am now,” said Walker, who came to Syracuse when the Canucks moved their AHL affiliate from Hamilton, Ont., in 1994. “I’ve been back a lot because it means that much to me. I couldn’t have been happier and more lucky, because ultimately when you get drafted and you go play in the [AHL] you don’t know where you’re going to play. Fortunate for me, Howard (Dolgon) and his group brought the team to Syracuse and maybe we say it was a perfect match. I tried to embody what they wanted, and it really helped my career.”
Along with the players and team on the ice, it’s the numerous executives behind-the-scenes that build a long-lasting hockey community. Culture starts at the top and with the Crunch, that begins with owner Howard Dolgon.
Dolgon has been the driving force behind the Crunch since the team’s creation in 1994. From holding the first-ever AHL outdoor game to setting a United States indoor professional hockey attendance record, Dolgon and his team are at the forefront of creativity and promotion in hockey. He has been honored by the AHL with numerous awards and was most recently inducted into the New York State Hockey Hall of Fame in July.
“You know it’s a cliche, but it’s a dream come true,” Dolgon said. “Thirty years after the team was born, to see this and what we’ve all accomplished is something to be real proud of.”
Originally from Brooklyn and now residing in Florida, Dolgon has found a home away from home in Syracuse.
“I’ve been welcomed by the people that live here and work here, and you know they make me feel like one of them,” he said. “It’s so important to us that this franchise continues to thrive and do well because the people in this community deserve it.”
The Crunch owner knew Syracuse could be a special place for hockey, and the franchise has continued to prove hockey belongs in Central New York.
“There were a lot of doubters, like people said this was a hockey graveyard. We’ve proved this is a vibrant hockey market that keeps getting bigger and bigger, and with a tremendous fan base and now a great history.”
Without an arena to call home, there would be no place for a team to play. That is where Kochian came in. He served as the deputy county executive for Onondaga County for 28 years and played a crucial role in bringing the Crunch to Syracuse. As the point person for the county, he worked closely with the Crunch and the War Memorial arena to create a fair lease agreement that would ensure that professional hockey could flourish in Syracuse. His commitment to the county, its citizens and the Crunch played a key role in both bringing the team to Syracuse and keeping it here 31 years later.
“It’s one of those things that when I first got that call it was like, ‘Are you sure?’” Kochian said of his selection. “I’m quite honored. I couldn’t be any prouder, and it’s so meaningful to see when I come downtown on Crunch nights. There’s stuff going on at the Oncenter, stuff going on here, to see some life, it’s fantastic. We have so many loyal fans that I now know by face at least for 30 years, it’s really cool.”
Taylor and Dolgon have a long history as business partners. Dolgon was a founding member of Alan Taylor Communications, Inc., the leading independent sports public relations agency in the country. When Dolgon approached Taylor with the idea of owning an American Hockey League franchise, Taylor played a key behind-the-scenes role in the creation of the Crunch and remains one of the team’s general partners, a position he has held since 1994.
Taylor’s children, Stephen Taylor and Ginger White, accepted the induction on his behalf.
“Owning a team was a dream come true, so when a then-young Howard said, ‘Let’s buy an AHL team,’ I said, ‘Let’s go for it,’” said Stephen Taylor, quoting his father. “And I did, and I went along for the ride. The first few years I was active in helping set up the front end of the business. The rest is history… with one exception. I will not have fulfilled my dream until I put a Calder Cup ring on my finger.”
It wouldn’t be a Syracuse Hockey Hall of Fame without highlighting those who came before the Crunch. Originally coming to the city to play for the Eastern Hockey League’s Syracuse Blazers in 1968, Elwell spent four years and 233 games with the team. He became one of the most popular players to ever dress for the Blazers and stayed in the Syracuse area after his retirement. His love for the game and the city, well after his playing days were over, inspired him to take a lead role in the “Ice the Future” effort aimed at attracting an AHL team back to Syracuse, and he became an integral part in bringing the Crunch to town.
Elwell passed away on March 20, 2023. His daughter, Ashley Dastyck, accepted the induction in his honor.
“For my dad, he loved hockey, he loved watching hockey, he loved all sports and fishing,” Dastyck stated. “But this team was more about people and the sense of community that it brought to a city that he ended up in and never left because he loved it so much. We wish he was here, but we know he’s so happy looking down.”
Walker, Dolgon, Kochian, Taylor and Elwell are enshrined on the Syracuse Hockey Hall of Fame wall located on the Montgomery Street side of the second-floor concourse of the Upstate Medical University Arena.
The Hall of Fame means something different to everybody. To Walker, it’s about the city of Syracuse and the ever-lasting impact on him.
“If the Hall of Fame wall means anything, it means people who cared about being here in Syracuse and cared about being a Syracuse Crunch and were passionate about it.”
