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Feb 26, 1993/vol. 46, issue 23
ECHL
Off-ice charity work strikes home for Coles
BY Nick Gates
Bruce Coles celebrated Valentine’s Day by giving a lucky Johnstown fan the shirt off his back to benefit charity.
The Johnstown right winger, in co-operation with the Chiefs’ Fan Club, raffled off his East Coast League All-Star Game jersey to help raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.
Coles’ mother, Janice, and sisters, Laura and Kim, all suffer from diabetes. Janiee Coles has been blinded by the disease.
“This is a charity that touches close to home for me,” said the 24-year-old Montreal native, who was drafted in the second round of the 1990 supplemental draft by the Montreal Canadiens. “I was trying to think of ways I could help the community on the way back from Wheeling (the site of the All-Star Game).
“My mom has been ill for so long (10 years). We’re really close. My thoughts are with her a lot. It’s a distraction I have to deal with.”
The raffle netted more than $500. Tickets for the jersey were sold for $1 each and the Johnstown winger picked the winning ticket and made the presentation during the Greensboro-Johnstown game Feb. 14.
“The sport has given so much to me,” he said. “Anybody will tell you that you take so much out of the pot, sometimes you have to start putting some back in. This is my little contribution.”
Coles has played well for the Chiefs since being released by the Canadian national team earlier this season. He had 22 goals and 39 points in 19 games.
He led the national team in scoring with seven goals and 24 points in 22 games, but was caught in a numbers game.
“I was the only guy left on a monthly contract, so I was the first to go when the NHL contract players joined the squad,” he said.
MIRACLE ON ICE: Nashville’s Trevor Jobe broke the ECHL’s single-game point-scoring record against Roanoke Valley Feb. 6 at Vinton, Va.
Jobe scored four goals and added six assists in a 10-6 victory over the Rampage. His 10-point performance beat the mark set by Tom Bissett of Hampton Roads, who scored six goals and added three assists against Greensboro Nov. 11, 1989.
Jobe, who is the the league’s all-time leading scorer, had 76 goals and 136 points in 50 games. He was on pace to finish with 94 goals and 168 points.
“If anyone is playing themselves into the NHL from our league, he’d have to be the guy,” said Monarchs’ coach Jeff Brubaker. “I don’t know of many guys who could come down from the other leagues (International or American League) and do as well as he has. Some players take a little longer to mature and find themselves.”
TOUGH TICKET: Raleigh extended its franchise-record home sellout streak to eight games at 5,700-seat Dorton Arena, giving the IceCaps 14 sellouts this season.
Tickets for Toledo’s game at Dayton Feb. 5 were gone more than 24 hours before the game, the earliest sellout in Bombers’ history.
ON THE MOVE: Goaltender Olie Sund-strom is on the move again.
Sundstrom was traded by the Erie Panthers to the Columbus Chill Jan. 31 after veteran Mike Gilmore returned from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.
The 24-year-old Sundstrom began the season with Nashville and also spent time in Toledo.