Congratulations to owner Art Teece and his Eagles hockey club which has, once again, proved itself to be golden.
While most of Salt Lake City was riding the crest of Jazzmania the past week, the Golden Eagles went about capturing a second consecutive Turner Cup Championship in workman-like fashion.The Eagles, a bunch of blue-collar overachievers, made sure the cup will stay in Utah at least another year by dispatching a pugnacious Flint Spirits team by a 9-5 margin in Game 6 of their International Hockey League playoff series. They won the championship series 4 games to 2.
While it was heartening to see hundreds turn out at the airport to welcome the Eagles home, it's still too bad that a team this good labors in relative obscurity - drawing only an average of about 4,000 fans during more than 50 regular season and playoff home games. Hockey clearly still has a ways to go in filling seats at the Salt Palace.
Yet the Eagles and Teece have given area fans plenty to be proud of during their tenure here, including IHL titles this year and last, and three earlier championships in the now defunct Central Hockey League.
When the CHL disintegrated a number of years back, Teece could have folded the tent and faded quietly into retirement. Instead, he went shopping for a new league, in which, the Eagles have established themselves as the dominant force.
If the community wants to repay his efforts and perhaps even build a professional hockey dynasty, Salt Lake fans will have to do it where it counts - at the box office.