| History |
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| Thursday, 19 February 2009 19:25 |
 Written HistoryThe Chicago Bulldogs history is an odd one as it originated from the Inline Hockey circuit, a sport now hated by the entire organization. In the 1998 Alex Martinez (who played goalie for several teams playing at the Odium and Orbit Skate Center) had had enough of playing for un-organized and poorly managed teams. Although winning the League Championship with the Ave’s in 1998, Martinez rolled the dice and started looking for players and build a roster. As the new season of the fall of 1998 came near Martinez’s first player signed was Craig Rehr who was an old friend and the main person responsible for attracting Martinez to the sport. Both of them drove to several inline facilities from North Ave Beach in Ch Surprisingly Capital Punishment had a mediocre .500 record and missed the playoffs in its first season of play. After some internal player issues Martinez decided to move the team to a new league called the Dome Hockey League in Elgin, IL. Taking only half the team with him, Martinez once again hit the waiver wire and free agents and was able to again establish a roster. No one expected this new crew of players to win many games, but to the amazement of many, Capital Punishment lost only one game in the regular season and won the league Championship its first time out in Elgin. After now tasting victory and living high on life, Capital Punishment was now on everyone’s radar. In 1999 the team who lost only one game prior and won a Championship was now struggling to make the playoffs. To make matters worse Martinez was suspended 6 games for an altercation that happened in a game where both teams cleared the benches thus having a player being sent to the hospital (yup, Martinez lost it). In the winter of 1999 Capital Punishment not only did not make the playoffs, but also disbanded. From the spring of 1999 to 2001 Martinez had no intensions of playing and focused on just being a hockey fan. However, in the winter of 2002, three years after Capital Punishment was disbanded Martinez decided to once again apply for a hockey franchise, this time he would land a team at the Hat Trick Hockey League of Palatine, IL. Once again his first player signed was Craig Rehr. Hurting and desperate for players Martinez hit the waiver wire and free agents, but not many were interested. Martinez was now in the mercy of the league commissioner to help in trying to assemble a squad. Commissioner “Flaming” Dan Focker assigned several players to Martinez thus starting the long relationship with the Karim brothers. Maher Karim who represented himself and his other three brothers (Sam, Sal and Seth) had NO hockey experience, but seemed eager to learn and give it a go. Desperate Martinez welcome the new player with open arms and the team began play as “Blue Mother Puckers”. The roster consisted of
In all honesty the team was horrible, to a point that in there very first game Martinez for the first 30 seconds of play was regretting ever coming back to play. It took the entire season to really get the team to gel. The Blue Mother Pucker experiment was over and the team changed its name to Capital Punishment. The team pulled out new Capital Punishment jerseys for the spring of 2002 along with new players and more talent. Capital Punishment was on the verge of becoming one of the most organized inline hockey teams in the Chicago area, with teams playing in several different leagues (Mount Prospect, Sportplex in St. Charles, The Dome and Hat Trick). With so many teams Martinez became obsessed, he wanted to once raise a Championship trophy. With little success at the Hat Trick Hockey League due to Dan Focker the commissioner at the time who frequently sexually harassed players and fans (all male), Martinez decide to consolidate the teams and focus playing at the Dome Hockey League in Elgin, thus changing the name of the team to the Chicago Bulldogs. Martinez also let several players go including Marty Gangler, Steve Rhodes, Mike Campioni and Tom Annarella who were all as*holes and cancers of the team. The name Bulldogs originated from one of the original Blue Mother Pucker players who stuck with the team named Kurt Swanson. Kurt, who was high on life and other things, had a Bulldog name “Butch” and Martinez loved the idea, since he was a Long Beach Ice Dogs fan. Styling new players, new jerseys and name the Bulldogs embarked at the Dome Hockey League and became a small empire having three different teams in three different divisions. In the spring of 2003 the Chicago Bulldogs Inline Hockey team won its first Championship by defeating the Armored Saints in triple overtime. At last Martinez once again raised a Championship trophy. After heated issues with the Dome Hockey League and several failure attempts with Pro Leagues (PIHA, IHA and MLRH, all are a bunch of as*holes) Martinez decided to get out while the team was on top. The inline hockey franchise was sold to several players who could ill afford to make payments to the league, thus the team was place on hiatus. In the summer of 2004 Martinez embarked once again on a new venture, this time it would be on the ice. Tired of inline hockey and all the miss-managed leagues, Martinez once again called upon his friend Craig Rehr to help him again start it all up. This time Martinez called every former Bulldogs who played inline and with little to no ice hockey experience, most of them accepted. With the help of Craig Rehr, Maher Karim and Joe Van Grimbergen, the Bulldogs set foot on the ice in the summer of 2004 and were smoked by 20 goals their first time out. This would be the start of over 3 years of ice hockey for the Chicago Bulldogs. In four years they have won 3 League Championships, 2 Tournament Championship and league Finalist 3 times. Not mentioning the fact that they took a trip to Las Vegas in 2006 and were finalist in the Labatt’s Blue USA Hockey National Championships.
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| Last Updated on Thursday, 26 February 2009 22:54 |
icago to the Tennis Courts of Villa Park and found enough players. Proudly named “Capital Punishment”, this motley crew began play at the Orbit Skate Center in Palatine, IL.
