Ollie The Goalie

Hampton Roads Admirals v Richmond Renegades, October 27, 1990

Richmond Coliseum, Section 28L Row N

This was the first year of the ECHL Richmond Renegades. Down I-64 the Hampton Admirals began the year before with minor league legend John Brophy as their head coach.

The Admirals had a goalie by the name of Olaf Kolzig on the roster that year.

Richmond was (and still is) not a hockey hotbed of a town. In the early 70's they were home to the AHL Richmond Robins (Philadelphia Flyers minor league team). In the early 80's after the Robins left for Maine a lower level team by the name of the Richmond Rifles moved in for 2 seasons.

The new Renegades seemed to generate some excitement as the building was a sell out. Orange rally towels were given out. Between periods a local car dealer had a promo. Shot a puck from center ice into a hole cut into plywood and win a Mustang convertible. I found out years later the car dealer never took contest insurance out his promotions at sporting events.

A lucky fan was called to the ice. He was introduced and asked if he ever played hockey. To the shock of the crowd, Bubba never played hockey before. He was handed a stick and explained the single rule. He seemed to glance at stick wondering which end of the stick to shot the puck with.
He pushed the puck across the ice from center ice and this thing eeked along with laser percision right through the hole not much bigger then that puck.

The place went nuts. The Mustang was driven out onto the ice. Bubba climbed onto the back of the back seat for a victory lap in his new car as the entire crowd waved their orange rally towels.

Bet he couldn't do that again in a million years.