Absurd Goalie Monday: Scott Fankhouser

It push comes to shove, you go to the audience and one of the names that came up was this week's inductee. If nothing else, this guy bounced from continent to continent in order to find a gig and was in some kind of demand for him to keep getting work, so he's got that. This week, we'll look at the career of Scott Fankhouser.

There wasn't a lot of buzz when it came to Fankhouser, who was drafted right out of high school in the 11th round of the 1994 Draft by the St. Louis Blues, but he was recruited but UMass-Lowell to play the 1994-95 season. However, after going 4-4-1 in 11 games with UMass-Lowell; Fankhouser went back to Junior A with the Melfort Mustangs of the SJHL for the 1995-96 season. The step-down proved to help Fankhouser, who went 31-9-4 in his 45 games, as well as getting First Team All-Star and Playoff MVP, as the Mustangs won the SJHL, the Anavet Cup for Western Junior A Champ, but would lose in the Royal Bank Cup for Junior A overall champion. Fankhouser would go back to UMass-Lowell for 1996-97, but would play just 11 game again, going 2-4-1 in those appearances. The playing time would go up to 16 games for the 1997-98 season, but Fankhouser wouldn't fair better; going 4-7-2 in those games. The starting role would fall to Fankhouser in his senior season in 1998-99, but he would go 9-12-0 in 32 appearances.

The Blues failed to sign Fankhouser out of college, so he decided to sign with the newly formed Atlanta Thrashers for the 1999-2000 season and would get his start with the Greenville Grrrowl of the ECHL, playing in seven games, going 6-1-0. The record would allow him to get called up to the IHL's Orlando Solar Bears where he would go 2-2-1 in six games, before he would get the call-up to Atlanta mid-season. It wouldn't be great in Atlanta, as Fankhouser would go 2-11-2 in 16 games with the Thrashers. The year would be complete as Fankhouser played one game, a loss, with the AHL's Louisville Panthers. The 2000-01 season would have Fankhouser spend most of the year in Orlando, where he would play 28 games and go 13-12-3, sharing the James Norris Trophy for fewest goals-against with Norm Maracle; but would receive a call-up for seven games to Atlanta and would have a 2-1-0 record in the tenure there. Fankhouser bounced around the leagues in 2001-02, with him starting out with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL, going 1-0-1 before he was sent down to Greenville for three games with a 1-2-0 record. The Thrashers would loan out Fankhouser to the Hershey Bears, as there wasn't a spot for him in their organization. With the Bears, Fankhouser would go 5-2-1 in eight games, but wouldn't have a decision in three appearances in the playoffs for the Bears.

Fankhouser would be ECHL bound for the 2002-03 season, starting off with the Reading Royals, where he would play 26 games with a 11-12-1 record before he would be traded to the Arkansas RiverBlades. In Arkansas, Fankhouser would improve with a 11-5-2 in 19 games, but go 0-3 in the three playoff games he would play.

Fankhouser would go to German for the 2003-04 season, playing with SC Bietigheim-Bissingen for 34 games before returning to North America in the 2004-05 season to play for the ECHL's Toledo Storm. In 51 games with the Storm, Fankhouser would go 29-15-4, but 1-3 in four playoff games. Also in '04-'05, Fankhouser would play with the Chicago Wolves for two games, but would lose both games.

Fankhouser would go over to Austria starting in the 2005-06 season with Graz EC playing in 47, but would move over to play for the Vienna Capitals in the 2006-07 season, getting in 54 games for the Caps. For the 2007-08 season, Fankhouser would move over to England to play in 50 games with the Manchester Phoenix. One last kick in the can in North America for Fankhouser came with the Bloomington PrairieThunder of the new-IHL, where he would play 24 games with a 8-15-0 record before he would deciding the call it a career after an injury.

Following his retirement, Fankhouser would become the assistant coach of the PrairieThunder. He is now the assistant coach of the ECHL's Cincinnati Cyclones.

It seemed that Fankhouser lived by the credo of "have job, will travel" as shown from his globetrotting to play. It didn't seem like he could ever get any kind of rhythm going in his play, which showed in his record. Determined to the end, at least he could always find someone to want him to play for their squad. Now, he's passing his experiences on in the coaching realm.

Hockey Team Identity Project: Reading Royals

For this installment of the Hockey Team Identity Project that Captain Hammer (with a great history lesson on the Wheeling Nailers) and I are undertaking, I went to a particularly interesting case in terms of marketing and branding. For the Reading Royals, they prove that building the brand is something that is much more efficient than aligning with the parent team.

To start it off, the Royals are the reincarnation of the Columbus Chill, who voluntarily suspended operations to make way for the Columbus Blue Jackets. In the 2001-02 season, Reading was the spot for them, with the Royals name coming down from a Name-the-Team contest; but it was a solid choice. The name went in line with the affiliations they had, the Los Angeles Kings and Manchester Monarchs-- why not have the Royals as the three jewel in the crown, so to speak. The Royals went into the color scheme of having black, purple, and silver, again going along with the affiliation scheme.


The affiliation between the two went very well, but in 2008; the Kings went to the Ontario (Calif.) Reign as their top ECHL affiliate, but used Reading as a secondary affiliate. The Toronto Maple Leafs came in to become the primary affiliate for the Royals. In 2009-10, the Boston Bruins came in to be the secondary affiliate to the the Royals.

With two teams that don't have the same color scheme of as what you have now, what's a team to do?? The Royals decided to keep the name, logo, and colors they had always had, which was different from the teams they were affiliated with. Why, you may ask?? For that answer, I went to the Royals General Manager, Gordon Kaye for some insight.

"If you were to change the colors or name, you'd be throwing away seven years of brand away along with it," said Kaye. "People in Reading know the black, purple, and silver and equate it to the Royals. There's no reason to to force yourself into rebuilding what is already a good, vibrant brand when people in the area are already familiar with it."

That's not to say they didn't think about changing things around.

"We spent a lot time thinking about maybe going in a different direction, but in the end; we didn't want to lose the brand equity we had built up already. People know the name, know the logo, know the colors-- we aren't going to throw that away," explained Kaye.


This piece gave an inside look at how things go down and the process that happens should a parent affiliation decide to leave the minor league club. While you may think that some teams change just for the sake of change; it's good to know that the fans and the brand that has been instilled in the community were taken into consideration. The old adage hold true in this instance-- you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Thanks to Royals GM Gordon Kaye for taking time out and provide information about the Royals history and the process that went along with it. Go to RoyalsHockey.com for more info about the Royals.