Mike Killbreath's plagued presidency of the first-year International Independent Hockey League is just the latest in a string of failed professional hockey ventures since 2000.
Killbreath, the owner of the league's Athens-based Ohio Valley Ice Cats, launched The Great Lakes IHA Elite Pro League - a roller-hockey league in 2000 - that never made it beyond a few games. And Xtreme Hockey International was a potential professional roller-hockey league until 2002, never making it beyond online promotion.
In 2001, Killbreath bought a Continental Elite Hockey League junior hockey team in Bay City, Mich. After two months, Killbreath lost his team to debt and friction with county officials. County officials gave up trying to prosecute Killbreath in March 2003 because they could not prove any crime.
There is no way in the world he could ever return to our league
said Barry Soskin, CEHL vice president. I'm very anti-Mike Killbreath.
The IIHL has lost four high-ranking league officials in the past two weeks, including the executive vice president, communications director and two team general managers.
League finances are a mess, said Joe Kolodziej, former IIHL executive vice president. Players, referees and league personnel are not getting paid.
We've been screwed over [by Killbreath] a lot said Bobby Clouston Jr., a professional hockey player who claims Killbreath owes him money for coaching a May 2000 professional roller hockey tryout. He's done nothing but hurt people. If I ever hear his name I walk the other way.
More than a dozen businessmen from county governments, ice and roller hockey rinks, professional leagues, equipment companies and various other business operations claim, in interviews and records obtained by The Post, that Killbreath deceived them into providing their services, facilities, merchandise and in some cases, thousands of dollars.
Killbreath has refused to provide records disputing their claims and has threatened to sue The Post for $5 million.
Not everyone who has met Killbreath despises him. Some just see a well-meaning entrepreneur short on his luck.
God Bless him
said Bobby Clouston Sr., a hockey entrepreneur, whom Killbreath offered a position as an IIHL administrator. I said
'show me the money.' And he hasn't got any. He's a good guy. It's just that nothing goes right. He hasn't got a very good name around here.
First Impressions
Killbreath rolled into Bay City in a beat-up Buick in spring 2001.
The CEHL was forming, and at the time, Killbreath had the right documents
such as insurance and preliminary applications, Soskin said. So, league officials gave him a franchise.
According to Bay County financial records, a July 5, 2001, letter from Bay County Civic Arena manager Tom Tonkavich to Killbreath cites repeated reminders for rented ice payment.
Killbreath had agreed to pay the $425 on July 2 but reportedly forgot his checkbook. Despite his promise, Killbreath did not pay on July 3 either, Tonkavich said in the letter.
Tonkavich would not elaborate on the contents of the letter in an interview.
When the money was supposed to be there
he wasn't around
Soskin said.
Even with early troubles, Bay County nevertheless signed a contract with Killbreath on Sept. 6, 2001. Then his team's training camp was delayed for three weeks. Games scheduled for Sept. 15, 22 and 29 were canceled. Killbreath refused to pay the deposit fees for each of these dates. The ice, reserved for Killbreath's Hurricanes' games, sat empty, and Killbreath's mailbox continued to fill with late-payment invoices.
CEHL Commissioner Kevin Shanahan often drove to Bay City to collect league dues from Killbreath.
He just promised money
Shanahan said. He never delivered.
In October 2001, Killbreath cut his losses and sold the team to William Richter, a Saginaw dentist. Richter also assumed more than $5,000 of Killbreath's debt to Bay County.
He sold me out
said Richter, who later discovered Killbreath also owed thousands of dollars in phone and hotel bills and league dues. He was a dirtbag.
Killbreath disputed Richter's claims in an interview.
I had the smallest amount of debt in the league
Killbreath said in an interview. The guy [Richter] who bought the team had to pay for that. He had to carry that out. No one told me.
Bob Perani still has unfinished business with Killbreath - $1,800 worth. The owner and president of Perani's Hockey World, a Flint-based national equipment retailer, received a bounced check for the team's equipment.
Killbreath avoided liability for the bounced check because his girlfriend at the time, Wendy Wheeler, wrote it. Perani said he gave up tracking down the woman, whom Killbreath later married, because it would have been too costly.
I've known the guy for 20 years
