Author: Hockey in Dayton

Chuck Gabringer is a Dayton hockey historian and lifelong resident of the city. His family's ties to hockey date back to the beginning of the Dayton Gems in 1964. He was a member of the Dayton Hockey Hall of Fame election committee and one of the organizers of the Lefty McFadden College Hockey Invitational, which took place at the Ervin J. Nutter Center from 2002 to 2007.

In the 1950s, crowds that equaled half the city of Troy's population filled the newly constructed 3,900-seat Hobart Arena to watch the area's first hockey team, the Troy Bruins, take the ice. In the 1960s and 1970s, fans packed one of hockey's great "barns," Hara Arena, to watch the Dayton Gems become one of the more well-known and successful franchises in all of professional hockey. In the 1990s and 2000s, it was the Dayton Bombers that reignited the area's love for hockey. 'Hockey in Dayton' tells the story of the teams, players, people, and events that have permanently frozen hockey's place in the history of Dayton area sports.