Official: Lexington may get Whoopee June 21, 2002

By Phillip Ramati
Telegraph Staff Writer

It looks like hockey might be returning to Lexington, Ky., and it could also be doing so at Macon's expense.

Carl Hall, the director of operations at Lexington's Rupp Arena, confirmed Thursday that an East Coast Hockey League franchise would be moving there to play next season. The team would be owned by Jean Gagnon, who also owns the ECHL's Mississippi Sea Wolves and Dayton Bombers.

The franchise moving to Lexington, however, remains a mystery. A Lexington radio station has reported the Whoopee's ECHL franchise, currently owned by the Elmore-Tuttle Sports Group, was the franchise moving to Lexington.

"I don't have any official notification of which team it is," Hall said. "Macon is one of the teams that was discussed."

Hall said an official announcement would be made in the next 10 days, but that a lease already was in place.

The ECHL declined to comment, citing the fact that the league's board of governor's meetings were still open. A message was left for Gagnon, while David Elmore of Elmore-Tuttle was out of the office.

The Whoopee's ECHL franchise was leased for a season by Macon Sports Group, which has not announced its plans for next season but seems less and less likely to field a team next year.

Lexington previously had a team in the American Hockey League. That franchise moved to Cleveland last season, citing problems in dealing with Rupp Arena.

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