A roar went up from a crowd of more than 100 hockey fans Saturday afternoon when the results of an online poll revealed the name of Augusta's new Southern Professional Hockey League expansion team.
The Augusta River Hawks, a name that received 41.8 percent of the vote, won out. The largest cheer at the teamled news conference at Somewhere in Augusta seemed to come from a full table near the entrance to the sports bar.
At the table were fans who held season tickets in James Brown Arena's section 101 at Augusta Lynx games for years.
When the ECHL team folded in December of 2008, the friends -- who still call themselves Section 101 -- survived without a hockey team. That void began to fill back up Saturday when the former Lynx season ticket holders went from general hockey fans to River Hawks fans.
Richard Scott, perched at the end of the Section 101 table wearing a green Augusta Lynx jersey from a St. Patrick's Day promotion years ago, said whether he liked the new name wasn't as important as his team having a name of its own.
"It's a great name, but, to me, it doesn't matter what the exact name is," he said. "It could have been the Horse Flies, and I'd have been a Horse Fly. We're just glad to have a team again."
The winning name originally came from Carolyn Baggott, who suggested the River Hawks when the team first solicited input from the fans in February. River Hawks owner Bob Kerzner said Baggott will receive two season tickets for her suggestion. Kerzner said the fans will receive something even better.
"It gives the fans an identity," he said. "They had that identity with the Lynx, and then they lost it. Now the identity finally changes, and they were able to choose that identity."
The River Hawks name led early in an online poll at augustachronicle.com that sought fan input among five finalists released by the team earlier this week.
The winning name eventually earned 41.8 percent of the vote, well ahead of second place Augusta Chill at 25 percent.
I voted for it. I'm inspired regardless of what the team name is. Just put some good ole' hockey back in the JBA.
I love local hockey, but with this lame name I'm still suspicious Dan Troutman and Paul Francis are hiding in the shadows somewhere.
Don't particularly care for trhe name.. I still think "Ice Thugs" would have been more appropriate for Augusta.
I wanted the Brigade, but RiverHawks was my second pick. I'm just really pumped for hockey here in Augusta again. Go RiverHawks!!
I just called CapitalOne and had them block payment from my credit card for my 4 season tickets. Nice snow job......
The River Hawks??? At least we got away from the golf theme! I guess it'll work. Let's go River Hawks!
Wow, what a sourpuss some people can be. oh well, one less sourpuss fan to sit next to at a home game. It will make watching the games a whole lot more enjoyable!
Joseph Stalin said, “It doesn't matter who votes. It matters only who counts the votes.”
I nominate hockeyguy's post above as the best post of the week!
Exactly Dudley! Glad to know that ol' sourpuss won't be attending the games. More tix for those who do care!
Ok, So who of you who were talking about Brigade,Patriots,ETC, secretly voted for the River Hawks? I mean, did anyone expect that to be the name? At least some of you have admitted it. Now its time for the rest of you. I don't mind the name myself. Makes me think of Ewoks for some reason.
Guess Georgia didn't have enough bird names for there sports teams.
I really don't like the name but we really did'nt have much of a choice. you don't have to worry about me I'll be there at game time.
Someone must have suggested it in the first place. Wonder who won the season tickets for the suggestion?
Whatever, the name doesnt matter to me. I am just glad they were finally able to select one after a month. Do you people really think enough people care there is hockey in Augusta? Take away the 100 people in the booster club and I dont think anyone missed it while it was gone.
Cancelling season tickets because you don't like the new name. Now thats lame! haha
Herons might have been a more fitting bird name to evoke the river theme.
I like the name River Hawks. What doesn't match is the color scheme. Blue, white, red. After looking at "the options" this afternoon, it reminded me of the Lynx jersey used in thier last season. A lot of people hated the color change when the Lynx owners forced it down everyone's throat.
I think that the color scheme should be something that reflects a hawk. It's not like this is the bald eagle. Let's be different, not the same. With the color scheme and Doorbell's post, one may want to look in the shadows.
I find it interesting that 150 years ago the Augusta canals were built following the example of Lowell Massachusetts and today we named the Augusta Hockey team the same name as Lowell's college hockey team, the River Hawks.
LynxRock, the person that won the season tickets is a woman who only submitted her first name and an e-mail address. The Augusta River Hawks are tracking her down at this time. If she cannot be found, the two season ticktets will be awarded to someone else. ALSO, there will now be two additional season tickets given away to someone else besides the winner of the first pair of season tix.
can't use that name..... see the University of Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks men's ice hockey team..... back to the drawing board
I dont care much for the name,but at least they went by popular vote instead of going their own way.I would love a color scheme change.Way too many teams out there sporting these colors.
WE ARE SO HAPPY THAT WE ARE GETTING HOCKEY BACK IN AUGUSTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DontTazeMeBro, the Rockford Riverhawks of the Northern League have had the "Riverhawks" name since 1993 and UMass-Lowell haven't done anything to them, so we're good to go. If UML never objected to Rockford using their name over the last 18 seasons, then they sure won't object to us.
There is a message board for teams in the sphl at sphlforums.com. The River Hawks have their own forum so everyone come there and talk about our new team!
Well I guess all my sleuthing was all for not...LOL
Still, it was fun to try and figure out what name they were going with. Over the last few seasons, I have seen "Name-the-team" contests that were not as true to form as people would think. One of them was here in Knoxville with the UHL Speed. A friend of mine went into the office to pay for his new season tickets and there on the whiteboard was a rough sketch drawing of the eventual logo, and the "contest" was still weeks away from being concluded.
When the Ice Bears were naming their team, there were several who chose "Bears" but the owners added "Ice" in front of it. I even advised one of the owners to secure the domain name to prevent "cyber squatting" and that's how I found out what their new name was.
The signs were pointing to Patriots. The domain was secured at the same time the league meetings were being held. They said in a previous article the logo would be unveiled Saturday if I remember. I guess they truly did want to make it a fan-oriented name. And nothing is wrong with that. If the fans honestly (and democratically) selected that name, then no one should complain because their name wasn't the last one standing.
BTW: I submitted "Wind", just rolled off the tongue nicely. :-)
Maybe "AugustaPatriots.com" is for a motorcycle vet group for fallen soldiers?
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