History
Prior to the arrival of the Freeze, Erie, Pennsylvania had one other indoor football team, the Erie Invaders of the Indoor Football League, back in 2000. The Freeze played well in the league's inaugural season, earning a 9-1 regular season record and winning a semifinal playoff game against the Canton Legends. With the victory, the Freeze earned the right to host the league's first American Bowl (the league's championship game) against the Richmond Bandits. However, the Freeze lost the game 56-30, in part because of six interceptions by quarterback David Dinkins, who played much of the game with a corneal abrasion. [1] Dinkins, who had been on the roster of the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League, as a utility player, was named the 2005 AIFL MVP with a 60% completion rate, along with 3,000+ passing yards and 812 rushing yards. In addition, head coach Mike Esposito was named 2005 AIFL Coach of the Year.
The Erie Invaders were a professional indoor American football team based in Erie, Pennsylvania. They were members of the original Indoor Football League founded in 1999 and began play in 2000 at Louis J. Tullio Arena in Erie. They competed in the Southern Division of the Eastern Conference. They were coached by Gary Tufford. After a 6-8 season and a defeat in the playoffs, the franchise folded due to financial reasons.
The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a professional indoor American football league created in 2008 out of the merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football. The league is the second highest tier in indoor/arena football behind the Arena Football League (AFL), and has operated continuously under the same name and corporate structure longer than any other current indoor football league, considering that the AFL's 2009 season was cancelled and the original league filed for bankruptcy that year. IFL players earn a minimum of US$200 per game played. The season is typically about 14 games long, plus playoffs of two or more rounds.
The Canton Legends was a professional indoor football team based out of Canton, Ohio. They were a charter member of the American Indoor Football Association, which played their first season under the name Atlantic Indoor Football League, and their second season as the American Indoor Football League. They played their home games at Canton Memorial Civic Center. The team name is in reference to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, since Canton is where the building is located.
The Freeze took necessary steps to prepare themselves for another championship run in 2006, which included the re-signings of Dinkins (Quarterback), Johnathan Sitter (Center), JR Cipra (Kicker), Eugene Padgett (Defensive Back), Chris Blackshear (Defensive Back), Dave Smith (Defensive Line), and Donte Pimpleton (Wide Receiver). Despite signing a three-year contract extension with the team, Mike Esposito did not re-join the Freeze, instead accepting a job as the head coach of the Odessa Roughnecks of the Intense Football League, an indoor football league based in Texas. On Friday, January 6, 2006, the Freeze named Jerry "The Condo" Crafts as the team's new head coach. Crafts played several years as an offensive lineman for the Buffalo Bills, and later for the XFL's Los Angeles Xtreme and the Arena Football League's Buffalo Destroyers.
The Intense Football League (IFL) was a professional indoor football league that began operations in 2004. Its focus was in Texas, but it was notable for being the first professional football league to place a franchise in Alaska.
Jerry Wayne Crafts is a former American football offensive lineman in the National Football League for the Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles. He also played in the World League of American Football, XFL, Canadian Football League and Arena Football League. He is the only person to have been involved with teams that played in the championship games of each of the aforementioned Leagues. He played college football at the University of Oklahoma for Barry Switzer and the University of Louisville.
The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team plays their home games at New Era Field in Orchard Park, New York. The Bills are the only NFL team that plays its home games in the state of New York. The Bills conduct summer training camp at St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, New York, an eastern suburb of Rochester.
On March 31, 2006, the Freeze managed to set some records during their 62-6 onslaught over the Steubenville Stampede. Freeze defensive back Sam Reynolds recorded a league regular single game record with four interceptions. Also, the Freeze defense recorded 9 turnovers and held the Stampede to a league low 6 points.
The Steubenville Stampede was an indoor football franchise, most recently a member of the Continental Indoor Football League. They played their home games at the St. John Arena in Steubenville, Ohio, United States.
On April 7, 2006, the Freeze was handed their first regular season loss by the Huntington Heroes, 55-33.
The Huntington Heroes were a professional indoor football franchise and member of the American Indoor Football Association (AIFA). The Heroes played their home games during their inaugural 2006 season at the Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse in Huntington, West Virginia before moving to the larger Big Sandy Superstore Arena for the 2007 and 2009 seasons. The Heroes were the second indoor football franchise for Huntington, following the River Cities LocoMotives, who played one season (2001) in the National Indoor Football League, and were followed by the Huntington Hammer in 2011. The Heroes were usually known for featuring many former Marshall University football players from the Marshall Thundering Herd program located in Huntington.
On April 17, 2006, the Freeze organization made a sudden change at the head coach position. Defensive coordinator David Arnold was named head coach for the remainder of the 2006 season. Today, he remains at the head coaching helm.
Despite a rocky second half of the season, the Freeze ended the 2006 regular season at 10-4 and earned the Northern Conference's #3 seed. Unfortunately, they fell to the eventual-AIFL champion Canton Legends 54-45. The loss made the Freeze 0-3 when they play the Legends in Canton, Ohio.
For 2007, the Freeze took steps to resign some familiar faces around the Freeze organization, including Roosevelt Benjamin, Chris Blackshear, Shea D’Ambrosio, Manuel Johnson, Sam Reynolds, Dajuan Smith, Dave Smith, and Darmel Whitfield. The team lost quarterback David Dinkins to the Pittsburgh RiverRats, [2] and signed Randall Secky (from nearby Bemus Point, New York and the former starting quarterback for the UB Bulls) to fill the void left by Dinkins' departure. The Freeze managed to sign Jovon Johnson, a Mercyhurst Preparatory School and University of Iowa graduate. [3] However, the signing was short lived as Johnson subsequently joined the practice squad of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The 2007 season was very difficult for the Freeze, and the team went from playoff contenders in 2006 to the bottom of the league, earning only a 1-13 record. The turnaround was so swift that Freeze owner David Hodas sent out an open letter to the fans thanking them for their support and begging them to stay on board. [4]
Despite the description of the Erie market as "successful", [5] after the end of the 2007 season, the league reluctantly demanded "significant changes" to the Freeze's ownership structure in order for their contract to be renewed. Hodas attempted to sell the team to a new owner, but paperwork problems caused the deal to fall through. As such, on October 8, 2007, the AIFA effectively kicked the Freeze out of the league. [6]
The Freeze were expected to return in 2009 by joining another league (the Continental Indoor Football League was mentioned as a possibility). To compensate for the team being removed, the league arranged for the Pittsburgh RiverRats (who were seeking a new arena) to move from Pittsburgh to Erie thus becoming the Erie RiverRats, along with former Freeze members Dinkins and Cipra. The Freeze quietly folded shortly thereafter. The RiverRats, later rebranded as the Erie Explosion, played for eight additional consecutive seasons in Erie before suspending operations in early 2016.
The team played their home games at the Louis J. Tullio Arena (also the home of the OHL's Erie Otters). The name 'Freeze' referred to Erie's frigid temperature in the winter, and also the lake effect snow from Lake Erie. The team's colors were black and ice blue. Their official mascot was "Freddy", a friendly snow-white yeti wearing a black jersey, football pants, and boots.
