After a good day at Pimlico, where he hit on a long shot, Hines applied for an EHL franchise in Baltimore.
What he didn't know was that Johnstown's Memorial Hospital Junior Auxiliary club was responsible for the sellout, having sold many of the tickets as a fundraiser.
Harry Crichton, who was from New Jersey[3] but at the time was the Vice President of Sale for the Johnstown Coal & Coke Company and had family who lived in the city, drove to New York in an effort to save the team.
He walked into Madison Square Garden, which at the time housed EHL president Tom Lockhart's office, and paid him $2,000 cash to save the team.
Henry "Hank" Dyck, the high-scoring center of the Blue Birds, stepped up and assumed the role of interim coach for the remainder of the season.
[5] The Shaffer Ice Palace was converted to a manufacturing plant for assist in the production needed for World War II, leaving the Blue Birds without a home.