Chiefs-Heroes Rivalry Heating Up

Nellany and Rauscher Exchange Words

VS. 

The bad blood between the Deer Park Chiefs and Vancouver Heroes intensified Tuesday, as Mike Nellany, coach of the Deer Park Chiefs got into a verbal spat with Ben Rauscher, coach of the Vancouver Heroes.

An AFHL spokesperson said he did not know all of the details of the encounter between the coaches except for how it started and when it needed to be stopped.

A few days ago, Nellany announced that he wanted to trade his 17th round pick for a defenseman from an AFHL team. Rauscher made a sarcastic comment saying it would make very little sense that he could trade a pick that hasn’t happened yet for a player already chosen.

Nellany did not take the comment lightly and delivered a stern message to Rauscher: “Don’t insult my intelligence with your lame attempt at humor.”

Jordan Carbone of the Toronto Red Devils tried to intercede, but he wasn’t able to keep them from going after each other. During the 17th round on Tuesday, Nellany picked a player that was already drafted. Rauscher made a witty remark and Nellany responded to the remark with some nasty, x-rated commentary.

After the incident, AFHL Commish wrote up a report and Nellany was fined by the AFHL [Given his first warning] for using too many explicit words and phrases.

Chiefs coach Mike Nellany (above) during the 17th round of the AFHL Draft.

Told of Nellany’s comments, Rauscher kept his simple.

“As for rivalry, I have seen his team, and there is nothing to challenge me (or most other teams in this league). C’mon… Cheechoo?? I hope this guy rebounds to anything worth more than a bag of used pucks, but its highly unlikely – enjoy him!” Rauscher said.

The Vancouver Heroes have had a very successful draft so far because Rauscher put together a plan for who to pick and when to pick ’em. Instead of drafting all veterans, the Heroes have drafted a little bit of everything, including dark horses, sleepers, and some young bonafide goal scorers.

Deer Park has had a very successful draft as well, and seems to have the edge in the goaltending department, with Henrik Lundqvist wearing the Chiefs jersey.

“I’m not worried about the rivalry,” Nellany said. “I have the better players, so we’ll just win this battle on the ice.”