I think in the long run, it was a good choice because that's where I worked my way through the organization and started coaching. Ten years ago, who would have thought there'd be hockey in a lot of places in the United States. So probably not. When he and hockey first came to Topeka, Kelly said it took a little while for people to get figure out exactly what was going on in the rink. But once you watch hockey for a while, he explained, it isn't that hard of a game to understand.
People are definitely up on it.
But as people see it a couple of times, they understand it. It's kind of like basketball as far as the zones and different things. That first year, when people were still trying to figure hockey out, Kelly said he had fun with them. I could tell everybody whatever I wanted and they believed me. Not true anymore, he added, laughing.