Albany Choppers The Albany Choppers was a professional team competing in the International Hockey League during the 1990 – 1991 season . The franchise originally existed as the Fort Wayne Komets , whose owner , David Welker , opted to move his franchise to Albany , New York and its brand - new Knickerbocker Arena , a major league - caliber facility , during the IHL ' s period of nationwide expansion . It had the regional Price Chopper supermarket chain as a major investor - - hence the name and colors of red , white and blue in Price Chopper ' s corporate hues . Among players for the Choppers were goaltenders Rick Knickle , former St . Louis Blue Bruce Racine and former Boston Bruin John Blue ; former New York Islander and team captain Dale Henry , former Minnesota North Star Dave Richter , and Mario Lemieux ' s brother , center Alain Lemieux , who was the team ' s leading scorer until he was traded for cash . A large number of players were ex - Springfield Indians , including Henry , Lemieux , forwards Stuart Burnie , Bob Bodak and Jim McGeough , and defensemen Vern Smith , Manny Vivieros and Gord Paddock . The team began play in the 1990 – 91 season , but ran into a major roadblock . It was the IHL ' s first foray east of its traditional Great Lakes stronghold , and fearing the competition , the entrenched American Hockey League rushed an expansion team just across the Hudson in neighboring Troy , the Capital District Islanders . Not in recent history have so many minor league teams been crammed into such a small market - - the established Adirondack Red Wings were less than fifty miles north in Glens Falls , and the perennial college hockey powerhouse Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute played in Troy - - and all suffered at the gate through the subsequent price wars . As an expansion team without an NHL affiliation , the Choppers suffered worst , and as they became a last place team , attendance plummeted ; for numerous games attendance in the cavernous ' Knick ' was no more than a few hundred fans . After local media reported attendance figures at odds with the ones management was reporting ( by physically counting heads ) , the team ceased to report attendance altogether , while giving season tickets away outright . As it was , the team hemorraged funds , held back by the costliest travel budget in the IHL , payrolls were not met , and supplies became dear . One notorious incident came during an overtime game against the new Fort Wayne Komets ( Welker ' s franchise had been replaced by the relocated Flint Spirits team ) , when Jim McGeough was sent out for the final shot in a shootout because he had the only sound hockey stick remaining on the bench . The Choppers folded due to lack of funds on February 14 , 1991 ; the Capital District Islanders promptly honored all Choppers season tickets in an attempt to boost their own attendance . Somewhat ironically , Henry , Knickle and Vivieros finished the season back in Springfield , where they helped the Indians to their final Calder Cup championship , while leading goal scorer Yves Heroux would move to the Peoria Rivermen and prove key in their own Turner Cup championship in that same season . Lemieux , Burnie and Richter retired after the season . Defenseman Scott Drevitch was the final Chopper active in professional hockey , playing for the Elmira Jackals of the United Hockey League in the 2006 – 2007 season .