A few months ago I was speaking to an old friend of mine who happened to be an assistant coach with the NAHL’s Colorado Grit. We were talking about opportunities for him to coach in Europe in the 2025-2026 season. During these conversations, the disaster named the Colorado Grit was also discussed.
Topics included nepotism, and the new general manager that was hired for the Grit, by its owner who was not held in high regard by anyone in Colorado hockey circles.
A day after the first conversation, the assistant coach, and rest of the Grit staff were fired and the new gneral manager also became the new head coach. No one who knows the inner workings of this organization was surprised by this.
The Grit, as it turns out, were not held in high regard by the city of Greeley who terminated the Grit lease after only two years of the five year agreement. Citing unpaid bills, and other issues with local businesses.
The Grit owner is firing back at the City of Greeley stating that they are the ones who have not completed their financial commitments with the team. Threats of court action from ownership have now also been made publicly.
The truth is, from a hockey standpoint, the Grit were not a good hockey team in its two years. Almost immediately, in 2023, problems with ownership and infighting were being discussed by hockey people across the country.
Rumors of off ice problems concerning players were rampant in the 2023-2024 season. Alcohol use, and recreational, yet legalized drug use were also said to be problems early on. This was reflected in their twelve win innaugural season.
The NAHL has granted the Grit dormancy, and have declared all Grit players to be “free agents”. This increasing the number of veteran junior players competing for NAHL roster spots, and draft picks in the June draft. In a Tier 2 player market already under pressure due to NCAA rule changes, this will make NAHL rosters that much more difficult for young players to make.
Many questions remain to be answered moving forward for the Grit. Can the team actually make a comback? If so, where, because it wont be in Greeley. Does the newly hired general manager stay on through a year of dormancy or does he return to the NA3HL somewhere?
Does the City of Greeley try to attract a new junior franchise? One would think this is an opportunity for the NCDC to move another franchise into the Mountain division.
Stick around. Summer is about to get a lot more interesting.
