If you are a Toledo Walleye fan and regularly attend games at the downtown Huntington Center, you've no doubt seen Ray St. John's bus parked across the street on Jefferson Avenue.

The bus is, after all, hard to miss. It's the one that says “On The Road To Hockeytown” across the side.

St. John, 45, who grew up in East Toledo and now lives in Curtice, has been a hockey fan for more than 30 years. He and his family literally supported the Goaldiggers back in the late 1970s.

“Back in 1979-80 my brother lived on the corner of Arden Place and Greenwood with his then-wife, and they used to rent rooms to the Goaldiggers' players,” St. John recalled. “We lived on Arden also, about four doors down. We started going to the games and back then, instead of giving free tickets to the players the Goaldiggers had a chip that looked like a coin and they used to give rows of coins to the players to give to their friends and families.”

“That's how we started going to Goaldiggers games. Players would come and go; being that they were from out of town, my mom would take them in. I had six brothers and a sister and we had a huge house. The players would start coming down to our house and hang out and my mom would cook for them.”

St. John's family had season tickets to Goaldiggers games from the early 1980s until the team folded after the 1986-87 season.

“We've lived and breathed hockey ever since then,” St. John said.

St. John said he dedicated his “Hockeytown” bus to his late father, Harold, who died of cancer in 1999. Shortly after that, Ray and his wife, Theresa, had a baby boy, R.J., who turned 10 on Dec. 16. After R.J. was born, St. John was offered a bus and he decided to buy it and turn it into sort of a hockey shrine.

“My dad was probably a bigger Red Wings fanatic than me,” St. John said. “When I got this bus, I didn't know what to do with it. I dedicated it to my dad for my son. I wanted to share the hockey relationship that I had with my dad growing up. I wanted to share it with my son, and the bus was a perfect opportunity to do that.”

The 12-passenger bus, which has a futon in the back “in case anybody gets too partied out,” has made many a trip to Detroit in the last several years to ferry Toledo hockey fans to Red Wings games. St. John hasn't taken the bus to Detroit yet this season, but he's keeping a close eye on the Wings.

“They look like they're on their way to another championship,” St. Johnn said. “For the first time, they're pretty healthy and they're so deep. They can bench a guy not because he's playing bad, but because they're trying to rotate. Some of these guys will sit out a day or two and come back and score a couple points.”

St. John prefers to take his family to the Huntington Center to cheer for the Walleye. He is a season-ticket holder and the family attends every home game. The “Hockeytown” bus, however, has stayed in the garage for much of the season.

“The bus has not been my biggest thing lately,” St. John said. “I've gotten the pleasure of meeting Mike Eurzione, and my boy met Gordie Howe. Just recently we got to meet the Hansons down at the Center.”

The Hansons are, of course, the Hanson brothers trio of Dave Hanson and Jeff and Steve Carlson, who were a huge hit in the 1977 movie “Slap Shot” starring Paul Newman. Hanson was a former teammate of one of St. John's best friends, former Goaldiggers player Mike Greeder, at Indianapolis and Toledo.

“Hanson and Greeder got sent down to Toledo together from Indianapolis in 1983-84,” St. John said. “They won the Cup in Toledo that year together.”

The Hanson brothers signed autographs at the Huntington Center on Dec. 4.

“I knew Dave Hanson from being a Goaldiggers fan back in the 1980s,” St. John said, “but it's been so many years, he wouldn't know me from Adam. When I showed up at the rink, I told Dave that Mike Greeder was my very best friend. When I was in line coming up to Dave Hanson, he asked me what I wanted signed. I told him I didn't want anything signed and told him my history with Mike Greeder.”

St. John asked the Hansons to pose for a photo with his family, but Walleye officials had asked that fans refrain from taking posed pictures because of the number of people waiting for autographs.

“They called in some sheriffs, but Dave told us to come back and we'll get a quick picture,” St. John said. “Hanson put his hand on this sheriff's chest and said, 'Listen, we're going to take a picture.' Bottom line is, we got a picture.”

St. John admitted he's somewhat miffed that Toledo hockey fans aren't giving the Walleye, who are in their second season of existence, time to build a championship contender.

“A lot of the fans down there do not really know hockey,” he said. “They're like bandwagon people. The Walleye are having a tough time right now. True fans stick it out with a new team, where it takes time to put a new crew together and get that chemistry.”

As of Dec. 13 the Walleye, under the direction of head coach and director of hockey operations Nick Vitucci, were in last place in the ECHL's North Division, with an 9-12 record and two overtime losses and one shootout loss.

“You have to give Vitucci a shot to get that group together,” St. John said. “The fans are really tough on him. The fan base has gone down. Last year was a new thing, so they were packing them in. This year they're way behind in the standings and they're not getting the support. A lot of the people who go to the games don't understand the real aspect of hockey, that it takes time.

“A lot of the Walleye's problem right now is they lack confidence. They get a lot of shots on goal ... They're just a few pieces short of the puzzle, that's all.”

Win or lose, the Walleye can always count on St. John to bring his family to the Huntington Center.

“I miss my dad a lot,” St. John said, “and I'm living my dream of hockey with my son that I had with my dad. Some of the best experiences I had with my dad were at the Sports Arena with the family. I'm reliving that with my son.”

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