FLINT, Michigan —

The owner of the All-American Hockey League's Evansville Icemen is part of a potential ownership group for the Flint Generals, and he was on hand Wednesday night for Game 3 of the Turner Cup Finals at Perani Arena.

Ron Geary, the Icemen's owner, said his group is indeed exploring the possibility of taking over the financially strapped Generals, who are playing two-time defending champion Fort Wayne in the International Hockey League playoff finals.

Geary's group includes former Detroit Red Wings coach Dave Lewis, who was also in attendance at Game 3.

“We thought we would come up and look at it,” Geary said during the first intermission of Game 3. “We've visited all of the teams in the league. It's certainly a good arena. There's a lot of tradition in Flint.

“We're very pleased with how the team has been playing. We visited Bloomington and Port Huron about a month ago and they played Flint both times.”

Geary, who lives in Lexington, Ky., also owns Ellis Park Raceway, a thoroughbred track located across the river from Evansville in Henderson, Ky. He is also the majority owner of the Icemen, who beat the West Michigan Blizzard to win the AAHL championship last month.

His group also has tentative plans to put an IHL team in Evansville in 2011-12, providing a new arena opens on time in the fall of 2011. The Icemen currently play out Swonder Ice Arena, which only seats 1,100.

But he decided to take a look at Flint when he heard the Generals were looking for new ownership because they've been plagued by financial problems all season..

The players had to buy their own equipment at one point, players living in apartments received eviction notices when the team didn't pay their rent, players in houses didn't receive mortgage payments on time and paychecks were late for several staff members.

Those debts have since been cleared up.

Brandon Bordeaux, the Generals' owner, has said he is interested in retaining a small piece of the Generals next season but has no interest in being the majority owner.

“We just want to kind of look at it,” Geary said. “We heard there were some potential issues with the current ownership. We're just doing our due diligence and learning more about the building.

“I've seen all the arenas pretty much and I like the seating (at Perani Arena). There's not a bad seat. The layout is the best I've seen.”

An ownership group that includes Lapeer businessman Bob Bryant announced last week that it will put a North American Hockey League junior team in Perani Arena next season. That team will be known as the Michigan Warriors.

The IHL claims it has first right of refusal on Perani Arena and intends to bring the Generals back for the 41st season in Flint pro hockey history.

Arena manager Jim Cain has said he doesn't see how Flint could support two hockey teams but he didn't rule out the possibility of the building housing franchises in different leagues.