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So, we agree that the pay is low, and these guys have a minimal chance of making it to the highest tier of their sport. In what way does that make what they do "pretend"? Is the manager at a store a "pretend worker" if he has no hope of becoming the CEO? I am just baffled by your need to denigrate what other people do because it doesn't fit some arbitrary set of goals you have selected. Perplexing. Is the fact that people return as fans a bad thing in your book? Do you think the Lakers really hate that dick Jack Nicholson because he just keeps showing up? About the numbers though, Knoxville had ~3600 this year if I'm not mistaken. 1 in 236 people then. Seems like a low ratio. I wonder if perspective will help us? Los Angeles Kings attendance average 18,230. Metro population 13 million. 1 in 720. Crazy. For fun, let's take one of the best attended teams in the AHL: Cleveland. 9055 people, 2,055,612 metro area. 1 in 227. I love numbers. Judge-y. Would you feel better if the sponsors had small ad budgets? I do not understand why you bring up ad budget size, nor your concern with how a business operates. It makes me wonder if you've got a real problem with Amish people. We have complete agreement here! It's a bad situation. I'm generally always against zero tolerance. We are imperfect people, and the situation should be properly evaluated. If this is truly an out of character situation then it should be measured accordingly. If not, the organization should get him help and move on. Opinion, not fact. Don't know better than what? That what they are watching isn't the absolutely pinnacle of the profession? Is that the bar you apply to all aspects of your life? Hey Mario Batali, nice try with La Sirena. I guess it's good food if you've never heard of Le Bernardin. Good point. Some people enjoy an entertaining night out with the family. Others prefer to spend their time condescending. Whatever floats your boat!

It's amazing to me with all the advice or input about the new potential owner that those that are being pessimistic did not make an offer to buy the team, they sure do seem to have a lot of input as to how the guy that is spending the money should do it. Seems to be so much negativity that if I was looking to buy this team and I read these boards, I would probably have second thoughts. Here is my suggestion, right now we have no hockey, no team (with exception of what is being presented), therefore; I am open to look at and support someone wants to invest in our community and bring hockey back in Columbus. What nobody seems to mention is he said he was open once things move forward in the right direction was willing open to another name, so it seems to me that he wants fan buy in at the end of the day. I am of the impression we need to sit back and see how things unfold as I would certainly hate to see our potential of having a hockey team go dark. Obviously we choose whether to support a product by spending our hard earned money and buying season tickets or single game tickets, that is our voice and input based upon what product we have been given, but we are not even there yet. Take a pause, be supportive if you can, the potential of having hockey back in Columbus is a great thing.

Mike Craigen had no coaching experience when he took on the job. Won a championship eventually. Scott Hillman won two SPHL championships his first two years as a coach. Bechard won a championship for Columbus his first year as a full-time coach. It can happen.

http://prohockeynews.com/scott-witmyer-triumph-over-tragedy/

Another article and talks a little on Jason Price: http://www.sportsradiownml.com/2017/06/30/silverberg-new-ice-bears-coach-carr-wants-to-win-right-now/

I have been a season ticket holder since 1996 when Charlie and Martha Morrow brought Hockey to Columbus, I have been in the Booster Club, I have sat on the Season Ticket Holder Advisory Board, I have been an associate or friend of every owner since 1996 and have been involved with several different sponsorships with the Cottonmouths under several different companies including On-Ice Sponsor the last couple of years. That being said, I too am sorry that the Cottonmouths name will not be used here going forward but I am not buying the team and a name is a name. I followed the Washington Capitals when I was in Washington, DC for 4 years and had a skybox, I lived in Norfolk, VA for 16 years and was a regular attender, when in town, of the Norfolk Admirals (previously Hampton Roads) and continue to follow them as many friends of mine still live there. I will be a season ticket holder of whatever team by whatever name is reestablished in Columbus as I love the game of hockey. I was at the Sponsor meeting and was impressed by what was presented (except the name). There are other aspects of the Sponsor packages that have not been expressed outside of that meeting, on this forum or on Facebook that every Sponsor at the meeting was fine with (at least no one objected and we were there for about 2 hours). If there is someone else that wants to make a run for purchasing a franchise (because the one that was held here was sold to Birmingham) from the league then put in an interest to the league. I just hope that in October 2018 that my logo is in the arena, my tickets are in my hands and I am getting ready for a new season of hockey in Columbus.

Because this guy talks like he's got loads of money to throw around into this venture and yet he claimed he designed this all on his own, and now he's being exposed as a fraud in this claim. This logo really can't be trademarked I don't believe because he got it off of some other website and it would be that website that reaps the rewards of any merchandising. What else is he lying about? And yes I consider this a lie. None of this "a certain point of view" crap. You make a claim it should be cut and dry, black and white, no questions asked no shades of gray. He said he designed this on HIS OWN. To me that means he has Adobe Photoshop or a CAD drafting program, and he draws it from scratch. I was skeptical because of how quickly it was produced, but thought perhaps he had it in storage until he could come up with a hockey franchise or some other sports franchise since this isn't showing any specific hockey overtones in the logo itself. But logo aside the bigger question in all of this that no one has asked (at least not that I have seen) is why some unknown from New York is suddenly interested in investing in a pro hockey team in southern Georgia? What is his connection to the area? How did he hear about Columbus needing a hockey team? What financial ventures is he involved in that allows him to have enough capital to invest in a team? Let me clarify, there are people asking questions, they're just not asking them online.

Small problem here- Bes isn't the coach of the Fireantz, and they aren't the Fireantz anymore either.

The sportswriter's worst enemy: Fact-checking sports fans. Live by the Web, die by the Web.

I kinda think alliteration possibly ended at Fayetteville Marksmen....js

Great for him and bad for us. Hope we can find a guy with some toughness and good hockey skills to replace him. Hate to go through another season getting pushed around by other teams like we did at the first half of last season before he showed up. Congrats to Big Bad Beirnesy. He will definately be missed.

And thus, the hockey connection is made.

Another player signing announcement coming this Tuesday.

Always enlightening topics when they are started by puckcounter.....

And then in Year 6-8, the Heavens will open, and a Multitude of Angels will descend upon Downtown Birmingham to take the Bulls & their Blessed Fans to The Divine Hockey Rink in the sky ...

FREE AGENT LOCATION CHANGE! UPDATE: We're joining forces with the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL and will be hosting our free agent camp in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania! Players looking to showcase their skills will do so under the direction of Nailers coaching staff, as well as Head Coach of the Marksmen, Nick Mazzolini and Director of Hockey Operations, Ryan Cruthers. Be sure to mention you heard about the camp from the Marksmen and #LeaveYourMark Click the link for more info: http://wheelingnailers.com/wheeling-nailers-tryout-camp To register: https://login.ezfacility.com/OnlineRegistrat…/Register.aspx…

Leveille Re-Signs for Second Season with Beast ECHL.com

He's a lot closer to home than Fayetteville.

Yea, yea, im sure our team is going to be a lot stronger then it was last year. We are established now and not just an expansion team getting everybody's sloppy seconds out of the league. Im surprised we were as competitive as we were considering all the call ups and long term injuries. Looks like we are set up to be biggest rivals. But dont count on the 10 out of 13 wins. Definately should be fun. Hoping to take a trip down to see a couple away games this year.

Based on my research and emails back and forth with city leaders and agencies, the club never even began the process of filing the paperwork or finding a sponsor. Apparently there is a $500 (my memory is foggy) fee but if you can get someone on the city council to sponsor you that fee will be waived. I talked to whoever the district rep was at the time and he said he'd have no problem sponsoring the application...so all they had to do was file the paperwork and follow up on it. The planning commission said they never received any application or paperwork to begin the process. I'm still sore about that...you don't have a ceremony for the guy and have all of his family come in from Detroit and then not follow through with it, that's embarrassing. I still have the email trail somewhere...I'll dig it up. One, it's not my place to fund something the team should have done like they said they would, and two, I'm not a Knox County resident so I really can't do anything paperwork wise. It still shows as Historic Preservation in Google Maps. I submitted the change back in the day to make it Kevin Swider and it was initially changed, then someone changed it back.

I think they're cool, but I can already guess what the Ice Bears intro song is going to be on the road... 0_o

I like the white ones best too, but the black looks good as well. I'm a big fan of the logo too.

Looks to me that me and my dawgs are going fox hunting the first game of the season!!!!! Maybe we will see a few of the jerseys here that night. Look pretty nice. They did a good job. I usually like the darker jerseys better then the white. But i believe i like your white ones better.

I like the sergeant stripes. Nice touch.

Remember, kids. This is A-Level pro hockey centered around development. Resumes are thin on experience. This is entry-level coaching. You get a lot of freshmen coaches in here. Some work out (Hillman gave the Ice Bears 2 cups in a row his 2 years coaching here) and some do not. The FireAntz are hiring an untested coach as well. If someone wants to try being a professional hockey coach, this is the league they're going to start. You won't find many ex-NHL head coaches applying in this league unless they've hit rock bottom. Ex-NHL PLAYERS trying to be head coach, maybe. I don't know who they're going to announce tomorrow. Just support them and let's see what they do. There's plenty of time to burn them at the stake later on.

if your about to have an aneurysm after just one topic since you been a member on the forums. You better start doubling up on your blood pressure medicine or your going to blow!!!

Has a much better support system behind him than previous first timers. I think we will be fine and return to the top of the league in attendance, wins and fan support. Players will fight to come here if things go the way they are looking to be headed.

Unfortunately Season Tickets are the driving force in whether a team is even able to get going in the first place. I'm wondering if he is giving away the use of a car/RV for say, a year. Plus, how is he going to prepare these prizes? You don't know until the game is underway how many people you have in the crowd, so preparing for these big giveaways is something that needs a lot of planning and logistics. Especially with sponsors. You don't just have cars locked away in storage until needed.

Just saw it on twitter and was about to post. Just had to let them know we were still waiting i guess. Happy to have him back. Hopefully he gets a lot more help this year. I think he did well as the captain. Was always talking up his teammates no matter how good or bad it went. Im happy with our first player signed. Link to Roanoke Times. http://www.roanoke.com/sports/dawgs-captain-to-return-to-team-for/article_62bac5d4-7175-11e7-82e5-7bea72de02de.html

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink. It's there for use if the team wants to promote it so fans can find it. Either that or you could just stand by the beer stand and tell people Fred

Off-Season Player Tracker courtesy of Mike Campos - thesinbin.net

More recently than Macon, Havoc then RKs in '16-'17 season.

Are you Sirius?! I know that I ... AM.

Berkley Scott is back in Knoxville.

Here we go again….

Parks was a victim of circumstance. Knoxville brought him in, never activated him for a game, let him rot in practice for awhile. Once they had to cut him to make roster space, he went to a Columbus team desperate for a goalie that was terrible all over the ice. I would take Mavric Parks' potential as my goaltender without reservation. He's not a guarantee, but he should be very close to a guaranteed successful goalie in this league. As for Jon Rey, I don't know what to tell you. He should be good based on his pedigree and skating ability. He got worse by the week in Knoxville, and I don't know if that was him or just a symptom of Knoxville collapsing last year. By the end of the season, Knoxville had bad defensemen trying to cover for him on the ice. I hope he succeeds there, showing his regression in Knoxville was a fluke, because he seemed like a good guy.

Does if44 get partial credit from Russian-born forward Sergei Ogorodnikov having played a big chunk of the 2006-07 season with the Pensacola Ice Pilots, on assignment from the AHL's Bridgeport team?

Sometimes this is sorely lacking here on these forums.

Good read.

No, now we have an "Energy Team" - mostly game promos, no more dancing. Maybe he will bring his own - to inspire his promised “big defensemen from West Canada that like to hit a lot of bodies.”

Agreed. I've always hated when teams do the contrasting nameplate thing. It only looks good for Philly, and only because it has historical precedent. That UT orange always seems to catch light in strange ways. The first picture @MacGuy posted looks much better and more accurate. The font appears the same as what the Atlanta Thrashers wore, so I wouldn't ascribe any significance to the numbers' shape. Dead right about the busy-ness and stripes. It almost seems like the cut of the jersey (long/low shoulder yoke + shorter/scooped tail) makes it all look more cluttered. The huge white sponsor patch doesn't help things either. The Tri-Star is a nice touch, since they're the state's only SPHL team. Would've preferred a bespoke logo to fit the "Ice Bears" brand instead of a recolor, but at least there's some orange on this jersey other than the numbers. Obvious Preds references are obvious, though I can't say I blame them. IIRC, Knoxville had the 4th highest local ratings during the Stanley Cup Final this year, right behind the two cities playing and Buffalo. Strike while the iron is hot! This jersey set is a perfect example why contrasting nameplates are stupid. The back of the white jersey looks sooooo much cleaner without what's essentially a top stripe. However, those white numbers are a bad move. Should've gone orange on these as well, at least on the back. Plus that fixes the lack of orange.

A mere $240K per player, according to this Hockey News article from a year ago. Thus the reason why the Euro-leagues are angling to get much higher transfer fees. Yet another motivation for the NHL owners to set their sights on college players, who will cost them nothing more than sponsoring a study - followed by the usual multi-million dollar contract. It's only money.

Well, I guess if they're going to screw Swider out of a street named after him, the least they could do would be to put him on the inside of a jersey...

Curious to why his junior hockey coaching experiences isnt on his bio. Did you get a hold of his resume and he didnt want anyone to know he was fired from it, so he left it off? Im starting to think JMC-STL has better credentials to become Knoxvilles coach. Hes seen and been around more hockey. Carr played baseball for more years then he played hockey. I could be wrong and this man is a hockey genius. But by looking at his bio, junior hockey coaching experience, and 9 division II career college games played. Nothing is screaming out SPHL coach to me. Guess in a couple days we will find out if your right.

I'm still favoring Grey Jackets

The NBC affiliate also did a nice story on the hockey camp. Good stuff. https://www.wsls.com/sports/hockey/rail-yard-dawgs/rail-yard-dawgs-host-summer-hockey-school

Can I also advise that the LAST time that we dealt with a real-estate developer for an owner, things didn't go so well...

Can't imagine why they would want to move to the BJCC. 5000 seats in Pelham were I would assume the rent will be about 1/10 the BJCC would be better I would think. Also UAB has a club team that plays there as well as UA.