AlphaDog
07-05-2007, 09:17 AM
IceDogs pass 500 season tickets
BERNIE PUCHALSKI
Sports - Wednesday, July 04, 2007 @ 01:00
The doghouse is starting to fill up for the Niagara IceDogs.
Less than two months away from the opening of the Ontario Hockey League team's training camp at Jack Gatecliff Arena, the IceDogs have passed the 500 mark in season ticket sales.
"Five hundred is good," owner Bill Burke said. "Certainly by the end of June, I would have liked a bit more, but our goal was 500."
He believes the momentum is building for his team to start the season with a solid base of season ticket holders.
"The first 500 are the people who have made the calls themselves. And the next 500, 1,000 and 1,500 will be us trying to approach them with the Founder's Club and everything.
All of a sudden, it starts adding up."
The Founder's Club is a $15,000 sponsorship package that includes a rink board, rink sign, four season tickets, two parking spots, a full-page ad in the program, framed team photo, exclusive leather jacket and access to a members-only lounge.
So far, the IceDogs have sold six of their goal to have 50 Founder's Club members.
"That's not pushing," Burke said. "That's quick word of mouth and I am OK with that."
He is confident the team will end up reaching its goal of 2,000 season ticket holders.
"We'll be awfully close. If not, certainly once we start and people see the excitement of it. They will want to secure their seats not only for this year but for the years to come."
Local OHL fans can get their first look at potential IceDogs Saturday and Sunday at the team's two-day prospects camp at the Seymour-Hannah Sports and Entertainment Centre.
Thirty-eight players, including first-round pick Andrew Agozzino and Niagara natives Alex Friesen and Johnson Andrews, drafted 35th and 86th overall this spring, will try to impress the team's coaching staff and scouts.
"This is a first for a lot of these kids," Dave Brown, IceDogs general manager, said. "It's their first introduction to the OHL and it's important for their future that they understand and are comfortable with our organization and its expectations."
In addition to 2007 draft picks, the camp will include 2006 draftees who played at the Tier 2 level last season. Three of those, Chris Van Laren, Chris DeSousa and Dylan MacEachern, spent some time in the OHL last season.
The camp begins Saturday morning with fitness testing and dry-land training followed by a two-hour scrimmage between Team Teepees and Team Blackhawks starting at 3 p.m. Sunday, there will be more dryland training followed by a two-hour scrimmage starting at noon. bpuchalski @stcatharinesstandard.ca
BERNIE PUCHALSKI
Sports - Wednesday, July 04, 2007 @ 01:00
The doghouse is starting to fill up for the Niagara IceDogs.
Less than two months away from the opening of the Ontario Hockey League team's training camp at Jack Gatecliff Arena, the IceDogs have passed the 500 mark in season ticket sales.
"Five hundred is good," owner Bill Burke said. "Certainly by the end of June, I would have liked a bit more, but our goal was 500."
He believes the momentum is building for his team to start the season with a solid base of season ticket holders.
"The first 500 are the people who have made the calls themselves. And the next 500, 1,000 and 1,500 will be us trying to approach them with the Founder's Club and everything.
All of a sudden, it starts adding up."
The Founder's Club is a $15,000 sponsorship package that includes a rink board, rink sign, four season tickets, two parking spots, a full-page ad in the program, framed team photo, exclusive leather jacket and access to a members-only lounge.
So far, the IceDogs have sold six of their goal to have 50 Founder's Club members.
"That's not pushing," Burke said. "That's quick word of mouth and I am OK with that."
He is confident the team will end up reaching its goal of 2,000 season ticket holders.
"We'll be awfully close. If not, certainly once we start and people see the excitement of it. They will want to secure their seats not only for this year but for the years to come."
Local OHL fans can get their first look at potential IceDogs Saturday and Sunday at the team's two-day prospects camp at the Seymour-Hannah Sports and Entertainment Centre.
Thirty-eight players, including first-round pick Andrew Agozzino and Niagara natives Alex Friesen and Johnson Andrews, drafted 35th and 86th overall this spring, will try to impress the team's coaching staff and scouts.
"This is a first for a lot of these kids," Dave Brown, IceDogs general manager, said. "It's their first introduction to the OHL and it's important for their future that they understand and are comfortable with our organization and its expectations."
In addition to 2007 draft picks, the camp will include 2006 draftees who played at the Tier 2 level last season. Three of those, Chris Van Laren, Chris DeSousa and Dylan MacEachern, spent some time in the OHL last season.
The camp begins Saturday morning with fitness testing and dry-land training followed by a two-hour scrimmage between Team Teepees and Team Blackhawks starting at 3 p.m. Sunday, there will be more dryland training followed by a two-hour scrimmage starting at noon. bpuchalski @stcatharinesstandard.ca