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Tailing the Komets

Dayton press conference

 Dayton Gems return to Hara as your home town community team!

The excitement is building at Hara Arena as the Dayton Gems team move their offices in this week. The Dayton Gems new owners, Richard Bruner and Ryan Yerrick, secured the old Gems name via a lease agreement with Jeffrey Walker, negotiated by Warren Back, the teams new Director of Business Affairs. Most Gems fans will remember Back as the 1964-65 original Gems IHL player/coach.

Additional administrative staff of the Gems include Guy Trottier, Director of Hockey Operations; Matt Goshert, Director of Sales and Marketing; and Bob Brogan, Corporate Sales Coordinator. Bruner and Yerrick's vision for the team is a community based team, where the players will serve as leaders, both on and off the ice. “I see an opportunity to re-kindle some of the old time hockey rivalries, like with the Fort Wayne Komets” said Bruner, “Our goal is to bring a revival to Hara, old traditions, new club, community leadership, amazing players, and fun!”

“I am proud to be standing on the same ground as Warren and Guy, taking our place in Dayton hockey history, and leading a resurgence of professional hockey in Dayton, Ohio” said Ryan Yerrick, Vice-President of the new franchise club, adding “We're here to stay!”

“One of the things that I feel hockey has been missing in Dayton is a community fan following” said Matt Goshert, Director of Sales and Marketing for the new Dayton Gems franchise, adding, “Dayton needs a team that is supported by fans, run by fans, owned by fans, and that is why I am so glad that Rich and Ryan have put the franchise here, with the group they've assembled.”

The Dayton Gems Ice Hockey Group is planning an official press conference for next Tuesday, June 9
at 10 am.

Posted in: Komets

Comments

Blake Sebring
Thu, 06/04/2009 - 9:27pm

I have to admit I have a ton of questions about these two owners. They have a lot of questions to answer. I thought there was much more to the ownership group than this.

Hit Somebody!!!
Thu, 06/04/2009 - 9:35pm

All accounts I heard was that this was going to be a team of owners....where are these guys getting their money Blake...I mean no offense to them, but can these guys keep a team going for more than 10 games? I bet they will have to float the team for a while until money starts to role in as attendance goes up and down, hopefully up. But there are alot of costs involved and it appears they have alot of people to pay.

I hope they pull this off, but these are the Buddy's Pizza guys that were bringing back the ICE 2 months ago....

Wendy
Fri, 06/05/2009 - 12:13am

I hope this all pans out as well, though I suppose it means the end of the Buddy's Pizza Buffet celebrity look-a-like cam. Darn it. I kept hoping someone would claim I looked like Nicole Kidman. Not that I do...

But hey, you can judge for yourselves. I now have a Flickr slideshow up for the photos I took at the Komets End of Season Party. I even put one of myself with the Turner Cup in there. So feel free to check them out. It's something to divert your attention from all this K-zoo nonsense. And if you look at them individually, you get to read my own warped spin on image titles and captions.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23197874@N03/sets/72157619237506686/
(42 images in all)

Dschebig
Fri, 06/05/2009 - 3:37am

Good work Wendy!!!!Thanks for all your efforts.

ToeBlake
Fri, 06/05/2009 - 6:26am

Take a look at Yerrick's facebook page...This group has a lot of things going outside of hockey one being the film industry. If Franke and the IHL has done their home work they must have enough $$$ to make it go. I would also bet there are some silent partners with this group. They have no "hockey" experience except Ryan played some hockey in high school at Northrop but that is it. This is a huge gamble for the IHL, but I think they feared that the ECHL would be back in Dayton in 2010 so they pulled the trigger. Good Luck
\

RunningKomet
Fri, 06/05/2009 - 6:42am

Can anyone explain why there are so many suspicions about these owners in Dayton? I'm out of the loop on this one. What are these "questions they have to answer", Blake? I know nothing about Dayton or these guys that are running the show over there. Why are they assumed to be bad owners who will do a poor job? Thanks everyone in advance for getting this newbie on track with the front office aspects of hockey.

Burgee
Fri, 06/05/2009 - 6:48am

I like what i am seeing so far out of dayton, they seem to understand its not just hockey, its entertainment.

2 owners "the bank"

Director of Business Affairs - someone to run the business side, write the checks, pay rent get the insurance

Director of Hockey Operations - the on ice product handling the coaches players etc.

Director of Sales and Marketing - the master ticket seller locking in the season ticket holder base, chasing in the groups that will fill your arena, the marketing figuring out what will be their Icy, their jeep girls, their broaster boys, their chuck a puck.

Corporate Sales Coordinator - chase in the corporate money, this provides a good base to pay the monthly bills.

If these people click, hustle and work together it will be a top notch franchise, they've built the foundation properly on paper let's see how they perform.

LGKomets
Fri, 06/05/2009 - 7:04am

They also have some strong local backing from the Wamplers who have ownership in the Hara arena. Their overhead cost of the arena is not that huge either. They are starting off strong on ticket sales and are up as well. One of the innovative things they are offering fans from visiting teams is a discount package. There's a new one, reaching out to the visiting team fans. Let's not just ot conclusions here and think a couple of pizza guys can't handle themselves in the business world. Just remember the Frankes were really not hockey people before they took over the Komets.

Janice
Fri, 06/05/2009 - 7:08am

I actually got a voicemail yesterday from the Dayton Gems wanting to know if I was interested in info about ticket packages when the Komets play the Gems in Dayton. I thought is was interesting!

RunningKomet
Fri, 06/05/2009 - 7:41am

Thanks, Burgee. That helps out a lot. I wish them the best and I'm glad they've decided to come into the league. Plus, look at the bright side, more slow driving people from Ohio to dodge as we're leaving the Jungle this winter.
The real question is: Who will be their Bob Chase?? Trick question, there's only one Bob Chase and he's irreplaceable.
It'd be nice to snag a couple more teams for this upcoming season, but we'll just have to wait and see I guess. I'm driving up by Kzoo tonight. Anyone want me to deliver any messages??

Alan
Fri, 06/05/2009 - 8:19am

Wendy says, " I hope this all pans out as well..." ( pans out?) Wendy, was this an accident of speech or a veiled joke about the pizza guys that only my warped sense of humor got?

Eric
Fri, 06/05/2009 - 9:57am

Blake, did you really have to add something about the I growing this week? I thought the league would fold over the weekend based on all the negativity in here lately. Yep, that's my real name.

Great pics, Wendy. As an aside, I love the warped sense of humor in most of your posts! Keep adding your thoughts!

Wendy
Fri, 06/05/2009 - 2:11pm

I didn't think about the pun until just before I hit submit. Then I hit submit anyway. So you be the judge. ;)

Hey, I'm excited about Dayton for a couple of reasons. If they can bring in anything close to the numbers that the bombers did playing Cincy last season, they will be at least as successful as any of our current rivals in the IHL. Plus there is a really fantastic RenFest, one of the largest in the country, just a few miles away that is going to be open every weekend in October. Huzzah!

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