The View From the Booth

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Hello again, hockey fans, and welcome to another edition of "The View From The Booth." I hope you're having a great summer! It’s hard to believe, yet comforting to know, that we are only a little over two months away from the start of the 2010-11 Monsters season. Time is really flying by and I am extremely excited about the start of the season. It won't be long until we’re cheering on the Monsters in season number four here at The Q.

And speaking of cheering on the Monsters at home, I would like to start out this week cheering for some people who do a tremendous job with our hockey club. They are people who put in a ton of hours at their jobs to help make our arena and its environment the best in the AHL.

Last week the AHL announced the Monsters won two awards for 2009-10 season. The first is a tremendous honor for our sales department as the Monsters sales team was named the top ticket sales department in the AHL! Congrats to everyone on that team and the leaders of our club in that regard. Randy Domain, Kerry Bubolz, Scott Woodruff, Nicholas Frasco and Jeff Bowler are just a few of the names worth mentioning. The entire sales staff here is amazing, they are tireless at what they do, and I tip my hat to each and every person involved.

Secondly, I would like to say congratulations to everyone involved with the marketing and community service aspects of our hockey club. The AHL honored the Monsters as the top team in the Western Conference for exceptional Community Service. Congrats to Pam Frasco, Ben Shank and everyone who is involved in doing things in and around the Cleveland area. There are so many things that are done during the season and even in the offseason that continue to strengthen the Monsters relationship with fans in the community.

And for those of you with young hockey players, Ben Shank, who is our Youth Hockey Specialist, is putting together a hockey camp on August 9th and 10th in the Cleveland area. For more info, you can contact Ben here at The Q at 216-420-2000.

In other news involving the Monsters and Avalanche, the Avs resigned forward Brandon Yip to a two-year contract a few days ago. Yip spent the first three-and-a-half months of last season with the Monsters recovering from a hand injury before suiting up and playing six games with us before making his debut with the Avalanche. Yip was among the best goal-scoring rookies in the NHL over the final four months of the regular season and clearly earned his spot with the big club.

In news directly involving the Monsters, goalie Tyler Weiman and defenseman Brian Fahey have moved on from our hockey club. Personally speaking, they were both great men for me to deal with on a day-to-day basis, but as is the nature of our sport and our league, players come and go regularly. It's just part of the territory and our team will be full of talent when the season starts. Weiman will suit up in Manitoba this coming season while Fahey signed with the defending Calder Cup champs in Hershey.

Recently, I had a chance to catch up for a couple of minutes with the new Cavaliers head coach Byron Scott. First off, what a nice man who, like everyone in our organization here with the Cavs and Monsters, is very positive and energetic. I introduced myself to Byron and mentioned to him how much I enjoyed watching the "Showtime" teams he played on back in the 80's with the L.A. Lakers and that I have crossed paths several times with his former teammate, the one and only, Earvin "Magic" Johnson. I have met and interviewed "Magic" numerous times when I worked as a Sports Anchor/Reporter in Lansing, Mich., from 1998-2004. I wish Byron Scott the very, very best in his new endeavor with the Cavs.

If you haven't seen our new feature on our website this summer – "Summer Interview Series” – I encourage you to take a look. They are two-part interviews, each one about five minutes long with some of the players you can expect to see in a Monsters uniform this coming season.

Matt Ford kicked off the series last week and every Wednesday for the next few weeks we will debuting a new player. Part two of Ford’s interview will be available this week and that will be followed by Travis Gawryletz the following week. I can tell you they are working extremely hard to come to camp in top shape for the coming season and are more than excited about the coming year here in Lake Erie.

Sincerely,

Ben Holden