Bloomington PrairieThunder

[Minor League Man]

I suggest they make a few more big moves.
Like, maybe a logo?
Or how about a website?
I hear these are really nice.

[kwingshockey]

I have heard that they might not play this season. If they do it won't be in the new arena. As it will not be ready to play hockey.

[preeths]

Where did you hear that? The indoor football team just completed its first season in the arena. Haven't heard of any problems.

[freddypuck]

This doesn't surprise me. Another franchise headed by a group not prepared to do the business of hockey. No Web, No advertising, No Hype.....

UHL - Unprepared Hockey League

All you need to own/run a team is a very deep pocket and checkbook. No need to know business, marketing, operations, entertainment. Why muddy up the game with an actual business plan.

The teams are put in weak markets operated by weak owners, usually in the game for the ego and not business. Look at the stable teams in the league. They are run by owners whose business is hockey (i.e. rockford, Kalamazoo, Muskegon, and Fort Wayne....)

If they aren't ready right now, they won't be ready to play this season

[patmc16]

Well, they have a logo now (finally) but still no website of their own. After looking at the logo I'm left thinking, it took them that long to come up with that? Maybe I'm confusing this team with another, but I thought the "Prairie Thunder" name was a reference to a train of some sort. I was expecting a train to appear in the logo somehow. Oh well, if they were to ever relocate to the greater Buffalo, NY area, they would be all set.

[puckbuster]

Well, they have a logo now (finally) but still no website of their own. After looking at the logo I'm left thinking, it took them that long to come up with that? Maybe I'm confusing this team with another, but I thought the "Prairie Thunder" name was a reference to a train of some sort. I was expecting a train to appear in the logo somehow. Oh well, if they were to ever relocate to the greater Buffalo, NY area, they would be all set.Forgive me, but having never been to Bloomington, what is the connection with a train?? Actually I kinda like the new logo, it beats the hell out of a Hound.

[MsHockeyFan]

This doesn't surprise me. Another franchise headed by a group not prepared to do the business of hockey. No Web, No advertising, No Hype.....

UHL - Unprepared Hockey League

All you need to own/run a team is a very deep pocket and checkbook. No need to know business, marketing, operations, entertainment. Why muddy up the game with an actual business plan.
The teams are put in weak markets operated by weak owners, usually in the game for the ego and not business. Look at the stable teams in the league. They are run by owners whose business is hockey (i.e. rockford, Kalamazoo, Muskegon, and Fort Wayne....)

If they aren't ready right now, they won't be ready to play this season

You obviously don't know what you are talking about as Mr Tony Lisman is part owner of the Bloomington team and is owner/operator of the very successful Muskegon Fury team. (4 time UHL Champions)
I've also heard that the reason they don't have a web site is that some fan who wanted free tickets or something hogged up all the web sites with the Bloomington Hockey name so that if the team did make one they would have to go through him. Whether that is true or not i don't know for sure but certainly would make sense as to why they don't have one as yet.

[freddypuck]

MsHockeyfan,

I do know and I also know Tony Lisman, and have worked with him several times. He is not there everyday, you must be there everyday to make a team successful. Parfat was part of Adirondack yet they failed. Distant ownership does not work, it has been proven by all the failed teams in the ast 5 years. There are more facets to a team than having a reputable owner. The rest of the team is more important, General Manager, Sales Staff, Operations, etc... they are the ones in the trenches and what they do makes more difference than who actually owns the team. Perfect Example is Elmira, Robbie Nichols knows how to get it done... Can't say the same for his owner, hell Robbie even brought excitement back to RIchmond after al the crap they dealt with.

As for Cybersquatting, which is what this so called fan did, I say so called, because if he was a fan, he would not have squatted their names, Is illegal and would have taken only a couple of documents from Bloomington Ownership to ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) they can easily strip a domain from someone and give it to the rightful trademark holder. Second part of that one is....If Tony is such a great owner, how is it that he let the name of the team out before securing the domains that they wanted?

You are obviously a hockey fan.... But I worked in the league for 3 years and have worked in several other pro sports leagues... Unless you can say the same or currently working in the league, YOU are the one that obviously doesn't know what you are talking about.

[furyhockeygirl]

Just because someone hasn't worked for the league means that they don't know what they're talking about? That's VERY selfish of you to say.

FYI, Tony IS a great owner. He knows what needs to be done to win. If YOU know anything about the league, you would know this. His team is always VERY competitive.

[patmc16]

FYI, Tony IS a great owner. He knows what needs to be done to win. If YOU know anything about the league, you would know this. His team is always VERY competitive.

All one has to do is look at the Fury's place in the standings year after year to see that that is true. The only negative that I can say about how he runs his team is that he keeps Terry Ficorelli employed. This is departing from the purpose of the thread, but Fic's radio broadcasts are absolutely brutal to listen to and his press releases are even worse. Fic must wear out at least one thesaurus a season. You shouldn't have to try to figure out what somone is trying to say in a press release. Big words are not impressive if they don't really say anything.

One of my personal favorites, regarding the signing of Dean Melanson last spring, part of Fic's press release read as follows:

"Following his stint with the Americans, the rugged, ruffian, rock-ribbed rearguard starred for two seasons with the AHL Philadelphia Phantoms"

and...

"The newest Fury defensemen is bringing with him a major array of credentials that would seem to have the certainty as to significantly augment the Fury aggregation nation in their concerted effort to solidify their quest for the franchise Tarry Cup III and the second consecutively to attain the all-important home ice advantage throughout the 2006 Colonial Cup Playoffs."

HUH???

[chdahs]

http://www.prairiethunderhockey.com