Barracudas' Office Features New Faces

May 25, 2006 - SPHL (SPHL)
Jacksonville Barracudas News Release


The Barracudas have set lofty goals for this off-season as far as attendance and exposure goes for the 2006-2007 season. In order to achieve these goals, it was clear that the team working on achieving these goals would have to grow. Its early, but already the Barracudas Front Office is featuring some new faces.

At the top of the ladder is new General Manager Gilles Richard. While he is not a new face by any means, leading the office as Business Manager for the past two seasons, Richard is taking on a great number of new duties pertaining to the hockey operations of the club.

The most notable new face would be new Barracudas Head Coach Rick Allain. Coach Allain has gotten right to work on building the team for next season. He will be headquartering his duties out of the Barracudas offices, and looks forward to being a visible and accessible leader for the Barracudas.

Director of Corporate Sales Tim Johnson and Director of Ticket Sales Dave Kuhn are back for another season, and have taken on several key projects intended to grow the number of season ticket holders and corporate partnerships for the Barracudas this off-season.

Director of Public Relations Ken Vezina is also returning, and has assumed additional duties this off-season. He will be working closely with the players, assisting GM Richard with many of the hockey operations duties, to go along with continuing to improve the team's relations with the local media, and the community.

The Barracudas have brought aboard a new member of the sales team. Darren Truty comes to the Barracudas with impressive sports and sales credentials. Before working in sales locally in North Florida, Truty was a professional baseball player for two seasons in the independent Northern League. Prior to playing professionally, Truty was a star pitcher for the Jacksonville University Dolphins. He now holds the position of Account Executive, and is also hard at work creating more corporate partnerships and season ticket holders for the Barracudas.

Every professional sports franchise relies not only on the capabilities of its full-time staff, but also on the work of interns. This off-season the Barracudas have been very fortunate to receive the applications from several extremely qualified students for internships. Already the Barracudas have offered UNF students Michelle Rahilly, Jamie Mackey and Jenny Soucek internships for the off-season, and look forward to adding Nick Fidalgo and Amelia Valenzuela in the coming months. Each of these individuals come to the Barracudas with exceptional qualities and work ethics, and will go a long way to helping the organization reach its goals this summer!

There are several ways that you too can join the team and help out! Those interested in internships are asked to email their resumes to Ken Vezina (ken@go-cudas.com). If you are interested in a commission-based sales position with the Barracudas, email your resume to info@go-cudas.com. Finally, the Barracudas are actively looking for members for the Street Team. If you're an energetic, out-going hockey fan that enjoys meeting new people, taking in special events, and want to help make hockey huge in Northeast Florida, consider joining the Street Team! For more information, email Michelle at jaxcudasfan@yahoo.com, or visit the Street Team's MySpace site (www.myspace.com/jaxcudasteam.)

Clarifying Section Closures

Last week, Hat Trick Tuesday's let you know about the section closures in the Arena for the 2006-2007 season. There was some confusion over exactly which sections will be closed. These are the closed sections:

116

118

119

120

121

101

Sections 117 and 100 will be closed to general seating, and reserved for the new Party Decks.

This past week has been very busy with season ticket holders renewing their seats before the June 1st renewal deadline. There are still a few of you who have not renewed as of yet, and the deadline is drawing near. Season ticket holders have until next Thursday, June 1st, to secure your seats and take advantage of the special renewal price for the 2006-2007 season, so be sure not to let this opportunity pass by.

Ice Level (rows A, B):

$1,110.00 (season)

$1054.50 (Paid in full by 6/1/06)

$980.00 (Renewal Price)

$980.00 (Military Price)

Lowe Bowl Sides:

10-ticket Flex Packs: $180.00 (reg: $200.00)

$504.00 (season)

$478.80 (Paid in full by 6/1/06)

$440.00 (Renewal Price)

$350.00 (Military Price)

Arena Club Box:

10-ticket Flex Packs: $210.00 (reg: $230.00)

$700.00 (season)

$670.50 (Paid in full by 6/1/06)

$670.50 (Renewal Price)

$600.00 (Military Price)

Lower Bowl End:

10-ticket Flex Packs: $110.00 (reg: $130.00)

$328.00 (season)

$311.60 (Paid in full by 6/1/06)

$295.00 (Renewal Price)

$250.00 (Military Price)

News from around the SPHL

Pee Dee Cyclones: The Cyclones have signed defenseman Jason Slusher. Last season Slusher was a college all-star for Lebanon County College. The 6-foot-2, 218-pound defenseman was third on his team in scoring, and was a ECAC Second-Team All Star.

Pee Dee Cyclones: The Cyclones have resigned their leading pest forward Chris Murphy. Murphy led the Cyclones in penalty minutes last season with 226.

News from around the hockey world

The NHL playoffs continue to truck along with two fascinating series' in the Conference Finals. In the Western Conference, the Edmonton Oilers have taken a commanding 3-0 lead over the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. However, the play has been anything but lopsided, as each of the games were one-goal victories for the Oilers, and in many ways the Ducks have carried the play for the majority of the games. This series underscores the importance of goaltender, solid defense, and great special teams at any level of hockey.

In the Eastern Conference, the Buffalo Sabres hold a 2-1 advantage over the Carolina Hurricanes. Emotional leader Chris Drury and the diminutive star forward Daniel Briere, along with a solid, if unspectacular defensive core, leads the Sabres. They've also received solid goaltending from rookie Ryan Miller. However, the Hurricanes have a great young goaltender as well in Cam Ward, and you can never count out a team with the playoffs' leading scorer, Eric Stall on it. Its been an exciting first three games of the series, and it looks to keep getting better.



SPHL Stories from May 25, 2006


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