Bucks Win CHL Award, Have New Division Rival

June 16, 2008 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Laredo Bucks News Release


LAREDO, TX- The Laredo Bucks were honored Saturday night by winning the Corporate Sponsorship Franchise of the year award, at the annual Central Hockey League's summer conference held in Phoenix, Arizona. With the honor, the Bucks have now won a CHL award in each of their six seasons as a franchise.

Accepting the award for the Bucks at the conference, was Donald Thomson, who along with team President John Beckelhymer, comprise the Bucks Corporate Partnership team.

"I am extremely proud of our corporate partnership team led by John Beckelhymer, who was assisted in a major way by Cindy Cisneros, Donald Thomson, and Summer Garcia (formerly Barrera)", Bucks owner Glenn Hart said.

"While this is a departmental award, just like an individual award on the ice, it could not have been accomplished without the entire business staff of the Bucks 'playing their positions' in a first class and professional manner".

"This award is a franchise award. A big thanks goes out to our owner Glenn Hart, and every single person on our staff. Coach Rosco and his staff, as well as our players are responsible for this award. It's a total team effort from top to bottom", Thomson said.

"This award also goes out to every single one of our Corporate Partners. We truly are partners with our sponsors, and they have given us tremendous support every step of the way", Thomson said.

Including winning the Corporate Sponsorship Franchise of the year, the Bucks were nominated for four CHL awards, Soul of Service Award (Arturo Ortega), Marketing Franchise of the year, and Corporate Salesperson of the Year (Thomson).

The Bucks franchise sold the most Corporate Sponsorship in the entire CHL this season, beating out Oklahoma City, the largest city in the league.

"We would not exist without our Corporate Partners, they have always supported us as much as possible", Beckelhymer said. As a franchise we strive to overfulfill with them in that department, and we thank them for their continued partnership".

Hart echoed Beckelhymer's comments saying, "A huge thanks goes out to our Corporate Partners for their trust in making it a win/win relationship between their companies and the Bucks".

Beckelhymer attributes a lot of the teams Corporate Parntership success to Thomson, who recently completed his first full season with the team.

"Donald has done a phenominal job since he came on board with us last year", Beckelhymer said. "he came to us right out of college and shined. We expect that as the seasons go along that Donald will only shine brighter".

Thomson joined the Bucks during the 2007 playoffs, and is a proud 2005 graduate of Texas A & M University, where he also received his master's degree in Sports Management.

Originally from Houston, Thomson, the February 2008 CHL Employee of the month, spent the last seven years earning his degrees in College Station.

The big winners at the CHL summer conference were the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, who took home four awards (Game Operations Franchise of the Year, Group Ticket Sales Franchise of the Year, Community Relations Franchise of the Year, and the CHL Leadership Award - Troy Nelson). For a complete list of all of the CHL awards handed out, please visit the CHL website, www.centralhockeyleague.com.

*No Bull: Texas Brahmas Join Southeast Division*

A major topic at the league meetings was the issue of re-alignment, and who would join the Bucks, Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, and Corpus Christi Rayz in the Southeast Division for the 2008-09 season.

After plenty of debate the team governor's, owners, and the CHL office announced Monday that the Texas Brahmas will become the newest member of the division.

The Brahmas, who were in the Northeast Division last season, are located in North Richland Hills, a suburb of Dallas, 416 miles away from Laredo.

"We welcome our longtime CHL friend, the Texas Brahmas to CHL Hockey "South Texas Style" by their addition to the Southeast Division", Hart said.

Bucks head coach/GM Terry Ruskowski feels the Brahmas are a good fit for the division.

"The Brahmas are a very successful organization, and always have been", Ruskowski said. "To come back last season after missing a year, and do what they did was tremendous. I'm sure Dan Wildfong (Brahmas head coach) will put another solid team on the ice this coming season".

The Bucks and Brahmas have met a total of 15 times since the Bucks 2002-03 inaugural season, with Laredo going 11-2-2 all-time against Texas. Last season however, the Brahmas had the Bucks number, as Laredo went 0-1-1 against Texas, falling on the road in a shootout 3-2, and losing at the LEC to the Brahmas 4-2.

"I'm sure with us playing Texas a lot more this season, the rivalry between us will heat up". Ruskowski said. "It will be good for our fans to see a lot more of Texas this season, to create that new rivalry for us".

Hart agrees the Bucks/Brahmas rivalry will be entertaining.

"While we have not played the Brahmas as often as some of our other rivals, we have had many an important battle between the Bucks and their Coach Dan Wildfong during his years as a player with the Mudbugs, and the rivalry will certainly become heated in a short time", said Hart.

The playoff format will stay the same for the upcoming season, with the top five teams from each conference making the postseason, with home ice advantage awarded to the team with the highest regular season point total. All playoff series' other than the opening round will feature best-of-seven game formats. The fourth and fifth seeds will once again play a best of three series to determine who will advance to play the number one seed in the conference semi-finals with the second and third seeds meeting each other, also in the conference semi-finals The conference semi-final winners will meet in the conference finals, with the two conference champions advancing to the Ray Miron President's Cup Finals.

The CHL also announced Monday that two new teams are scheduled to begin play during the 2009-10 season. Allen, Texas, which is a suburb of Dallas, and Independence, Missouri will join the league.

The Bucks will start their seventh season in the CHL on October 17th. Season tickets are available now, starting at just $34 a month. Call 718-BUCK (2825), or stop by the LEC to speak to a Bucks ticket representative.

*Bucks Season Ticket Refrral Program*

For every new season ticket that is purchased from a referral, the current season ticket holder that referred them will receive a $25.00 gift certificate to the Bucks team store. There is NO LIMIT to the amount of referrals that an existing season ticket holder can make.

For example, if a current season ticket holder refers a person who buys four new seats for the 2008-09 season, they will receive a $100 gift certificate to the Bucks team store.



Central Hockey League Stories from June 16, 2008


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