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Bucky Resigns from Bees/Dorados

January 4, 2005 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees News Release


HIDALGO, TX: January 4, 2005 – The Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees of the Central Hockey League, and their sister organization, the Rio Grande Valley Dorados of the af2, are saddened to announce that Grant Buckborough, who served as the Assistant GM & Director of Ticket Operations for the two clubs since their inception, has announced his resignation effective immediately.

"It's hard to lose someone like Grant," said Killer Bees General Partner Trey Medlock. "He has done an outstanding job at laying the organizational foundation for professional sports in the Valley and in the Dodge Arena. I know he will be missed by our organization and our fans, but we are proud that his hard work here has led to an opportunity that we all will know about in the near future."

Buckborough, a 33 year-old native of Niagara Falls, Ontario, has served over seven years in professional sports and mainly with the Central Hockey League and the former Western Professional Hockey League. He is a five-time nominee for the league's Ticket Director of the Year Award. His guidance of the Bees ticket department helped the Killer Bees averaged 5,114 fans in each of their 32 home games and saw over 163-thousand fans go through the turnstiles in the inaugural 2003/2004 season. The attendance figure ranked fourth in the CHL, beating several large markets including Indianapolis, Fort Worth and Memphis, and ranked fourth amongst the 12 professional hockey teams in Texas (Texas has more professional hockey teams than any other state or Canadian province), finishing behind Dallas, Laredo and Houston. The Killer Bees had 12 sellouts last season (finished the season with 6 consecutive) and filled up the 5,500-seat Dodge Arena to an average of 93% capacity per game, which ranked second in Texas behind the Dallas Stars (99%). This season, the Bees have increased their season ticket revenue and rank third in the CHL (second amongst all pro hockey teams in Texas) with an average attendance of 5,389 through 13 home games. The success also followed in arena football, with the Rio Grande Valley Dorados holding more than 3,500 season tickets in their inaugural campaign last summer. The Dorados averaged 5,459 fans per game, which was an average of 99.3% of the arena's capacity, and six of the eight home games were sold out.

"Bucky" joined the Bees after spending five of six seasons with the Amarillo Rattlers/Gorillas hockey teams and also spent a season with the New Mexico Scorpions hockey club. His last game with the organization will be Saturday, as the Bees battle the Laredo Bucks and then he will enjoy the Dodge CHL All-Star Game festivities next week before transitioning to his new workplace.

"I hate to leave, but this is a business decision that benefits me and my family," Buckborough. "I thank the fans and the ownership for believing in me and I thank the fans for believing in our two sports organizations. The experience here has been very rewarding and I could not have done it without the assistance of my co-workers."

The 2004/2005 season is currently underway and the Bees are currently swarming throughout the Central Hockey League. The Bees return to action at the Dodge Arena Thursday night as they host the Odessa Jackalopes. Individual tickets are on sale now and may be obtained at any Dodge Arena ticket outlet, online (www.dodgearena.com) or over the phone at 866-RIO-TIXX. For more information concerning Killer Bees hockey, please visit their website at www.killerbeehockey.com.



Central Hockey League Stories from January 4, 2005


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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