CHL Colorado Eagles

Eagles Announce Front Office Change

Published on July 15, 2004 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Colorado Eagles News Release


Windsor, CO- The Colorado Eagles ownership group announced that their inaugural season head coach, Chris Stewart, has agreed to assume Vice President duties in addition to his role as Head Coach, as the Central Hockey League team enters into its second season. Stewart's expanded role will be implemented immediately to fill the vacated position left upon the departure of former Eagles CEO, Bill Stewart.

Returning for a second season as Head Coach for the Eagles, Chris Stewart has a combined 36 year hockey career involving professional coaching, management and playing. The Colorado Eagles Head Coach had been recently approached by another minor league team to assume a role of similar scope, and the Eagles ownership made the decision to expand his responsibilities in a move to retain the popular coach.

"Coach Stewart has displayed a great deal of ability to lead the Colorado Eagles on and off the ice this past season," said Martin Lind, a significant investor in the Eagles organization and Chairman of the Advisory Board.

"We feel that it will be a natural career progression for Chris in the wake of Bill Stewart's departure. Bill's enthusiasm and savvy will be sorely missed and we will undoubtedly be consulting with him frequently in the year's ahead," Lind added.

Bill Stewart, who recently made his resignation plans known to the Eagles' ownership group, was responsible for bringing the Colorado Eagles minor league hockey club to Northern Colorado and the Budweiser Events Center along with founding partner and six-time Stanley Cup Champion, Ralph Backstrom. Bill Stewart, who has maintained his residence in Highlands Ranch in south-Metro Denver during his tenure with the Eagles, is leaving the Eagles organization to pursue other ventures.

"I believe that the qualities that first attracted us to Coach Stewart will turn out to be the qualities which will enable our organization to reach an improved level in the coming season," said Eagles' General Manager Ralph Backstrom.

"Bill Stewart played an integral part in bringing the Colorado Eagles to fruition, and I know he will be just as successful in his next venture," Backstrom concluded as he commented about his former Denver University player and business partner.

Coach Stewart was out of town on a recruiting trip at the time of this release and was unavailable for comment. He will be back in the office on Tuesday, July 20th. While both Chris and Bill Stewart share the same last name, they are not related.

On another front, the Colorado Eagles received several achievement awards of distinction at the annual Central Hockey League Spring Conference in Phoenix last month. In addition to leading the league in corporate sponsorship revenues, the Eagles were the only team to sell out every home game.

Jim Jensen, Director of Marketing for the team, best conveyed the opinion shared by the hockey club when he said, "The fans and corporate sponsors we had in the Northern Colorado front range region were the best. They believed in us.... invested in us.... and we made our best effort to live up to their expectations. I believe the numbers tell the tale."

Check out the Colorado Eagles Statistics

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Central Hockey League Stories from July 15, 2004


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