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Gladiators Sipma Named ECHL Ticket Executive Of Year

Published on June 30, 2009 under ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - The ECHL announced that Tara Sipma of the Gwinnett Gladiators is the 2008-09 recipient of the ECHL Ticket Executive of the Year award.

The award is presented to an individual who has experienced nominal success with the ticket sales process.

In her third season with the Gladiators, Sipma was responsible for generating more than $120,000 in ticket sales including over $50,000 in group tickets. She also played an integral part in reviving the team's Kids Club Program which generated significant revenue in membership dues and sponsorship dollars while also resulting in new season ticket sales packages.

The native of Okoboji, Iowa received her liberal arts degree with an emphasis on communications and athletic training from the University of Northern Iowa. She has worked with teams in New York, Philadelphia and Minnesota and also worked as an intern for the National Basketball Association.

ECHL Ticket Executive of the Year

Year Team
2008-09 Tara Sipma, Gwinnett Gladiators
2007-08 Thom Emerson, Mississippi Sea Wolves and Dave Piecuch, Stockton Thunder
2006-07 Greg Lowe and Tim Statezni, Bakersfield Condors
2005-06 Kelly Clutter, Wheeling Nailers and Danielle Lucero, Las Vegas Wranglers
2004-05 Rob Patton, Gwinnett Gladiators
2003-04 Brendan Desjardin, Alaska Aces and Jesse Martin, Mississippi Sea Wolves
2002-03 Jeff Bach, Trenton Titans and Tim McGee, Reading Royals

Premier 'AA' Hockey League Fast Facts
- The ECHL celebrated its 20th Anniversary in 2007-08 and is the third-longest tenured professional hockey league behind only the National Hockey League and the American Hockey League.
- ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states and has grown to be a coast-to-coast league with 20 teams in 15 states and British Columbia in 2009-10.
- The league officially changed its name from East Coast Hockey League to ECHL on May 19, 2003.
- ECHL had affiliations with 24 of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League in 2008-09 marking the 12th consecutive year for affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL.
- 407 former ECHL players have played in NHL.
- 151 former ECHL players have played their first NHL game in the last four seasons.
- Record 52 former ECHL players made their NHL debut in 2008-09 and eight players played in both the ECHL and the NHL: goaltenders Matt Climie (Idaho and Dallas), Riku Helenius (Elmira, Mississippi and Tampa Bay), Michal Neuvirth (South Carolina and Washington) and Marek Schwarz (Alaska and St. Louis), defensemen Wes O'Neill (Johnstown and Colorado), Raymond Macias (Johnstown and Colorado) and Kevin Quick (Augusta, Elmira and Tampa Bay) and right wing Joel Rechlicz (Utah and New York Islanders).
- There were 72 former ECHL players on NHL opening-day rosters.
- ECHL has been represented on last nine Stanley Cup champions including 2009 with Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma, player Ruslan Fedotenko, equipment managers Dana Heinze and Dave Zeigler, athletic trainers Chris Stewart and Scott Adams and scout Derek Clancey.
- Former ECHL coaches working as head coaches in the NHL are Bruce Boudreau of the Washington Capitals and Scott Gordon of the New York Islanders while former ECHL player Dan Bylsma is the head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Boudreau, who coached Mississippi for three seasons winning the Kelly Cup championship in 1999, was named NHL Coach of the Year in 2007-08 becoming the first former ECHL coach to receive the award. Peter Laviolette, who began his coaching career with the Wheeling Nailers, led Carolina Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup in 2006.
- There are 15 assistant coaches in the NHL who were players or coaches in the ECHL.
- Eighteen former ECHL officials worked in the NHL in 2008-09 with referees David Banfield, Chris Ciamaga, Ghislain Hebert, Marc Joannette, Mike Leggo, Wes McCauley, Dean Morton, Dan O'Rourke, Brian Pochmara, Kevin Pollock, Kyle Rehman, Chris Rooney, Justin St. Pierre and Ian Walsh and linesmen Steve Barton, Brian Mach, Tim Nowak and Jay Sharrers. Barton, Joannette, Leggo, McCauley, Nowak, Pollock, Rooney and Sharrers all worked the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
- ECHL has affiliations with 23 of the 29 teams in the American Hockey League and for the past 20 years there has been an ECHL player on the Calder Cup Champion. - In the last six seasons the ECHL has had more call-ups to the AHL than all other professional leagues combined with over 2,500 call-ups involving more than 1,300 players since 2002-03.
- Further information on the ECHL is available from its website at ECHL.com.

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