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Interview with Williamsport Outlaws President/Head Coach Chris Firriolo

August 17, 2012 - Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL)
Williamsport Outlaws News Release


John Landers: "First off I want to again congratulate you on being named Coach of the Year last season and congratulations to the Outlaws for a great run and for winning the FHL's Commissioners Cup."

Chris Firriolo: "Thanks John."

JL: "Chris, I think on face finishing with the best record as well as beating every other team in the league game-after-game, winning the bulk of league achievement awards and then finally going on to capture the league championship should be enough to sustain a team in their venue, but in the case of the New Jersey Outlaws that wasn't the case and as a result the Outlaws will play in Williamsport, Pennsylvania next season. What went wrong in Wayne, New Jersey last year forcing this decision?"

CF: "Well I don't think anything went wrong in Wayne. I'd have to say that Bobby and Mariann Reiss, the owners of the Capital One Bank Ice Vault Arena in Wayne, New Jersey did everything they could to help our team be successful there. For us, I think it was a combination of two things; one, we needed to be in a pro-style arena and Wayne is one of the nicest ice facilities in the country, but it is not set up as a traditional pro-style arena and I think the combination of having more seats and with us strictly having our own facilities is very necessary for us to be successful. I think more important was the Wayne market had a lot going on and it's a very wealthy area with a lot of competition for the dollar. You have three NHL teams all within an hour and a half drive from there. I think it could have been successful over time but I just did not know if time was on our hands. Like I said the people who ran the Ice Vault were phenomenal and they did a lot for us, but I think at the end of the day Bobby Reiss knew we needed to be in a more pro-style arena environment and I think the market we are going into now, Bobby would agree is right for us, and we spoke about it yesterday that the market we are going into now is a real traditional minor league sports town. It's had pro baseball there for many years and it has been historic for baseball and baseball has done well there, but in the winter time there is not a lot of competition for the entertainment dollar and we felt we could fill the void nicely and bring family affordable entertainment to this region."

JL: "Chris why this city? What was it that specifically caught your eye with Williamsport?"

CF: "Well you hear about the Little League World Series which is historic and when Williamsport Mayor Gabe Campana came to see a game in Wayne, New Jersey last season to kind of check out the FHL and visit family in the area. I know he has being trying for over fifteen years to get pro-hockey to Williamsport and get an ice facility built. His excitement and energy level was so contagious that we made several trips out to Williamsport and started to do our research and I know Commissioner Don Kirnan has been out there many times as well over the last year doing his due diligence and everyone involved in this project worked real hard and we felt Williamsport had all the real important ingredients that would allow us to be successful as a minor league hockey organization and as a business. Williamsport is a special kind of place. It's a huge sports town with a deep tradition and I think there are a lot of hockey fans in this part of Pennsylvania. I think with the success of the Pittsburgh Penguins and within an hour and a half due northeast you have the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Penguins and an hour and half north you have the ECHL's Elmira Jackals which is our affiliate and if you head two hours south you have the Hershey Bears. So my point is this entire Pennsylvania region is a hub for minor league hockey. Williamsport is probably the only city of its size in the northeast that does not have an ice facility and we felt this was a great opportunity going in and knew with the support of Mayor Campana it could happen and we could get a civic center built but there would be a lot of road blocks and hurdles along the way but it was so important to have a city that had all their leaders know this is an untapped winter sports market and we are so lucky to have been given the opportunity by these same leaders to allow us into this market. Baseball has been a perfect fit and success for this market and I hope hockey can become just as contagious as baseball has. When you have such a passionate Mayor who wants to do so much for the people of Williamsport and community, it's hard not to jump on board."

JL: "The Williamsport Outlaws are about to make professional hockey history by playing every one of their home games outdoors this season in Historic Bowman Field. How and why was the decision come about?"

CF: "Obviously our first choice was to assist and have a pro-style arena built in Williamsport. Don Kirnan and I, along with the assistance of Mayor Campana and his staff began the project, but it's not that easy to develop a multi-million dollar facility. I know the city and certain members of the Williamsport business community that want this as well as individual members in the city that want this but it is a process and we are working very hard to get this civic center built, but in the mean time we realized it was never going to be ready for this upcoming season. So a decision had to be made to possibly go on hiatus because we really like this market and I thought for a bit and I thought about this beautiful historic baseball stadium sitting there and my thoughts took me to Omaha where they play the College World Series, and up to Fenway Park, and Citizens Bank Park where the NHL has played their Winter Classic games and now the AHL has visited the outdoor game as well with the Outdoor Classic in Syracuse a few years back and we did our research on what it would take to put an NHL style rink in a minor league baseball stadium and this took us to the company called Rink Specialists who handled the project for the NHL's Winter Classic at Fenway Park. They are really on top of their game in providing this kind of operation and they have really shown an interest in us being successful here. We did an enormous amount of research and brought them into Historic Bowman Field, along with grass keepers and city officials and we thought this could be an incredible novelty and show off the beautiful City of Williamsport. We are going to start and play our home games in October, November, December and January and hopefully the weather will be in our favor and we are going to have to spend the last six weeks of the season on the road, but that's okay and we are pretty excited about it. I think it is a great opportunity not just for our organization but for the community as well. The Outlaws will use the facility 10 to 15 percent of the time. It's more about having a facility for the kids, developing youth hockey programs, developing figure skating programs, adult leagues, public skating as well as developing a local menu for regional high school and collegiate programs to play out of. It will give this fabulous city another avenue of entertainment during winter months when there wasn't much happening in the past. It's a great situation for everyone and it's going to work out. "

JL: "Having attended several of the Winter Classic events myself, I know this kind of venture can be quite expensive and for the Outlaws even more so by playing your entire home schedule outdoors. Where is the funding coming from for such a project?"

CF: "Well there has been great support from the City of Williamsport and their Chamber of Commerce have been a great help, the local businesses in this community have been very supportive and helped financially get this project off the ground, as well as a non- profit organization that is geared to support the Williamsport Ice Arena who will manage the arena and any profits derived from rental of ice and such will go back in to off-setting the cost of the arena."

JL: "Is there any tax money going into this project?"

CF: "There are no tax dollars going towards this facility. There is no money from the city government itself going into this project. There has been money donated and contributed by private businesses. A lot of the lead has fallen on the Outlaws and the non-profit organization I mentioned earlier to make this happen. They are both taking a big risk in this but there has been huge support from the private sector and the business community as well."

JL: "Since the City of Williamsport at first glance is perceived as a baseball town how have the people of Williamsport felt about this project?"

CF: "The people are excited. The business community is excited. They are going to get 30 evenings of affordable family entertainment of pro-hockey. Just look at what Danbury hockey has done for that community with people driving in from long distances and supporting businesses before and after the game. The same thing will happen here. With 30 evenings of families driving in and spending money at restaurants, bars, shops and hotels at a time of the year that was mostly dormant how could they be anything but excited. It's a real opportunity to boost the local economy and it does not stop at just 30 nights. You will have adult tournaments, high school and collegiate events and then when none of that is happening you will have youth events, public skating and figure skating programs and people coming in to watch and spend money in this area, so it is very exciting."

JL: "As a yearly venture for the NHL, the Winter Classic has been wildly successful, but it's never been tried, at least on a pro-level to the extent you plan on doing this season. What is your plan to extend that Winter Classic enthusiasm over the course of a full season and are you concerned with snow and cold in late December and early January impacting your attendance?"

CF: "No I'm not. Are we going to face problems with the weather, sure, but there is a team on-staff ready to handle that situation. When it comes to snow we are not concerned. You open the doors to the rink and push it off like they did at the Winter Classic in Buffalo. If it rains during the day for an hour or two and the game is at night the Zamboni will have pulled off all the water and stadium staff would have dried the seats so it is not a real big deal. I think some people are trying to make it more of a big deal then it really is. I think the guys that do this for a living clearly understand the different elements that come into play and are more than prepared to handle anything they face. Is there a chance the weather could be so bad that games have to be cancelled, of course, but that has happened before in the FHL with the weather affecting a team's travel and baseball games get rained out and its part of the business. Look, I think the ideal situation was to have been able to play indoors at the Williamsport Civic Center, but I think this is a very interesting way to draw people in who are used to going to Bowman Field in the summer time. It's a stadium that can be used for other purposes. We have front-loaded most of our home games at a time of the year when it will be 50 degrees and that is not any different than what it is like to go see a high school football game on a Friday night or a Sunday night Pittsburgh Steelers game or a local Saturday night college football game. You know some times it's warmer outside then some of these indoor rinks. So I am not too worried about the weather and we are planning the that the FHL All-Star Game will be played in Williamsport on January 2nd and what I think a lot of it is going to come down to is good competitive hockey which the FHL is and has been all about. The fans are going to see good solid competitive hockey on a night-in-night-out basis and that is why I feel no matter where we play we will be successful and the fans will come out and support us."

JL: "Williamsport Mayor Gabe Campana has been supportive from early on and continues to be a vocal proponent. Without a rink in place and without the hockey and winter activities previously tested why do you suppose the Mayor has been so supportive?"

CF: "Mayor Campana is a true visionary. He truly a remarkable man with something like over 20 years in this business and I have been in a lot of different venues, in a lot of different cities and dealt with many of those political structures and I have never seen a Mayor who is more passionate about doing for his community. Look, you will always have some nay-sayers, that is just how it is but a guy like Mayor Campana who really lives to improve the quality of life in and around Williamsport is such a plus. People look to focus on the team and let me tell you the team is a very small component to this picture by providing 30 nights of affordable family entertainment, but it's so much more than just that and a man like Mayor Campana sees the big picture long term and how such a project will benefit the City of Williamsport and the surrounding communities for years and years to come. It is so cool to think how local schools that have hockey programs and skating programs that now have to travel an hour or more to get to their venue won't have to do that any more and schools and organizations that didn't have hockey programs may now want to rethink that when the Williamsport Civic Center opens and they will have Mayor Campana to thank for it."

JL: "Your team owner Kristin Rooney told me she "absolutely fell in love with Williamsport from the moment she got there". Tell me what does Williamsport have that sweeps people off their feet?"

"CF: "I think from Kristin's standpoint Williamsport reminds her of Chagrin Falls, Ohio where she is originally from I think it is a different mentality the further west you go from New York. The communities are tighter and friendlier. There is more warmth I think in a city like Williamsport as opposed to a major city or even a suburb of New York and I think Kristin picked up on that small city warmth and vibe when she arrived because it is what she was used to growing up. Williamsport is very very proud of their community and their accomplishments. They work very hard at creating a climate for family and to raise your kids in. They are careful about letting in outsiders and we were just that, outsiders asking to come into and do business in Williamsport and we had to work very hard to show them our intentions were honest and Kristin was able to immediately relate to their lifestyle and I believe this wonderful city has accepted us. I can't recall what magazine it was but they rated Williamsport as one of the top five growing cities in the United States and that is a credit to the people of this city who really really care about what goes on in their community. And for us, like I said, in the beginning it was who are these guys and we had to work hard to earn their trust and show them our intentions were pure. Once they see what we give back to their community they will embrace us and this will become their team just like the Crosscutters are. We are grateful to the history that baseball has paved over the course of so many years and we hope to be able to build on that and continue that great tradition. "

JL: "Covering the New Jersey Outlaws last year I was able to see a very good team that came out every night and was rarely out of a game. They had great ability and played an exciting style. Can we expect to see the same kind exciting brand of hockey out of the Williamsport Outlaws?"

CF: "I feel we will be as strong as we were last year and maybe even a little better. From a hockey perspective we will strive to be just as strong as we were last year. I'm not going to sit here and say we are going to win a championship even though that's our goal to defend our championship. I think anything short of a championship will be a disappointment, but I think that goes for any organization. Danbury was real close last year and put together a great squad, Brooklyn got hit with several key injuries last year and had that not happened who knows how far they might have gone and 1000 Islands was strong as well. Everybody has a similar goal, but keep in mind in addition to that goal we are here to develop players, but we are certainly committed to putting the same product on the ice that we did last year and to even get stronger. I think we will do a pretty good job at that. I think the guys that are returning from last year now know what this league is about and I think we are going to bring some young guys in here that will help this team excel, but we are not going to have everybody back and these guys last year worked their tails off they won as a team and they lost as a team and they lived as a team. In the end they played the way they did for themselves and the fans and not for me. These guys played pro-hockey on several different levels for many years and most had never won a championship and seeing them come together and win especially those who never won a title before was real pleasing for me to watch because it was a great core of guys and I tip my hat to the leadership on the team that got it done and I am confident that the guys we bring back will work just as hard as last year along with the new guys we bring in."

JL: "Perhaps I am getting ahead of myself but this is season three in the FHL beginning in October and I'd like to ask where do you expect the Williamsport Outlaws to be playing their games in season four?"

CF: "Indoors at the Williamsport Civic Center, but like I told everyone if playing outdoors is a huge success we'd be foolish not to revisit it again."

JL: "In conclusion any last thoughts?"

CF: "I want to first thank our owner Kristin Rooney who has loyally believed in everything we are trying to do here and she has been so supportive. Moving a team to a new market is always challenging and she was willing to face the challenge of doing that and doing what is best for the organization. I want to tank Bobby and Mariann Reiss the owners of the Capital One Bank Ice Vault in Wayne, New Jersey. He was phenomenal. He gave us every opportunity to be a success and is a real great guy. Moving on from there I think the person I want to thank more than anybody is Williamsport Mayor Gabe Campana. He has been fabulous to work with. His passion and his excitement for the community are second to none. He really helped move this process along quicker and sooner and without his help this could have dragged on and on and it was Mayor Campana and his staff, along with the Williamsport City Council and the Williamsport/LycomingChamber of Commerce that got us to this point so quickly. I'd also like to thank our big sponsor Airmen whose name will be on our rink. There are so many individuals and local families that have helped and want to see this succeed and I am very grateful to them all and I hope everyone comes out on October 24th at 7:05 to see us play the Dayton Devils on opening night at Airmen Pond at Bowman Field."

John Landers

Senior Correspondent

Fischler Hockey Service

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