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Mechanics life after Chelios, Hatcher, Smolinski, and Avery

August 6, 2005 - International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2)
Motor City Mechanics News Release


Life after the Lockout? That is the question I have been asked by many fans, advertisers and media partners. What are the Mechanics going to do now? What will life be like after the lockout, without the NHL guys, with the Redwings back in action at Joe Louis? How will the Mechanics do? These are great questions. Here are some thoughts I would like to share with all of you. Life is great, the Motor City Mechanics are alive and well in Fraser, MI. (Opening weekend at home is October 28 vs Kalamazoo and October 29 vs Port Huron at the Garage)

We have more than tripled our season ticket fan base since last October. We have more than tripled our corporate partnership revenues, and more importantly we continue to develop community partnerships, doing our duty as a professional sports franchise and assisting those groups who need to raise awareness and money. We are certainly by no means out of the woods just yet. Like most first year teams we lost a lot of money. You have no idea how important this second season is for our franchise. Still, we are very excited about our progress. Please allow me to me expand on how we got to where we are today.

First, I need to congratulate Chris Chelios for signing with the Red Wings. I know that many fans were waiting for the Captain to re-sign, and everyone in this area could not be more pleased to know that Mr. Steve Y. is back. But I think I speak for hockey fans everywhere when I say "hockey just still would not be any closer to being "whole" if Cheli did not get the chance to play at least one more season". I wish Derian Hatcher good health and the best of luck with his new team in Philadelphia. I wish nothing but the best for Bryan Smolinski. I hope Smoke and his Ottawa Senators have a great season. I also wish Sean Avery and the LA Kings the best of luck. Sean was a handful at times but he empties his tank on the ice every night and fans respect that. I also wish Kris Draper the best of the luck. Kris Draper is a class act. He never got the chance to play for us because of immigration issues. There is no one more excited to play hockey than Kris Draper. His enthusiasm when we signed him was unbelievable. He is so passionate about hockey! When the NHL season was canceled he had the look of someone who just lost their best friend. I wish Drapes and Cheli the best of luck with the Wings in their quest for another Stanley Cup!

These NHL guys were great to work with this past season. The Mechanics started up as a United Hockey League franchise last summer. We were going to play our first year in the UHL with or without the NHL lockout. The lockout killed our pr campaign last fall. Not killing it from a negative publicity standpoint, killing it from a no publicity standpoint. Without the Wings in action last fall there was minimal hockey coverage. Hockey promotes hockey, all of hockey suffered last year. More than half way through our season we decided to hire the Red Wings players.

February 1 we made the announcement and there we were on the front page of the Detroit Free Press with a photo of Draper, Hatcher and Chelios and the headline Welcome to Hockeyburg! Who could blame us! We were struggling on the ice, struggling to gain exposure. We had three of the most talented hockey players in the world interested in playing for us, it was a no brainer. Of course we were opportunistic, who wouldn't be? All at once their was a hockey buzz again. In the middle of a snowy winter, in the middle of a lockout, for many hockey fans it was just what the doctor ordered. Who could blame us for signing those guys? They are hockey players, deep down they wanted to play hockey not for the money but for the passion.

There were certainly some memorable moments: *First home game with the Wings, a sellout crowd. I observed a fan on a cell phone telling his buddy "seriously, they play with the same rules, they are checking, they are moving the puck, this is a real hockey game"

*First road game in Flint. Kris Draper signing autographs the entire game in the Flint Zamboni Tunnel.

*Chelios winding up and scoring in his home debut, could not have scripted it any better than that.

*Hatcher taking the puck at center ice during the shootout in his first home game

*The standing ovations and the boos these guys received on the road

*Avery scoring his hat tricks

*Avery Tossing water bottles at the linesman

*Chelios signing autographs for the kids in the tunnel at the Garage

*Mechanics backup goalie eating bowl of Cheli's Chili on bench during game

*Hatcher playing in his Pink Jersey on the March 20th Pink at the Rink with Mary Kay and the Mechanics. Pink jerseys that raised more than $ 15,000 for Breast Cancer Research during the post game jersey auction. (Two Mechanics Tickets $ 24.00, two hot dogs and two Pepsi's $ 10.00, watching Derian Hatcher playing in a Pink Jersey on a Sunday afternoon at the "Garage" in Fraser Michigan, PRICELESS!)

*Smolinski scoring a pivotal goal on Smoke Poster night and signing posters until 12:15am. (Smoke, owner of Autolab of Farmington Hills, a Mechanics Mechanic)

*Photo of Hatcher and Chelios and the Mechanics taking up the entire front page of sports on the February 14th addition of the New York Times.

* "Scrubs" doc featured in a scene wearing Mechanics # 7 Chelios jersey

*Kid Rock heckling Chelios from the owners box at a Mechanics home game

*Actor John Cusack sitting in the front row at the Garage taking pictures of Chuck A Puck with his Camera phone

*Karen Newman singing the Anthem in her Mechanics Jersey down to her ankles

*Giving away a can of Spam during the What's in the Box promotion

*Teddy Bear Toss

*Kids picking up the chuckapucks

*Giving away a dozen roses to the sweetheart of the game

*Working with Ray Lane, Ken Daniels, and Toby Cunningham during UPN Live Broadcast of Mechanics hockey games from the "Garage". It was our pleasure!

*Mechanics players signing autographs at Hatchy's in Utica. It was nonstop autographs for two hours and it was amazing to see all of the fans wearing Mechanics hats, jerseys, shirts etc..

*Our Mechanics players, MINOR LEAGUE HOCKEY VETERANS, coming together as a team to win 18 of our last 19 games, finishing the season with an active 12 game winning streak, the longest in the country, and a ten game road winning streak. (The road winning streak was accomplished without the NHL players)

*Our head coach (third coach of the season) Danton Cole, a 1995 Stanley Cup Champion with the New Jersey Devils, knowing how to handle the NHL guys, and mixing all of the talent together to accomplish this success. Danton is 18-2 as our head coach.

*The Infamous Bounty Incident: All I will say is that I got invited to a buddy's wedding from that incident. My friend Kevin lives in LA, read my quote regarding the bounty story in the LA Times, googled me and invited me to his wedding. We had lost track of eachother.

*Mechanics Goaltender Rod Branch being named the UHL Goalie of the Month in March and April. Earlier in the season there were games where Rod was averaging more than 45 saves per game in a three game stretch of losses. There was a three game stretch during our winning streak that Branch averaged less than 20 saves per game. Kudos to the Mechanics for the great defense during that stretch. It would have been easy for Branch to give up on the season. He finally got a little help from his friends on defense and now enters the new season having won 18 of his last 19 starts as the Mechanics goalie. Rod Branch is an all star goaltender!

*Joe Burton scoring his 600 career goal on Fan Appreciation Night! Joe, a Garden City native is one of only two American born professional hockey players to score 600 professional goals.

*Fan Appreciation Night photo of the Mechanics players holding up the Thank You sign to the fans. We finished the season on a Wednesday night in front of 2500 people at the Garage. (capacity is 3000) The standing ovation for the guys gave us all goose bumps.

*Sparky the mascot, the kids love Sparky!

*Fan Appreciation Night Post game jersey auction for the Children's Leukemia Foundation. Mechanics fans raised more than $ 15,000.00. Hatcher auctioned his jersey off first, still wearing his equipment. He was on his way to play in a senior league hockey game with his brother Kevin. A game that started at 10:30pm, who said there are no doubleheaders in hockey?

*Muskegon Winning their Second Straight UHL Colonial Cup: We finished the season as the hottest team in all of pro hockey winning 18 of our last 19 games. We finished one game over .500 and just missed the playoffs. Congrats to the Muskegon Fury for winning their second straight Cup. Everyone in Muskegon must have breathed a sigh of relief when they learned the Mechanics would not make the playoffs!!. I have no doubt in my mind that the Colonial Cup would be sitting in Fraser right now had the Mechanics made the playoffs. So Muskegon, if you are reading this, don't get too attached to that Colonial Cup, it will be finding a new home shortly!!!

These were just some of the great memories and thoughts I wanted to share with all of you regarding this last season. Now it's time to gear up for a new season. It is time to create some new memories.

I moved here from San Diego last October because I wanted to be the guy to promote AA Professional Hockey in Hockeytown and be successful. Several minor league pro teams have come through Fraser and Auburn Hills. The jury is still out but our mission is for the Mechanics to be the team that makes it. We have a tough road ahead. In our business you must take chances. We did, we signed the Wings and started raising some eyebrows across the country. We made headlines, some good, some bad, but we entertained the fans from start to finish. We catered to families who wanted to create some special memories. We had a ball this first season!

As we prepare for the second season you will see some familiar faces. We have already signed UHL All Star Kevin Hansen and goal scorer Chris Gignac. Rod Branch will be signing soon and a handful of other Mechanics who played last year will be back as well to extend our winning streak to lucky 13 on October 21 at Missouri. The balance of the roster will be made of some of the most talented hockey players in the world not in the NHL. The United Hockey League enters it's 15th Anniversary Season and each of the 14 teams will be loaded with some of the most talented hockey players in the world not in the NHL!!! The UHL provides an excellent brand of hockey period!!!

Our new slogan is "Mechanics Hockey, the Coolest Game in Town". We introduce our team on the ice at each home game at "The Garage" as "your home town Motor City Mechanics". We will be providing the best entertainment value possible. Our mission is to play championship quality hockey, entertain the fans from start to finish and become an integral part of the community. Our mission is to create new memories for hockey fans of all ages.

Thanks for taking the time to read this far. All hockey fans need to celebrate!! Celebrate that hockey is back! Celebrate your enthusiasm for your favorite NHL team. When I worked in Milwaukee a few years back I thought nothing could rival the brand loyalty and passion displayed by Packer fans. I was wrong, the cheeseheads have nothing on the Wings fans. Driving around I see Wings stickers, Wings flags, Wings license plates, Wings stuff everywhere! Message to the Wings fans: don't be down on NHL hockey. Both sides were right, both sides were wrong, call it a wash. Support the Red Wings at "the Joe". Support your local minor league professional hockey teams like the Motor City Mechanics, The Port Huron Flags, The Flint Generals, etc. Mechanics and Redwings, apples and oranges!

The Mechanics offer all Detroit area fans an alternative style of pro hockey product, a product that by nature and for obvious reasons is more family oriented and more affordable for the entire family to attend. Like I said apples and oranges, hockey promotes hockey. The neon OPEN sign is back on at Joe Louis and it is time for all hockey fans to get out and support hockey. Support the Red Wings, support the Mechanics, support the Plymouth Whalers, and support all of the college, highschool and youth hockey associations in your community. Hockey is one of the most passionate sports in the world. Let's all enjoy it!

Life after the lockout? Life is good!

See you at the Garage on October 28th!

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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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