Scorpions This Week

Published on June 25, 2002 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
New Mexico Scorpions News Release


ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – With the opening face off for the 2002-2003 season just four months away, the New Mexico Scorpions have secured their foundation for a solid off ice campaign with a talented group of front office staffers. Many first time New Mexico residents are quickly adapting to their new surroundings, and all are working for bigger and better things for the upcoming season. The following is a complete listing of staff bios and contact information for the 2002-2003 Central Hockey League Season.

Doug Frank
Team President
wdf@scorpionshockey.com

Doug begins his second season as a minor league hockey owner this year, and his goal is simple...win! After purchasing the team in the summer of 2001, Doug made significant changes in nearly every aspect of New Mexico Scorpions hockey. He spruced up Stingley Coliseum with the ever-popular Stingley Vision big screens, enabling fans to get up close and personal with all of the action from whichever seat they were in. The addition of the Scorps Club became the place to be after each home game, giving fans the opportunity to mingle with players and staff alike. For this season, Doug has bigger and better things planned for the fans of the New Mexico Scorpions including a team he feels has a great shot at winning it all.

Pat Dunn
Vice President of Hockey Operations/Head Coach
pdunn@scorpionshockey.com

Pat Dunn enters his first season behind the bench for the New Mexico Scorpions, making the jump from General Manager to Head Coach and Vice President of Hockey Operations for the 2002-2003 season. Dunn, a thirty-nine year old native of Trois Rivieres, Quebec, enjoyed an illustrious eight-year playing career, featuring two trips to the Olympics playing for Team France. Pat's front office career began with the Corpus Christi Ice Rays, where he served partly as an Assistant Coach. For the 2001-2002 season, he became the General Manager of the New Mexico Scorpions. While in that role, Dunn served as Emergency Head Coach for a three game span, where his team went 3-0-0, grabbing huge road wins in Odessa, Lubbock and Amarillo. Dunn resides in Rio Rancho, New Mexico with his wife Isabella, and daughter Sara.

Dan Burgers
Vice President/Chief Operating Officer
dburgers@scorpionshockey.com

Filling the empty General Managers seat for the 2002-2003 season is New Jersey native Dan Burgers. Burgers comes to the Scorpions from the Fort Worth Brahmas, where he led that franchise to back-to-back Franchise of the Year Awards in the Western Professional Hockey League. With Burgers in Texas, the Brahmas saw their ticket sales increase 400 percent and the corporate revenue jump 800 percent. Prior to working in Fort Worth, Burgers was a financial consultant for the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League. He is a graduate of Fairfield University in Connecticut, where he played baseball.

Jeff Siembieda
Director of Special Projects
jsiembieda@scorpionshockey.com

Jeff begins his second season with the New Mexico Scorpions. He spent the 2001-2002 season as the Vice President of Media and Entertainment. With some outside commitments, Jeff takes on a modified role as the Director of Special Projects for the upcoming season. Jeff has been in Albuquerque for six years. He was the sports director at KOAT-TV for five years up until May of 2001. While at KOAT, Jeff received awards from the Associated Press and the New Mexico Broadcasters Association for sports casting and sports reporting. Jeff has remained in local television and has made the switch from sports to news. He currently anchors the weekend news for Albuquerque's CBS affiliate, KRQE-TV. Jeff grew up in the Los Angeles area and is a graduate of San Diego State University.

Chancy Wilson
Director of Game Operations
cwilson@scorpionshockey.com

For the past three seasons, Scorpion fans have become quite accustomed to the best in game entertainment in the Central Hockey League, and the 2002-2003 season will be no different as Chancy returns for her fourth year with the Scorps. The Colorado Springs, Colorado native began her career with New Mexico in the 1999-2000 season as a ticket representative. Chancy worked her way up the corporate ladder through community relations and into her current position as Director of Game Operations. Prior to joining the Scorpions, she received her Masters degree at Georgia Southern University and became the school's Swimming and Diving Head Coach. Her resume also includes stops with the Olympic Training Center-U.S. Swimming-Aquatic Center, and with the C.C.H.A. (Central Collegiate Hockey Association) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. When she's not dazzling us on the ice, Chancy is a competitive volleyball, and softball player in Albuquerque.

Tom Sye
Director of Media Relations/Broadcaster
tsye@scorpionshockey.com

The voice of the New Mexico Scorpions, Tom Sye, will return for his second season with the club for the 2002-2003 season. After joining the team in October of 2001, he pushed fans to a new level of anticipation with his unique style and enthusiastic approach to calling games. In December 2001, Tom added Media Relations duties to his plate, keeping fans and media alike up to date with all the latest Scorpions' happenings. He was named Media Relations Director of the year by inthecrease.com hockey magazine for the 2001-2002 season. Prior to joining the Scorpions, Tom was the voice of Western New Mexico University while hosting a morning show on KNFT-FM in Silver City, New Mexico. In 1998-1999 he was the Assistant Director of Media Relations/ Broadcaster for the Miami Matadors of the East Coast Hockey League in Miami, Florida, where he resided for fifteen years. He is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and enjoys thinking about the Scorpions when he is not working.

Travis Van Tighem
Assistant Coach/Director of Community Relations
tvantighem@scorpionshockey.com

Fan favorite "T.V.T." hangs up the skates for the 2002-2003 season and steps into a slash role with the New Mexico Scorpions as the Director of Community Relations and Assistant coach. His playing career spanned five years and featured the winning of the Calder Cup while with the Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League in 1998. He was also New Mexico's Captain for three consecutive seasons. Van Tighem's work in the community as a player molded him into his current position in Community Relations. He is now responsible for many community programs the Scorpions participate in on a regular basis. He is married and just welcomed his second child into the world.

Bruce Levine
Controller
blevine@scorpionshockey.com

The New Jersey native enters his first season behind the books for the New Mexico Scorpions. He Graduated from New York University in 1992, and finished up his education at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, California in 1995. For seven years he served as a Litigation Attorney in Los Angeles prior to moving to New Mexico. Bruce has always been a huge sports fan, and in 1998 was in attendance at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri for Mark McGwire's 62nd home run. While he's not crunching numbers, Bruce enjoys roller blading, skiing and skydiving.

Geoff Kent
Director of Corporate Sales
gkent@scorpionshockey.com

Geoff begins his fifth season in professional hockey, and his first with the New Mexico Scorpions. He broke into the business in the 1998-1999 season with the Arkansas Glacier Cats of the WPHL as the Director of Business Operations and Radio Analyst, a position he held for two years. From there he moved on to Fort Worth, as the Director of Corporate Marketing for the Brahmas. Geoff played amateur hockey in Nova Scotia and Alberta, Canada and earned a degree in marketing and international finance from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Daniel Luna
Box Office Director
dluna@scorpionshockey.com

Dan begins his first full season as a member of the Scorpions front office staff after joining the club late last season. Originally hired in the Ticket department, Dan accepted his new position in March 2002. During the 2001-2002 season, Dan was an instrumental part of the Scorpions in game presentation, helping out in every aspect of the show. Dan is a native of Belen, New Mexico where he enjoyed a prosperous high school baseball career. From Belen, Dan moved on to play for Frank Phillips Junior College, and for two seasons at the University of New Mexico. After college, he accepted a position with the Lancaster Jet Hawks in Lancaster, California being mainly responsible for Game Operations and Group Sales. In his spare time Dan is an avid golfer, and still enjoys playing baseball.

Justin Zoladz
Territory Business Manager
jzoladz@scorpionshockey.com

After joining the Scorpions late last season as the team receptionist, Justin also moves up the corporate ladder for the 2002-2003 season. The Albuquerque native has an extensive music background including teaching and the repair of instruments. When he's not turning fans into season ticket holders Justin enjoys playing the drums, basketball and hockey. He is married and has three cats.

Marc Miller
Territory Business Manager
mmiller@scorpionshockey.com

Marc enters his first season with the New Mexico Scorpions coming to Albuquerque from the Fort Worth Brahmas. His sports resume dates back to 1995 where as a video coordinator and Assistant Equipment Manager for Western Michigan University, his Alma Matter. From there, Marc went to the Kalamazoo Kodiaks baseball team in the Frontier League as a Public Relations Assistant. He hails from Detroit, Michigan and spends most of his free time golfing, playing football, and as he says, "being used as a human pylon in the hockey rink".

Brian Kessack
Territory Business Manager
bkessack@scorpionshockey.com

Also in his first season with the New Mexico Scorpions, Brian is far from a rookie. The graduate of the University of Miami (Ohio) has compiled a wealth of experience in the sports world since his completion of college. He was the Director of Media Relations for the Fort Worth Brahmas, where he was named Public Relations Executive of the Year by the WPHL in 2000. Prior to his days in Fort Worth, he was the Assistant Director of Communications for the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks of the American Hockey League. Most recently, Brian was the Director of Media Relations for the Cleveland Lumber Jacks of the International Hockey League. Brian is married and expecting his first child.

Darrell McKay
Territory Business Manager
dmckay@scorpionshockey.com

If his last name sounds familiar to Albuquerque residents, there's a good reason for it. Darrell is the brother of University of New Mexico men's Head basketball Coach Ritchie McKay. The Indiana native recently moved to the great Southwest from Oregon. As a productive member of the community, Darrell enjoys coaching a Y.M.C.A. youth basketball team. He played football at Southern Utah State, and his gridiron career took him to a tryout for the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League. While he gets comfortable with his new surroundings, you may find him playing tennis, basketball, hockey and chess.

Mia Marquart
Team Store Manager
mmarquart@scorpionshockey.com

This will be Mia's second season with the New Mexico Scorpions. In her tenure with the Scorps, she has turned things around for the team store, and has even more plans in the works, including an internet store on the team's website. As the case with most in minor league hockey, Mia's responsibilities include donning the duties of receptionist as well. In her free time she enjoys the outdoors, especially camping, hiking, fishing and hunting. After one season in the hockey business her mind has been changed forever. She went from knowing absolutely nothing about hockey, to the sport becoming her absolute favorite.

Scorpions potential affiliation leaves ownership howling!

Scorpions Team President Doug Frank, and Head Coach Pat Dunn attended the NHL draft last weekend in Toronto, Canada. While there, the dealing duo spoke with several National Hockey League executives about potential affiliations and partnerships and the outlook is a very bright one. "Pat and I met with many people during the draft," says Frank. "We feel we may have accomplished something of great significance for the future of Scorpions hockey. We hope to provide more details in the coming weeks."

Scorpions get muddy!

Several members of the New Mexico Scorpions staff participated in mud volleyball on Saturday June 22nd, an annual event to benefit the Carrie Tingley Hospital. Over 400 teams participated in whole during the daylong event. "The Rosebuds" as the team was affectionately called, went 4-1 over the five game round-robin tournament but failed to make the second round. "It was a great event to be a part of", said Scorpions Assistant Coach and Director of Community Relations Travis Van Tighem. "We all went out and had a great time, got really dirty, and raised money for a great cause." Scorpions team members included Travis Van Tighem, Tom Sye, Chris Richards, Marc Miller, and Dan Luna.

USER PROFILE

Travis Van Tighem
Scorpions Assistant Coach

Glasses: No
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: Brown (known to be blonde on occasion)
Organ Donor: Yes
Home Computer: Hewlett Packard
Home Page: Aol.com
Last Logged On: Last Night
What Were You Wearing: Birthday Suit
Wallpaper: Ocean scene
Favorites: hockeydb.com, ebay.com, morpheous.com
Site Unseen: jeopardy.com...hours of fun!

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Central Hockey League Stories from June 25, 2002


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