Season Preview: Colorado Ice
Published on March 12, 2007 under United Indoor Football Association (UIF) News Release
United Indoor Football will be bringing you a Season Preview of each of its 11 teams over the next 11 days. Each preview will include text as well as an audio link. Today, we preview the expansion Colorado Ice.
Click here for audio preview.
Collins Sanders knows it will be difficult to put together a winner in the team's first year of operation, but he says, "We're going to give it a shot." Sanders knows about putting together a brand new team. This will be Sanders' fifth indoor expansion team to head up. Coaching the Ice allows him to shed his self-proclaimed nomad status and be with his family.
When asked about long-term success in the Northern Colorado area during a Jan. 28 interview with the Coloradoan, Sanders said, "It certainly helps to have a winner. If you can truly tell people you're going to be respectable, then people are going to go ahead and give you an opportunity to be respectable, and they're going to come on out and support you. We think we're going to be able to do well in year one and our ultimate goal is to win the whole thing. We need to be respectable on the field and qualify for the playoffs, which I think we can do."
While Sanders is impressed with the talent league-wide, he had no shortage of talent to choose from in tryouts with nearly 250 athletes competing for a training camp slot. Quarterback Ryan Clement of the University of Miami was a notable signing. Clement was a 30-game starter for the 'Canes and has NFL Europa and CFL experience under the belt. He'll be protected by a local product. Offensive lineman Gary Moore, 6'7, 330 lbs., was a two-year starter at the University of Colorado.
Sanders has several players from Colorado State, CU and the University of Northern Colorado on the roster. He also pulled from the University of Wyoming and several smaller colleges in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. "You do your homework, you make some good contacts with the local colleges and you can't be afraid to get the smaller school guys," Sanders said during a This Week in the UIF web cast earlier this year.
No matter where the talent comes from, Sanders is more concerned about how they fit together. "There's a lot of talent running around out there, but talent that can fit together in a cohesive framework and then have the chemistry to create a winning situation, is really what's probably the most difficult," he added in the Coloradoan interview.
The Ice play an exhibition game Thursday, March 15, 7:05 p.m. at the Budweiser Events Center against the Denver Titans, the defending five-time Colorado Football Conference Champions. They will host a "Break the Ice Party" as a chance for fans to meet and greet the players that coincides with the game. With the exception of VIP seating, tickets are $8. Groups of 50 or more pay $5 a seat.
Profits from the event go to a charity to be named at a later date. "Giving back to the community is a major part of a professional sports team, especially in Northern Colorado," said General Manager, John Cribari in the Windsor Beacon. "The Colorado Eagles (hockey) are our tenant partners at the Budweiser Events Center and we plan to follow their lead in giving back to Northern Colorado."
The inaugural season home opener is 7:05 p.m. March 23 when the Ice host the Billings Outlaws. Season tickets are available at (970) 472-0128 or at the Ice office, 1 Old Town Square, #107, Fort Collins. Single game tickets are available by calling (877) 544-TIXX or at comcasttic.com, the Budweiser Events Center Box Office, Fort Fun in Fort Collins, Colorado Eagles Office in Windsor, Woody's Newsstand & Café in Greeley and the Taco Johns Center in Cheyenne, WY.
Audio preview: http://unitedindoorfootball.com.ismmedia.com/ISM2//MultimediaManager/1917.mp3
Tuesday's preview: The RiverCity Rage
United Indoor Football Association Stories from March 12, 2007
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.
