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Ticket sales time for IceDiggers

June 24, 2006 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Alpena IceDiggers News Release


The 2006-07 NAHL regular season doesn't begin for another 11 weeks, but it's still a busy time for the Alpena IceDiggers' front office.

While head coach/general manager Kenny Miller has been out scouting and signing players for the upcoming season, new vice president and general manager of business operations Bob Krafft has got the team's season ticket packages together and is taking applications for those.

Advanced season ticket sales are available through today at a reduced rate. Season ticket holders from last year have until today to renew and have first availability on the same seats they had last season, or to choose a new seat for this year.

"We're waiting on a lot of people," said Krafft. "We're reminding them to get those in if they want to get the same seats they had. After the 23rd those seats open up to whoever wants them."

Bob and Nancy Coombs were among the season ticket holders who didn't wait to renew their seats from last year. The Coombs' even added two seats to the existing ones they had last season at the top of the stands at center ice.

"It's such great family entertainment," said Nancy Coombs. "We brought our kids last year and it was wonderful weekend entertainment in the winter. We decided to do four tickets this year because last year our kids always came. If one couldn't come then they always brought a friend with them."

Renewing their season tickets was never even a question for the Coombs family, which rarely missed a game in the 2005-06 season.

"The question was how many more tickets we were going to get," Nancy said.

Last year the IceDiggers sold 310 season tickets, about a third of the 930 they were averaging per game - which was eighth in the NAHL. They are hopeful they can exceed that number in their second season in Alpena.

"We had expectations, but not that high," Miller said of the number of season tickets sold last year. "Now that we've been here we hope the fans see we're putting a good team together and hopefully we'll double that."

Krafft said his goal is to get 100 more season ticket holders for this season.

"The feedback I'm getting is the word is out that it is a fun game," he said. "It's good, quality hockey. Kenny is out to build the best possible team. It's a proven fact that winning puts people in the seats. We're striving hard to put the best, quality hockey team out there we can."

Season ticket sales end Aug. 5. The IceDiggers have special prices for students and senior citizens. New this year is a family package that includes two adult and two student tickets. Additional family member student tickets can be purchased at a reduced rate. There are also group events at reduced rates and the private suite at Northern Lights Arena is also being rented out.

"We want to make it fun for families and affordable," said Krafft. "We want to make every game an event."

Krafft thinks the addition of the Marquette Rangers to the NAHL, where they will compete along with Alpena in the North Division, should bring even more excitement to IceDiggers games.

"Marquette always has a good rivalry with Alpena," Krafft said. "I expect that will continue in junior hockey."

"We're definitely looking forward to this season."



North American Hockey League Stories from June 24, 2006


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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