CANTON, Ohio — Winters along Lake Erie can be cruel and unforgiving, especially when the north wind blows hard across the lake bringing snow and bone chilling cold. For one man, however, the inclement weather this coming winter will be a reminder of the promise of a bright future for himself and countless others who make hockey their profession.
When Don Lewis was chosen as the general manager of the Lake Erie Vikings of the Mid Atlantic Hockey League, it was both a validation of what he had done to get to this point and a nod to what knowledge he had accrued working in single-A hockey. Now, he has the opportunity to build a franchise as well as solidify the foundation of an entire league.
“Just talking to Andrew (Haines, MAHL President and owner) and hearing everything he wants to accomplish, I want to be part of it,” Lewis said. “Our main goal is to make this work which I don’t see a problem with.”
Lewis’ ascension to the big chair in the Vikings’ front office began in 
Elmira, New York where he was the assistant equipment manager for the UHL’s Elmira Jackals. Halfway through the 2005-2006 season, he was elevated to the head equipment manager’s position.
October 2006 found Lewis heading south of the Mason-Dixon line where he hooked on as the head equipment manager for the Pee Dee Cyclones of the SPHL. It was there that his formal education into the business of the game took off, including finding out what it took to move a team from one city to another.
“I started in Pee Dee (Florence, S.C.) as the equipment guy. Then when we moved up to Winston-Salem, Mark (Richards, Cyclones Coach/G.M.), myself and owner Bob Kerzner, we moved the whole franchise up in a tractor trailer,” Lewis said. “Mark and I were let loose to go to town. I assisted Mark with everything from the selling to helping out with immigration papers. The only thing I didn’t do with him was bring players in, which obviously he was the head coach so that was his job. He and I started up the whole organization (in Winston-Salem).”
After helping to initially re-build the Cyclones in Winston-Salem, Lewis left North Carolina for the position of Director of Ticketing and Account Executive with the Jacksonville Barracudas. There, he fell under the tutelage of another former player turned general manager, Gilles Richard.
“We started to go on with the corporate (sales) then we wanted to focus on the ticket sales to get people in there,” he said. “From January through our playoffs, we sold out a lot of our games there.”
As the Barracudas’ season came to a close, it was decided that the team would take a one year suspension of operations because of financial considerations. Realizing that a year was too long to wait, Lewis put himself out on the market and received offers from several organizations, including the Vikings and the MAHL.
Lewis said that he had very little knowledge of the league because of his focus on the Barracudas’ situation but his conversation with Haines made him sure that the MAHL was the place to be.
“I didn’t know too much, just a newspaper article that I caught. Working in Jacksonville, Gilles and myself, we concentrated on our team more than anything else. Just from what I read, obviously, there were a lot of rumors flying,” he said. “I didn’t even contact any guys to know anything about it to be honest. I talked to Andrew and he was up front and honest about everything and everything was good and you know, everything is working out great.”
So Lewis was hired and as he had learned in his previous stops, he needed to hit the ground running. With the franchise having moved from Jamestown, New York to the metro Cleveland area, the first priority was making the team visible within the community.
“We’ve been at local parades already. We’ve been to youth hockey and adult hockey (events). We’ve been in the newspaper. We’ve joined the Chamber (of Commerce),” he said. “Everything we’re doing right now is getting us into the community. We’re letting the community know that we’re here in town and season ticket sales are going decently already. Everybody seems very happy to have us in town.”
He also admitted that doing what is necessary to make the Vikings a success will take a lot more time than a standard 40-hour work week and everyone will have a part to play.
“You have to put the hours in. It’s not a 9-to-5 job. You’ve got to get out there and sell corporate like I said and make yourself known in the city,” he said. “You can’t just stop when the season starts. You’ve got to get your mascot out there and you have to keep going full force. We’re going to have (players making) public appearances three, four, five times a week. With us being so close to Cleveland, it’s such a big area that we could have promotions every day if we wanted to.”
As for the MAHL as a whole, Lewis is very excited about the prospects of the future. “I know everybody that’s on board right now – the general managers, the front office staffs, Andrew himself and the whole league office – everybody’s on the same page. Right now, everybody’s getting along and communicating well together,” Lewis said. “I don’t see any reason why we should be looked down on compared to the SPHL. I don’t see much difference at all. If anything, there is a lot of hard work going on in the MAHL right now.”
Hard work that will make the winter along the lake a little warmer and a lot more fun for years to come.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.