JAY, VT – For decades, hockey fans in the six state New England region have enjoyed watching professional games. From Portland to Hartford, Boston to Manchester and points in between, the thrills of the game being played at the highest levels have been available in just about every state.
Wednesday afternoon, the year old Federal Hockey League announced that come this fall, it would make history by bringing the pro game to Green Mountain country.
At a press conference, league commissioner Don Kirnan introduced the management team behind the circuit’s first expansion team, the Green Mountain Rock Crushers, 
who will be the first professional hockey team to call the state of Vermont home. The team will be based at the Jay Peak resort near the Canadian border and play out of the newly-built, resort-owned Ice Haus.
“I came up here and found it to be a very feasible market,” Rock Crushers general manager Andy Makal said. “The limited population of the state would lead people to believe that it’s hard to put a team here.”
In honor of the state’s first pro hockey team, the ownership wanted a name that paid homage to something that was truly Vermont. It came down to a choice between two of the state’s signature industries – maple syrup and granite mining.
They chose the name “Rock Crushers” over “Maple Kings” to highlight Vermont’s granite mining history. Granite quarrying was initially established in the 1700’s when hand sawing and simple blasting techniques were used. It is a far cry from today’s modern methods that include diamond wire saws, hydraulic drills and high power water jets to crush the stone.
Pro hockey has never been attempted in Vermont, most likely due to the low, spread out population and huge college hockey following in its largest population center in Burlington. According to U.S. Census Bureau numbers from 2009, Burlington’s surrounding Chittenden County population was estimated at 152,313. By comparison, the most recent statistics put the entire state’s population at 621,760, which was almost 50,000 less than the population of the city of Memphis, TN in 2006.
According to FHL Commissioner Don Kirnan, there was a tremendous amount of interest for putting a team in Vermont after the league hosted an exhibition game last November. The game pitted the Thousand Island Privateers against the Broome County Barons and was played at the Green Mountain Arena in Morrisville, VT near Stowe.
“We got more of a response from Vermont than probably any place else,” Kirnan said.
The University of Vermont takes up a huge chunk of real estate in east Burlington and is home to the Division 1 Catamounts who are members of the Hockey East conference. Four other colleges in the state – Norwich, Castleton, St. Michaels and Middlebury – have Division 3 squads. Both Kirnan and Makal are optimistic that Vermont’s dedicated college hockey fans will develop a taste for single-A pro hockey. Kirnan expects the intensity shown at the college venues will translate into a solid fan base for the FHL product at Jay Peak.
“UVM sells out all the time. There’s tremendous interest for college hockey,” Kirnan said. “Certainly I think it’s (FHL) going to work.
Broome County goalie Kira Hurley readies for a shot during FHL exhibition game in Morrisville%2C VT (PHN photo by Wendy Hull)
While the FHL is hoping to draw college fans, Jay Peak is far enough away from the college sites to not have to directly compete for the fans. Though no major population centers are nearby (Burlington is a 1 ½ hour drive), they are expecting a mix of Quebec and Vermont locals as well as resort visitors to fill the Ice Haus.
Completed in May of last year, the Ice Haus rounds out the winter entertainment at the Jay Peak resort. Currently it hosts public skating, figure skating, hockey and curling events. The ice surface meets FHL requirements for being NHL-sized and has spectator capacities of 400 bleacher seats and 300 standing room spaces. It boasts a heated snack bar with alcohol service, convenient parking, a pro shop with repair capabilities, a retail shop, four locker rooms, a referees room and an electric Zamboni.
With room for approximately 700 fans, the Jay Peak Ice Haus will be the smallest FHL building based on capacity. When the league opened last October, it indicated that it preferred a minimum capacity of 800 spectators in order to meet ticket sale requirements that would allow teams to hit operating budget needs. The lower capacity means that the Rock Crushers will need to consistently sell out nearly every game, something that Makal and Kirnan think is feasible.
Makal said that peak ski weekends can bring as many as 5,000 people to the resort, many of whom will be looking for something to do once the slopes close. Both the team and the resort are going to try to take advantage of the marketing opportunities by including their respective products in pack age specials.
“I think we can sell out every night simply because we’re on a ski resort. Through the winter months on the weekend, there’s a captive audience because the ski runs close at 4 p.m. People can go have a meal, change, get relaxed and then come out to a hockey game,” he said. “We’re giving the resort an extra revenue stream and something cool for their guests to do. They’re giving us a beautiful place to play and the marketing support that goes with it.”
Although the public may see the Jay Peak resort, the Ice Haus and the Rock Crushers as having something of a familial relationship, the resort does not own a stake in the team. Ownership of the franchise belongs to a confidential multi-person group headed by Makal. Makal himself has does have a stake in the group and will serve as the team’s general manager and governor.
Makal is no stranger to the FHL. He started this past season as the general manager of the Broome County (now Cape Cod) Barons under owner Don Kirnan, a position he held until early December. He is looking forward to using his past general manager and scouting experience to build the team and help the league succeed.
“Having been a part of the FHL already, I kind of already understand what the talent level is since I recruited one of the teams,” he said. “I understand the talent level and I think we can fit in and be a successful partner with the rest of the (FHL) owners.”
His first task has been to begin the process of attaining sponsorship which is one of the biggest challenges a first year team faces. Considering the state of the economy, the original six FHL franchises had to work very hard to entice business partners before the final product ever put a skate on the ice. Makal and the Rock Crushers will be the first of what the league hopes will be many expansion teams to benefit from the credibility built and foothold established by the pioneers of year one.
Makal admitted that working with a new facility that has no prior experience with hosting a pro team and getting the full support of the resort’s ownership is a very beneficial situation to be in. On the contrary, he knows that he will have to continue to work hard if the franchise is going to thrive.
Since many of the businesses around the resort are small, Makal said he expects to need to change the scale of the business model the FHL uses. He will be offering smaller sponsorship packages with incentives in order to best fit the needs and will of the local business community. The smaller partnerships will have the added benefit of allowing business owners to see first hand the quality of the on-ice product and to decide how to proceed further to promote their businesses through a relationship with the Rock Crushers.
“We have to reverse our approach a little bit and not be stars-in-your-eyes chasing that big game,” he said. “It’s more (like) let’s do a little then once you see it, if you want to improve on that or expand on that, great. If not, great. You’re still our partner. You’re still helping us out and it’s still a great situation.”
Kirnan said that the Jay Peak resort ownership, which includes Bill Stenger, is providing the ice, advertising, employment opportunities for U.S.-born players and housing for the team. He quickly reiterated that the resort does not have a stake in the Rock Crushers.
“The ski resort is not the owner of the team but they are providing everything that an owner would provide,” he said. “They want the team to be there. They want the league meetings to be there.”
Although he chose to respect the wishes of the ownership by not revealing their names, Kirnan did indicate that no one from the league office has a stake in the Green Mountain franchise. He also added that none of the current FHL team owners have pieces of ownership in other teams. In the past, holding stakes in multiple teams has been part of the downfall of leagues such as the NEHL and NJHL. Although there are no specific rules in the league by-laws to prohibit an owner from taking smaller stakes in multiple franchises, Kirnan said that he expects the practice of one team, one owner to be a staple of the FHL’s future success.
With the addition of the Green Mountain team, the FHL is helping to cement the northern concentration of teams it has built. Currently, the league has two teams – Akwesasne (located in Akwesasne, Ontario) and Thousand Islands (located in Alexandria Bay, NY) – that have found a home near the U.S.-Canadian border. The Jay Peak location, just minutes from the border of Quebec, adds to the picture that is drawing interest from more potential ownership groups who see the border area as a fertile ground to launch more teams. Kirnan said that he has been in contact with three such groups. Having more teams in the region will help to remedy the problem of unbalanced scheduling to reduce travel costs that plagued the league during the second half of the season.
“We expect to have four (northern) teams that can play on a balanced schedule so they won’t be seeing the same group of teams,” he said.
Overall, Kirnan said he was pleased with the performance of the league in its rookie season and is very optimistic about the future. He noted that the quality of the competition and the level of the individual player talent was much higher than he or anyone at the league office had anticipated for the inaugural campaign. In fact, Kirnan said he feels the league is in the position that he expected it to be in by year three with a forecasted 10-12 teams on the ice in October.
Because of the unexpected success and progress, the league is having to shift some of its off-season priorities to upcoming expansion plans (the new Danville, Illinois franchise will be introduced on March 15th) and dealing with the potential talent drain that comes with a surge in growth. They are changes that Kirnan is more than happy to accommodate.
“What we’re looking forward to in year two is to have more teams, trying to increase the talent level, hopefully moving more players up and having a better level all the way around,” Kirnan said.
Lofty goals but given the progress already made, the FHL is clearly on its way to the peak of the mountain.
Contact the author at wendy.hull@prohockeynews.com
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