IceGators’ owner revamping operation

LAFAYETTE, LA – Louisiana IceGators’ owner Danny Smith has earned a reputation in Lafayette as a man who knows entertainment. When he took on the task of reviving the IceGators as members of the SPHL, he expected that his team would be as successful as his nightclub properties. So far, that expectation has yet to come to fruition. In an effort to start turning the misses into big time hits, Smith has begun the process of retooling the franchise. It started with the hiring of John Gibson as the new head coach two weeks ago and continued Monday with what he called a “very, very, very difficult decision” – relieving general manager and director of hockey operations Brent Sapergia of his duties. “Based on the commitment that he (Sapergia) made personally and the commitment

his family made to this area, it was a really difficult decision. Any time someone puts in the amount of hours they have in any kind of a startup and then to not be able to see it through, it’s a tough call to make. It’s hard to pull the carpet out on someone like that,” Smith said following a lengthy staff meeting. “At the same time, I’ve got to make decisions based on everything involved. It’s not that Brent did anything malicious. His heart was certainly in the right place but for this area, this hockey team, I just think we needed something a little bit different.” First and foremost, the play of the team on the ice has bothered Smith. From the get go, it appeared that the roster that original coach Ron Handy and Sapergia was not ready for what the other teams in the league – in particular the other expansion teams in Pensacola, FL and Biloxi, MS – were doing. Both Handy and Sapergia admitted to making a mistake in fielding a team that was better geared for “old time”  hockey than for a scoring game. Handy resigned after three games behind the bench. Sapergia stayed and was the interim coach for a handful of games before Gibson was hired. According to Smith, the IceGators’ 3-9 record was a significant part of why Sapergia was let go. “You can look at (the fact that) our hockey team is in dead last place right now and Brent was our director of hockey. And just like sometimes you’ll be in a game and the team’s not playing well, sometimes you’ll change the goalie even though it not the goalie just to try to spark things,” Smith said. “I don’t want to simplify it that much to say that Brent’s no longer here because I’m trying to light a spark. It’s not that but sometimes there’s just a lot of different little factors that come into play.” Smith was very pleased that the team was able to find a coach like Gibson, who already has knowledge of the SPHL, to come in and take over. He expects that Gibson will be able to add some stability to the team. “I think it will have a calming effect. When Brent stepped behind the bench, that was on an interim basis and that was set before it happened. It wasn’t a decision to take Brent from behind the bench. Brent needed to be in the office more than behind the bench,” he said. “We were actively looking for a coach after Ron made his decision. By bringing in John and just the players knowing that now you have somebody for the long run – this is the guy you’re going to be dealing with, this is the system you’re going to be playing in – I think it is going to have a calming effect, a settling effect and just let athletes just be athletes. Sometimes you want the guys to think but you really want them to react and just be themselves and that’s probably going to happen once you get systems in place and you have some consistency.” Contrary to what some might think, Sapergia’s explosion during the game in Pensacola on November 6th that was seen around the world via video did not have any bearing on Smith’s decision to let him go. In fact, Smith said it was simply Sapergia being his emotional self and backing up his team. “Brent is a very passionate person. He felt like his team wasn’t being protected by the referees and he expressed that in his own personal way – probably differently than most of us would have,” Smith said. “That’s Brent Sapergia and everybody who’s known him a long time wouldn’t expect anything less.” Smith himself took some of the blame for Sapergia’s firing. He said that putting the general manager behind the bench, even for a short time, was not a good idea because Sapergia was needed more in the office. Smith also said that the way he structured the office didn’t help matters. “I needed to lay a different structure here in the organization to where if this doesn’t happen, this person is responsible or if this doesn’t happen, that person is responsible. That really wasn’t the way we were structured before,” he said. “Brent took a lot of work on his shoulders. Nobody could have done what Brent wanted to do here. I need to basically compartmentalize everything that we do so that if our attendance isn’t where it should be, I know who to look at or if our team isn’t playing the way it should, I know who to look at. I just need to get people very clear on what their job description was and what their goals are and what I expect. If that doesn’t happen then we’ll have to figure something out.” Off the ice, the biggest obstacle has been the one thing that may have been out of Smith’s control – technology. The SPHL requires teams to utilize Pointstreak for real-time game stats. Glitches appeared on many occasions, manifesting themselves in frozen box scores. Later it was found that the issues may have been directly related to software malfunctions. The other half of the cyber world equation is the B2 Network video feed. The IceGators have yet to have a game streamed over the internet from the Blackham Coliseum but in this case, according to Smith, the problem has a lot to do with the facility itself. “Operating in a building that is 70 years old, that was something unforeseen. When the IceGators were here the first time around, B2 was operating with a different system that didn’t require such a high upload speed. That didn’t hit us until mid-October before we realized that we weren’t capable of streaming,” he said. “At that point, the situation was compounded by this particular city (Lafayette), with this being a university building (Blackham is part of the University of Louisiana-Lafayette) supplied by a private company, we could not get just standard T-1 service and the fiber company is owned by the local government and they are not allowed to do industrial or commercial use. We were stuck to where we had no options to get it done but we think we have that worked through now. It’s just a matter of running the fiber to the building.” Smith apologized to the fans of the teams who have played games in Blackham so far and said that they hope to have the fiber run and the system up and functioning by the end of the month. On the positive side of the ledger, Smith has been impressed with the outpouring of support from the hockey fans in Lafayette and the surrounding area. He said the season ticket base of 1,600 is enthusiastic and his goal is to give them the best product he can and to grow the base. For the time being, Smith will handle all of Sapergia’s business duties while Gibson is left to focus on the team. Smith said he is ready to handle things because of the similarities he sees in the entertainment end of the game. “Fortunately the business side of hockey is pretty much the entertainment business so there’s a lot of overlapping. When I’m doing marketing plans for a nightclub or another venue, it’s different but in a lot of ways similar to a hockey game,” he said. “You have to come with a theme and a reason for people to come. It’s just more of the same for me with the difference being that you’re dealing with a league that has bylaws and regulations and things that they expect of you. It’s something that I’m not used to dealing with but I can read the rule book.” At this point, all Smith wants from the fans is that they don’t give up on the team yet. “Don’t count us out. We’re going to be there. We plan on making the playoffs. We plan on making a run,” he said. “Just stick with us. We’re going to do everything we can and we’ll be there in the end. Remember, its not who wins the first game but who wins the last one.” Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com