AUGUSTA, GA – For 11 seasons, the Augusta Lynx skated up and down the ice at the James Brown Arena in ECHL action. All of that went away in the blink of an eye in December of 2008. Now, following a year of discontent and despair among the fans, professional hockey is ready to return to this city that is known more for its golfing heritage. Tuesday morning, the Southern Professional Hockey League drew approximately 100 or more fans and the Augusta media to a press conference. The event was held to announce that the six-year old single-A circuit had reached an agreement to put a team in the city starting this coming October. “It’s unbelievably exciting (to have Augusta joining). There was not one negative comment. We sold over 150 season tickets just this morning – and we don’t even have an office in place or a phone number,” SPHL Commissioner Jim Combs said following the press conference. “Everything was very, very positive.” Combs was on hand to introduce the franchise’s owner, Bob Kerzner, and the team’s general manager, Gilles Richard, to the people of Augusta. If both names sound familiar, they are. Kerzner is the former owner of the Pee Dee / Twin City Cyclones franchise that played in Florence, South Carolina and Winston-Salem, North Carolina before suspending operations last year. Richard, a former player in four leagues including the ACHL and the WHA2 (both predecessors to the SPHL), was the general manager of the Jacksonville Barracudas during their time in the SPHL before going under in 2008. For long-time fans like Sam Roney, the signing of the lease ended a very long, dismal year without hockey. “It’s been a real vacuum situation. A lot of us have made trips to some ECHL cities. Some of us go to Gwinnett or Charlotte or Charleston to see some of their games,” Roney said. “We’ve been to Columbus and Fayetteville to see some SPHL games as well. That was all we could do with nothing here.” The press conference began in an odd way. The lease negotiations with Global Spectrum, the operators of the James Brown Arena, were so involved that Kerzner actually didn’t sign the deal until right as Combs stepped to the microphone to start the proceedings. “Y’all want hockey back in Augusta?,” Kerzner asked the crowd. They let out a loud roar of approval as he signed the agreement, ending the year without hockey. While details of the lease were not made available, Richard categorized them as being beneficial to both sides. “We want the building to make money so that we can make money,” he said. “That’s the kind of relationship we’re trying to have with them.” The team in Augusta is considered by the SPHL to be an expansion team. Commissioner Combs said that Kerzner has applied to transfer his affiliation – which is considered to be the rights to a particular market or city – from Winston-Salem to Augusta. He also said that it meets the criteria of expansion due more to what is not accompanying Kerzner than what is. “It’s a completely 100% top-to-bottom revamping so it is an expansion team,” Combs explained. “There’s no coach, players, manager, equipment people, anybody coming from the old team. They will participate in an expansion draft but Bob has assembled the team here of management and marketing that will take this team and really be successful.” Included in the off-ice team with Kerzner and Richard are managing director Bill Coffey, who at one time was a league executive and consultant, assistant general manager Ken Vezina who was the media and public relations director in Jacksonville and trainer Brian Patafie, who returns to Augusta where he was the Lynx trainer from 1998-2003. Having people who have knowledge of the league operations, according to Combs, will make the transition into the fold much easier for everyone. “It makes it easier because they’re on board, they know the process. They know what’s going on when we start talking about immigration or league-wide deals when it comes to purchasing jerseys or equipment,’ Combs said. “They’re already on board so there’s no new explanation as to what’s going to happen now.” Richard agreed with Combs, saying that it will be a great advantage knowing the league policies right away. “Bob counted the number of years of experience we had all together and came to over 85 years in hockey,” he said. “With the SPHL, there’s nothing new for us to learn. We know where the cities are, even the travel plans. We know how to figure out our budget. We know how many games we’re playing. There’s nothing that is hidden from us. There’s no secrets out there. We know what we have to do, now it’s just getting it done.” Getting Augusta was an important priority for Combs and the league almost from the moment that the Lynx shut down. “It fits in perfectly in the (league) footprint. It evens us out at eight teams which will allow more weekend dates for our other teams,” he said. “It helps with expansion because we have some other areas out this way that will fit in very well in our league.” Roney said he had been impressed with the professionalism that he saw in Columbus and Fayetteville. When asked how he thought other Augusta fans would take to the SPHL brand of hockey, he said he thought it would catch on quickly because of its fan-friendly nature. “I definitely think there will be no problem with that transition (from ECHL to SPHL). I think that these folks here just want to watch hockey and I think one benefit that Mr. Combs pointed out today was that the SPHL doesn’t exactly promote players as quickly,” he said. “They don’t have people that are constantly moving up to the AHL and stuff like that like it was from the ECHL. You get a guy in there who is a real star and all of a sudden he’s there for a month and he’s gone. He (Combs) more or less indicated that that just doesn’t happen that much in the SPHL. I think that fans will actually like that better, to have their guys there for most of the year.” For Richard, one of the biggest tasks facing him will be winning back the fans who were turned off by the Lynx exit. He knows it won’t be easy but all he wants the fans to do is give the new team a chance. “I think it is like a process. As a fan of the sport, I’m hoping that now that the word is out that we’re back, they give us a chance,” Richard said. “They might come to a game or buy a 10-game book instead of season tickets. Hopefully the ones that got burnt bad will come back in time. It’s just going to be a process of us earning their trust. Roney, who bought season tickets at the press conference, thinks that the fans will come back to the levels enjoyed by the Lynx. Like Richard, he believes even the ones most angry at losing money will return in due time. “I think it will be virtually 100% of what we had. There might be a few of them who are skeptical about putting money down for season tickets right off the bat after they got beaten out of most of the year’s tickets the year the Lynx folded,” Roney said. “Some people are still a little bit sore over that but I think they’ll be a very small minority and I think they’ll even get those people back eventually.” Richard said that the first priorities include setting up an office, designing and launching a website, hiring a head coach and finding a name for the team. He said they will solicit suggestions for the name through a contest that will be started in the very near future. As for a coach, Richard said to expect an announcement soon, possibly within the next two weeks. Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
