Sapergia out in Lafayette

Breaking News LAFAYETTE, LA – Sitting at 3-9 and in last place in the Southern Professional Hockey League standings, the Louisiana IceGators appeared to be on their way to long term stability with the naming of John Gibson as head coach two weeks ago. Monday morning, the boat started rocking again as owner Danny Smith announced that general manager and director of hockey operations Brent Sapergia had been relieved of his duties effective immediately. The move closed a rocky tenure for Sapergia, who was instrumental in setting up the expansion franchise but brought attention to the team with an equipment-throwing rampage during a game in which he was serving as the interim coach. “A great deal of hard work has been done to bring hockey back to Lafayette and Brent deserves much of the credit,” Smith said. “However at this time, this organization as it stands does not represent a typical operation that I would like to call my own. There is a lot of hockey left to be played but I felt that this decision was necessary to gain some traction both as a hockey team and as an organization. This community embraces this team and they deserve a better product and a better effort from our front office.” The move is the third within the first five weeks of the team’s inaugural season in the SPHL. It started when coach Ron Handy resigned after an 0-3 opening weekend of play. At the time, Handy said that one of the factors that led him to his decision was that he felt that the game had “passed him by” since the last time he was behind a pro bench. Sapergia replaced Handy on an interim basis. Under Sapergia, the team did notch its first victory on October 30th against I-10 rival Pensacola. They followed that the next night with a win over Mississippi and things seemed to be moving in the right direction. The following weekend may have been the beginning of the end for Sapergia. In a November 4th loss at home, Sapergia received a game misconduct in the closing moments of the game. The next night in Pensacola, he protested a call by littering the ice with sticks, medical equipment and a water cooler with less than a minute remaining in the first period. In the wake of his second game misconduct in two nights, Gibson, who had been interviewing with Smith for the job and had tagged along for the road trip, took over behind the bench and was officially introduced the following Monday. In making the announcement, Smith said that he would be taking over Sapergia’s duties on an interim basis. He reiterated his pledge to put a winning team on the ice and in the front office. “I believe this is a great hockey market. I have seen fan support that is truly humbling,” he said. “Our players have played hard but that has not translated into wins. It is my job to put everyone involved, from players to staff, in the best position to be successful. From this point forward, every person within the organization starting with myself will be held accountable for their performances.” Stay with ProHockeyNews.com for more on this breaking SPHL news. Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com