Pirates And Knights: Oh My!
The ECHL expansion team announced the new affiliation with Vegas and Henderson on Friday at an event that saw everyone excited about the news. Vegas, it should be noted, had an affiliation with the ECHL's Fort Wayne Komets that had expired, and Vegas decided to move their affiliation from Indiana to Georgia in aligning with Savannah. No reason was given for the change.
"Vegas, baby, Vegas!" Ghost Pirates Director of Community Relations and Game Presentation Bryan Sklover said in his speech. "You have no idea how hard it's been to keep that secret, in this city of such friendly people who are [saying], 'Oh, just tell me. It's no big deal.'"
It was a big deal for the expansion franchise as they now will see players like goaltender Jiri Patera, forward Mason Primeau, and defenceman Connor Corcoran begin their journey to the NHL ranks in Savannah, Georgia as opposed to Fort Wayne, Indiana. Having that boost in terms of players who can help sell a few tickets in Savannah is something all ECHL teams want, but all three of the players mentioned above have already suited up in both the NHL and AHL as the Golden Knights have been known to shuffle players through their system.
"They have a winning culture," Andy Kaufmann, the team's CEO and majority owner, said of Vegas and Henderson to Nathan Dominitz of the Savannah Morning News. "We wanted to have a head start. We didn't want to have like a typical expansion, 'give us a few years to build.' We want to win right away."
When it comes to selling tickets, though, Ghost Pirates president Bob Ohrablo made an impressive announcement about ticket sales at the announcement yesterday that should have everyone excited for that Saturday, November 5 home opener. As per his announcement at the event, "[t]he team says it has already sold out all of its club-level section season tickets, as well as seven of its lower bowl sections"! That's a lot of seats already sold to watch hockey in Savannah ayt the brand-new, 9500-seat Enmarket Arena before they even have their first player signed!
The Ghost Pirates did make a major hockey operations announcement at the affiliation event, though, as they introduced former Union men's hockey head coach Rick Bennett as the first head coach in franchise history! Bennett amassed a 194-134-45 record in eleven seasons as the Dutchmen's head coach, but his sudden resignation from Union College in January "after a week-long investigation into how he coached the team" left a lot of questions unanswered. The investigation was prompted by an anonymous email received by Union College Athletic director Jim McLaughlin, but it seems to have had no effect on being hired in Georgia.
According to the agreement between the Ghost Pirates and the Golden Knights, "the Ghost Pirates' team operations will be run by the Golden Knights' hockey management staff" meaning that Bennett's hiring was done by the Golden Knights. Kelly McCrimmon seemed pleased in hiring Bennett, stating, "We are excited to lead the hockey operations and have a proven developer of talent as a head coach in Rick Bennett."
It seems that the stars are aligning nicely for the Savannah Ghost Pirates as they have a solid logo, great colours, a fantastic affiliation, good ticket sales, a smart head coach, and a handful of players who will be heading to the Georgia coast. There's still five months before they play their first regular-season home game in the ECHL, but there's a lot to be excited about in Savannah as things look peachy in Georgia for the newest ECHL team.
You might just say that everything is golden for the Ghost Pirates!
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
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