Owatonna Express Coaches

Big ? on O-town Blog: Coaches coaching background.

Cullen: Played Bemidji when it was ACHA. All-star ACHA defensemen. Coached D3 Hamline for 4 years.

Fink: MnJHL coach, then asst to Cullen.

Why all the censorship on their blog??

That wasn't censorship, that was the blogger stopping a thread from getting hi-jacked like every thread on here does.

Re: Owatonna Express Coaches

suomynona wrote:

Big ? on O-town Blog: Coaches coaching background. Cullen: Played Bemidji when it was ACHA. All-star ACHA defensemen. Coached D3 Hamline for 4 years. Fink: MnJHL coach, then asst to Cullen. Why all the censorship on their blog??

Fink played Jr. B. Cullen played 3rd line.

I do not know why the big secret on our blog. Seems like good info to me and to the new players and their families. BK needs to think about this stuff.

SMN_Express wrote:

That wasn't censorship, that was the blogger stopping a thread from getting hi-jacked like every thread on here does.

This forum is different from our blog.

Thats for sure. Its a wonder anyone can post.

Our blog is OK. Kind of boring and filled with bias and not filled with a lot of detailed and/or accurate information but what do you expect being run by BK who lives in the past?

Our team will be the weakest one so far. This is a fact not a put down to all our town head bangers. Hopefully we can hit .300.
From there on out I am sure it will improve by gaining and more importantly attracting more experienced players. Coach Pat needs to realign his thinking to focus on that and that is what we are working on. Remember the players in the 1st year came because of Andy's group not our coaches personality or experience.

On another note we need to raise more money which means ticket sales and promotions. Every little bit helps.

dave wrote:

Our team will be the weakest one so far...

I'd remain optimistic so long as Albert Lea is in your division...

Marc Foster wrote:

dave wrote: Our team will be the weakest one so far... I'd remain optimistic so long as Albert Lea is in your division...

Oh we are optimistic, but you have not seen our team.

Everybody hates a champion

So Minn should and I say should win this division

dave wrote:

Our blog is OK. Kind of boring and filled with bias and not filled with a lot of detailed and/or accurate information but what do you expect being run by BK who lives in the past? On another note we need to raise more money which means ticket sales and promotions. Every little bit helps.

His blog sure beats reading the Sophomore Class Presidents on here hurling mindless insults back and forth. And I'll say this for the 896075685086590785787885409239476052785402805849026785708750 time, don't just say what the Express needs to do, have some GOOD ideas about promotion and ticket sales or else your thought has ZERO productivity.

The Express are projected to be in the middle of the pack this season. This is realistic and our hope. If we do better then that will just even be better.
As part of the ownership management group, we do not ask for more nor do we expect more this season. It will be good hockey, competitive with other teams in our division who have many changes such as ours.
Its nice to be positive. It helps. Thanks for the votes of confidence.
Some of our teams fans get carried away but they are big supporters to the good and not so good things that most teams endure ours being included.

THE GHOST wrote:

Everybody hates a champion So Minn should and I say should win this division

I do not think everybody hates a champion, you might but definately not all.

We do hope we succeed this year. And if we don't we wont be hating.

the real Jackbag wrote:

dave wrote: Our blog is OK. Kind of boring and filled with bias and not filled with a lot of detailed and/or accurate information but what do you expect being run by BK who lives in the past? On another note we need to raise more money which means ticket sales and promotions. Every little bit helps. His blog sure beats reading the Sophomore Class Presidents on here hurling mindless insults back and forth. And I'll say this for the 896075685086590785787885409239476052785402805849026785708750 time, don't just say what the Express needs to do, have some GOOD ideas about promotion and ticket sales or else your thought has ZERO productivity.

Jack: That is a huge number! There are many ideas coming in from our fellow citizens and supporters that are being weighed on a fairly frequent basis.

the real wells wrote:

the real Jackbag wrote: dave wrote: Our blog is OK. Kind of boring and filled with bias and not filled with a lot of detailed and/or accurate information but what do you expect being run by BK who lives in the past? On another note we need to raise more money which means ticket sales and promotions. Every little bit helps. His blog sure beats reading the Sophomore Class Presidents on here hurling mindless insults back and forth. And I'll say this for the 896075685086590785787885409239476052785402805849026785708750 time, don't just say what the Express needs to do, have some GOOD ideas about promotion and ticket sales or else your thought has ZERO productivity. Jack: That is a huge number! There are many ideas coming in from our fellow citizens and supporters that are being weighed on a fairly frequent basis.

Thats great if there is input, my point is in Dave's case is to not waste energy on what's wrong, use it to come up with reasonable ideas and solutions.

Honestly though, it would've been nice to have a booth at the SCFF, I heard they tried but for some reason it didn't work out. There was a hockey game at Shattuck last week featuring Pros and collegiate players including Express alumni. Primo opportunity to hand out schedules to fans as they left the rink. The Express is lucky the OPP has a writer like Ian Stauffer that will give good games stories and writeups on the team, but the team needs to go make their own headlines, due to marketing and promotion. The home season starts in little over a month. What are some game night promotions going to be? What's on tap for Opening Night? I hope this stuff is coming up in the brainstorming sessions with the board or else you guys may have to be asking for more money.

Oh and about tickets. Fine and dandy about the policy that you can't use an unused season ticket for any game of your choice. BUT, by doing so it may scare off people from buying season tickets. How about designating certain nights where advance sales may lag, due to day of the week the game is on,,,etc., and make them season ticket holder exchange nights? Bill said at the meeting in April that nobody else had the policy that you can exchange your tickets for any game. He cited the Wild as an example. We're not the team of 18,000, so the Express can't do business the Wild way, and from being involved with minor league sports I can say that Season Ticket holder exchange nights are common practice.

Thanks all for reading, I'll get down from my soapbox now.

the real Jackbag wrote:

the real wells wrote: the real Jackbag wrote: dave wrote: Our blog is OK. Kind of boring and filled with bias and not filled with a lot of detailed and/or accurate information but what do you expect being run by BK who lives in the past? On another note we need to raise more money which means ticket sales and promotions. Every little bit helps. His blog sure beats reading the Sophomore Class Presidents on here hurling mindless insults back and forth. And I'll say this for the 896075685086590785787885409239476052785402805849026785708750 time, don't just say what the Express needs to do, have some GOOD ideas about promotion and ticket sales or else your thought has ZERO productivity. Jack: That is a huge number! There are many ideas coming in from our fellow citizens and supporters that are being weighed on a fairly frequent basis. Thats great if there is input, my point is in Dave's case is to not waste energy on what's wrong, use it to come up with reasonable ideas and solutions. Honestly though, it would've been nice to have a booth at the SCFF, I heard they tried but for some reason it didn't work out. There was a hockey game at Shattuck last week featuring Pros and collegiate players including Express alumni. Primo opportunity to hand out schedules to fans as they left the rink. The Express is lucky the OPP has a writer like Ian Stauffer that will give good games stories and writeups on the team, but the team needs to go make their own headlines, due to marketing and promotion. The home season starts in little over a month. What are some game night promotions going to be? What's on tap for Opening Night? I hope this stuff is coming up in the brainstorming sessions with the board or else you guys may have to be asking for more money. Oh and about tickets. Fine and dandy about the policy that you can't use an unused season ticket for any game of your choice. BUT, by doing so it may scare off people from buying season tickets. How about designating certain nights where advance sales may lag, due to day of the week the game is on,,,etc., and make them season ticket holder exchange nights? Bill said at the meeting in April that nobody else had the policy that you can exchange your tickets for any game. He cited the Wild as an example. We're not the team of 18,000, so the Express can't do business the Wild way, and from being involved with minor league sports I can say that Season Ticket holder exchange nights are common practice. Thanks all for reading, I'll get down from my soapbox now.

Excellent points Jack! The ticket exchange has been a big topic. For the past 3 years it just got out of hand. I am hoping that exchanges can be allowed "during the month of the game" and limited to season ticket holders only. Its not unreasonable; however, it is not a done deal yet. The marketing staff is working hard; unfortunately the economy has been a huge factor this year. I do not grasp the policy that if no one else does it that we can't, but the board members each have their own ideas.

the real wells wrote:

the real Jackbag wrote: the real wells wrote: the real Jackbag wrote: dave wrote: Our blog is OK. Kind of boring and filled with bias and not filled with a lot of detailed and/or accurate information but what do you expect being run by BK who lives in the past? On another note we need to raise more money which means ticket sales and promotions. Every little bit helps. His blog sure beats reading the Sophomore Class Presidents on here hurling mindless insults back and forth. And I'll say this for the 896075685086590785787885409239476052785402805849026785708750 time, don't just say what the Express needs to do, have some GOOD ideas about promotion and ticket sales or else your thought has ZERO productivity. Jack: That is a huge number! There are many ideas coming in from our fellow citizens and supporters that are being weighed on a fairly frequent basis. Thats great if there is input, my point is in Dave's case is to not waste energy on what's wrong, use it to come up with reasonable ideas and solutions. Honestly though, it would've been nice to have a booth at the SCFF, I heard they tried but for some reason it didn't work out. There was a hockey game at Shattuck last week featuring Pros and collegiate players including Express alumni. Primo opportunity to hand out schedules to fans as they left the rink. The Express is lucky the OPP has a writer like Ian Stauffer that will give good games stories and writeups on the team, but the team needs to go make their own headlines, due to marketing and promotion. The home season starts in little over a month. What are some game night promotions going to be? What's on tap for Opening Night? I hope this stuff is coming up in the brainstorming sessions with the board or else you guys may have to be asking for more money. Oh and about tickets. Fine and dandy about the policy that you can't use an unused season ticket for any game of your choice. BUT, by doing so it may scare off people from buying season tickets. How about designating certain nights where advance sales may lag, due to day of the week the game is on,,,etc., and make them season ticket holder exchange nights? Bill said at the meeting in April that nobody else had the policy that you can exchange your tickets for any game. He cited the Wild as an example. We're not the team of 18,000, so the Express can't do business the Wild way, and from being involved with minor league sports I can say that Season Ticket holder exchange nights are common practice. Thanks all for reading, I'll get down from my soapbox now. Excellent points Jack! The ticket exchange has been a big topic. For the past 3 years it just got out of hand. I am hoping that exchanges can be allowed "during the month of the game" and limited to season ticket holders only. Its not unreasonable; however, it is not a done deal yet. The marketing staff is working hard; unfortunately the economy has been a huge factor this year. I do not grasp the policy that if no one else does it that we can't, but the board members each have their own ideas.

"If no one else does it, we can't" will stifle creative minds in a hurry. Look at the St. Paul Saints and all the promotion they've done that nobody else ever did. If they had the, "If no one else does it, we can't" policy, they wouldn't have nearly as much success that they've had. The board ought to look at promotions that USHL and other minor league hockey teams have done that may seem commonplace, but would be original and fresh to the Owatonna market. There are great ideas out there, but there isn't an idea stork that'll just drop them in the boards lap. They need to take a chance and try some new things to get butts in the seats.

Sorry for hopping back up on the soapbox, I'll get down now.

the real wells wrote:

Excellent points Jack! The ticket exchange has been a big topic. For the past 3 years it just got out of hand. I am hoping that exchanges can be allowed "during the month of the game" and limited to season ticket holders only. Its not unreasonable; however, it is not a done deal yet. The marketing staff is working hard; unfortunately the economy has been a huge factor this year. I do not grasp the policy that if no one else does it that we can't, but the board members each have their own ideas.

If you limit the ticket exchange to season ticket holders only you will only hurt yourself. Why not let the season ticket holders give their unused tickets to someone that doesn't go to the games(maybe they'll get hooked) or a charity like big brothers/sisters to use. After all why would a season ticket holder need to exchange a ticket, they already have tickets to all of the games?

mctopeka wrote:

. After all why would a season ticket holder need to exchange a ticket, they already have tickets to all of the games?

Our minor pro team does that - not all season ticket holders can make every game, so allowed to turn them in for another ticket for another game...sure it may cost some tickets sales, but in the long run it can lead to get non-hockey fans into the game...

It did get out of hand in Owatonna last year. Got to the point where most non season ticket holders were getting in for free, me included, by using unused season ticket holder tickets.

By having STH exchange nights, they can still donate their unused tickets to charity to use on that particular evening, or bring some friends out to enjoy some hockey and maybe turn them into paying customers in the future.

Hearing that coach p is having issues with coach f. coach f is a disappointment and other prospect is looming.