Hockey Returns to Sears Centre

Home , Allstate Arena, Rockford IceHogs, Rockford IceHogs (UHL), United Hockey League

HOFFMAN ESTATES – Hockey fans hoping to watch the next Jonathan Toews develop will have an opportunity in October 2011.

The defunct Chicago Hounds, a minor league hockey team that made its home at the Sears Centre when the arena opened in 2006, will resurface with a new name, logo, league and business model with the intent of bringing competitive minor league hockey to the northwest suburbs again.

“I‟m very happy to bring hockey back to this area,” said Craig Drecktrah, team owner and CEO of C & S Family Sports, LLC. “The hard part is done. It took me three years to get to this point again and now it‟s just full speed ahead.”

With optimism as thick as the cake the team presented with the name “ECHL”, the team‟s new league, iced in chocolate across the top, hockey fans gathered at the Sears Centre on Thursday morning to hear how this new team, which has yet to be named, will excite fans in a way the Hounds never did.

The first key, Drecktrah said, will be maintaining marketing throughout the entire season. The Hounds had tapered off their marketing efforts during the middle of their only season, when Drecktrah took over ownership and team operations. The organization already presented a few incentives for fans Thursday, handing out one season ticket and a voucher for an official jersey once the team has decided on colors and a logo.

Fans also ultimately will pick the team‟s name. The organization is accepting nominations at nameyourhockeyteam.com. Four or five suggestions will be selected for final voting July 21; the official name will be announced Aug. 6.

The fan whose suggestion is chosen will win four season tickets to the 2011-12 inaugural season.

“We will provide fun, family entertainment and good hockey,” Drecktrah said to a crowd of travel hockey youth and their parents. “That‟s our goal.”

Better scheduling also should help the team succeed. Ben Gibbs, the Sears Centre‟s new venue manager, has guaranteed the new hockey team 20 weekend games each season – one of the reasons Drecktrah declined to bring the Hounds back. Ryan Companies, the Sears Centre‟s former management, would not agree to give more weekend games to the organization, Drecktrah said.

When Gibbs and Global-Spectrum – a subsidiary of Comcast-Spectacor, a Comcast company – took over management at the Sears Centre in January, Gibbs immediately looked to bring back hockey and Drecktrah, who owned the Rockford IceHogs when the former United Hockey League club won the UHL Championship in 2007.

“We‟ve been looking for a core tenant for the arena,” said Gibbs, whose Sears Centre also is home to the Chicago Slaughter indoor football team. “There are 1.5 million people living in a 20-mile radius of this arena and most of them are middle to upper-class families with disposable income. Hopefully that fervor from the Blackhawks winning a Stanley Cup will translate to an interest in what we‟re doing here. There‟s room for another hockey team.”

The team also will need to market itself as a compliment to the Hawks and the Wolves, an AHL team that plays at Allstate Arena. The Sears Centre‟s team will play in the ECHL – the former Eastern Conference Hockey League – a Premier „AA‟ Hockey League now in its 24th season. The Hounds played in the UHL – now the International Hockey League – but Drecktrah felt the ECHL would be a better fit and provide a fresh start.

“Between us, the Wolves and the Blackhawks, we will turn Chicago into Hockeytown USA,” Drecktrah said. “Sorry, Detroit.”

By MAUREEN LYNCH - [email protected]