Battalion Coach, League Officials Meet Hockey Fans
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| Daniel Farrell on Wednesday was named the first head coach of the Berkshire Battalion on Wednesday evening, he met with fans at the Freight Yard Pub. |
At least, that is the way the club's head coach wants to see his roster shape up.
"A chemistry like that is almost ideal, I think," Daniel Farrell said on Wednesday evening. "Because you have that younger guy who is aspiring to take his career to a certain level, and you might have somebody else who is independently wealthy and did pretty well at a higher level, invested their money wisely and loves the game ... and can really take a [younger] guy under his wing and maximize that individual's potential.
"That just creates a culture in the locker room and around the club and around the town and community that we're here and we want to go someplace."
Farrell, who was announced as the Battalion's head coach earlier Wednesday, was here along with three of his prospective players for a meet-and-greet with prospective fans at the Freight Yard Pub.
Although it has been just nine days since the Federal Hockey League announced its intention to make the Battalion its sixth franchise, Farrell said he already has a line on a number of players who fit his vision for the team.
"We have a few Euros, who obviously we haven't had our eyes on yet, but their resumes look like they'd fit in well," Farrell said, referring to potential imports from Europe. "It's just a matter of getting a chance to see them out on the ice.
"A few guys that are at a little bit higher caliber than [the FHL] — a couple of former American [Hockey] League guys and maybe even an ex-NHL guy here or there. We're trying to accomplish something, and we want to come out of the gate with a quality product."
Farrell, who previously coached and played for the FHL's defunct Delaware franchise, was joined at Wednesday's event by FHL Commissioner Don Kirnan, Peter W. Foote Rink manager Darin Lane, a few players who have signed professional tryout (PTO) agreements with the team.
While the Battalion was able to announce its coach, it was not ready on Wednesday to announce for sure that it will have a place to play. The franchise still is waiting for the official go-ahead from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, which owns the North Adams rink.
The director of sales and marketing for the two-time FHL champion Danbury [Conn.] Whalers, Jed Wilson, said the league is hoping to receive the DCR's OK "any day."
Jed Wilson of the Danbury franchise was in North Adams on Wednesday to support the team that the league hopes will become a strong geographical rival to the Whalers.
"Although we work for the Danbury Whalers, we want to make sure everything goes well for you guys," said Wilson's colleague Tricia Coe, the Whalers' vice president for sales and operations. "It's good for the league to have a successful team here."
A foothold in North Adams would give the six-team league its best natural rivalry. The FHL is spread out over six states from Danville, Ill., in the west to North Adams in the east. Last year, Danbury's shortest road trip was five hours to Watertown, N.Y.
The 2.5-hour trip from Danbury to North Adams is shorter than the next nearest FHL teams (Danville, Ill., and Dayton, Ohio) by about half an hour.
Kirnan noted that the 5-year-old FHL had looked to put a franchise in North Adams five years ago and continues to see the Berkshires as a strong potential market for the minor league. Kirnan credited Lane with making the difference in the league's push this time around.
"If he had been here five years ago, we probably would have been here already," Kirnan said.
The team's arrival now is a blessing for Michael Kaselouskas, one of the players at Wednesday's event.
The East Longmeadow native was a four-year letterman at Western New England University in Springfield who jumped at the chance to get his first professional playing experience.
"I graduated in 2012," Kaselouskas said. "Since then, I've been playing in men's leagues at Olympia [Ice Center in West Springfield], tournaments around the area, whatever's available.
"I went to a few pro camps the year of the [NHL] lockout, right when I graduated, and I talked with some guys in the Southern [Professional Hockey League], and they basically told me any other year I'd be on the team, but just because of the lockout, it was a tough summer to be trying out."
About 30 fans turned out for Wednesday's gathering, which the team hopes to be one of many between now and the start of the season in October.
Wilson of the Danbury team said the league-owned North Adams franchise is taking names on a waiting list for season tickets and has lined up several local sponsors, but is not taking any money from fans or sponsors until it has DCR approval.
The league has announced that season tickets will cost $220 for adults and $150 for kids for an expected 28-game home schedule. Individual game tickets will be $12 for adults and $9 for kids under 12.
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