By Nick Greenizan, Peace Arch News /
It's often said that nobody buys a junior hockey team to make money.
There are, of course, plenty of other reasons for team ownership – ranging from a desire to be involved in the community, to the need to satisfy a competitive urge.
Or perhaps it's simply for love of the sport.
And while it is for all those reasons that Chuck Westgard, Gary Nylund and Scott Bradley bought the Surrey Eagles last month, they also did it for another: for the chance to do something together.
Because, aside from semi-regular rounds of golf, the trio of childhood friends haven't had the chance to join forces in an athletic pursuit since their days playing bantam hockey together in North Delta.
"I think we're all excited about it, the group of us having grown up together," said Westgard, a local real estate developer and longtime softball coach who first came up with the idea to buy the team.
"This is a real exciting venture for us, as friends."
Get the three of them together in a room and right away, it's evident they don't operate in the same button-downed manner as some associates might. Take, for example, the simple question of age.
"Well, Gary and I are 46, and Chuck is... Chuck is older," said Bradley, not elaborating further before breaking out into a grin.
"Hey, only a year older, boys," Westgard retorts quickly.
"You should really sit in on one of our meetings where we're not so formal," adds Nylund. "We're such good friends that we don't get our feelings hurt by much... Scotty'll say to me, 'Why don't you just shutup?' or I'll say, "Why don't you just let me finish my sentence?'
"Nobody takes it to heart, and that's where it probably differs from a usual business (relationship). But I think it's good – it's healthy to have different ideas."
That's not to suggest, however, that the trio, nor their handful of investors - which includes Lower Mainland businessmen John Mele, Frank McFadden, Norm Porter and Greg Hughes – aren't serious about making the team a winner. After all, all three men didn't get to where they are by not taking things seriously.
Westgard, in addition to his successful real estate business, played professional baseball in the early 1980s, and is one of the Peninsula's most successful girls' fastpitch coaches, having led numerous teams to national titles; Nylund played 11 years in the National Hockey League for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Blackhawks and New York Islanders; and Bradley has spent the last 18 years working with the Boston Bruins, first as a B.C.-based scout before rising through the ranks to his current position as director of player personnel. He also played in the B.C. junior league, for Abbotsford and Langley, in the early '80s.
"Coming in, our expectations are high. Very, very high," said Nylund, who will also act as an assistant coach this season, alongside new head coach Matt Erhart.
"We don't have a lot of experience in the BCHL, obviously, but I think we can make up for a lot of that experience with enthusiasm.
"We're drawing on everyone's experience and expertise, whether it's business-wise, or coaching or scouting. We hope we can put it all together... and we will, we're really confident that we'll win here."
Off the ice – which will be Westgard's focus while Nylund and Bradley concentrate on the hockey side of things – the group has all kinds of plans, from marketing and game-day experience ideas, to getting players out in the community, to eventually getting the team's dressing room renovated and expanded.
"We have lots of plans, but like anything, we're just feeling things out to start with, and being patient. But there will be some changes, for sure – some this year, and then more in Year 2," said Westgard.
Owing to the Olympic-sized sheet of ice at South Surrey Arena, Eagles teams of the past have been molded to take advantage of the extra space, with more skilled, speedy players, often at the expense of grit, size and toughness.
That will change, to a degree, said Nylund, who would like to see a blend of skill and toughness on future rosters.
"We want to be both. Scotty and I want to get a fast, skilled team in here to take advantage of the ice, but when you go into other teams' buildings, we want to be able to back those skilled guys up," said Nylund, who forged his pro career as a tough, gritty defenceman.
"We won't be a goony team by any means, but we'll have enough people who can push back."
Playing an exciting brand of hockey will, in turn, help the team off the ice, Bradley added.
"If you put an exciting brand of hockey on the ice, I think the fans will come," he said. "I think you'll see a much fuller building, for sure."
It won't happen overnight, all three are quick to admit, especially as they work to get their collective feet wet in a new league – a process that's aided by the fact former owner Ronnie Paterson has elected to stay on as the team's governor.
If the Eagles are to become one of the model franchises in the B.C. Hockey League, the team, from owners to staff to coaches, need to work hard to ensure that Surrey becomes a place junior-aged players want to play, Nylund said.
"I can almost say without hesitation that my junior hockey experience was some of the best hockey years of my life," said Nylund, who spent three years with the Western Hockey League's Portland Winterhawks.
"And if your players can walk away from junior hockey – whether they go to college or pro or wherever – and come away with a good experience, then we've been a success.
"I think in the past few years, some of the kids have maybe walked away from here with less than good feelings about how things went, and are a little bit sour. That shouldn't be the way it is – it should be the best time of their lives, and we're going to try and make it that way."
Original article here." |