5/22/08
St. Louis
This Memorial Day weekend, the Fylers and fan faithfuls will take a moment to reflect on one of the slowest seasons in franchise history. No tears will be shed, no glasses raised. We'll be respectful but stern as we say "Good Riddance" to a wet and gloomy 2008 season.
With attendance at an all time low, TV ratings plummeting, and a Dave Bain's morale at near suicidal levels, the Fyler front office has made moves of their own as they let go the current Director of Marketing Andre Fennelsman. It's not like Fennelsman couldn't see the writing on the wall. It's hard to blame the marketing for rain, but owner Ted Marave is not known for his rational personnel decisions or his shrewd understanding of the laws of meteorology.
Fylers spokesman Pierre Reedy was guarded when asked what kind of marketing initiatives we could expect next year. Remember, he received the brunt of the blow back from the failed Cupcake promotion last year, that some hypothesize, resulted in the burning down of the Fylers' Tilles complex.
"We have a lot of very exciting ideas on the table, and it's our goal to return the Fylers and the SCHL back to the prominence of the early 2000's as the only real hockey league in St. Louis."
His comments hinting at the, until recently, quiet feud between Marave and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman may be the kind of fire we're used to seeing out the front office. The kind of fire that could make for a very hot off-season Season. Management for one are not counting out this weekend (while I suspect, most others are). Hockey will drop at
9am, Sunday May 25th at the Brentwood Gardens. Now hopefully the players will remember: in the SCHL, it's a year 'round season.