another episode of the Ice Team. I am your host, Megan LaMontagne. Doug Worf, he started off as an is now... and you are not going to Mix 101.5 and presented by Lane and Associates Family Dentistry, where every patient is treated like family. President Doug Wharf of the Carolina Hurricanes, welcome to the Ice-T podcast. I'm thrilled to have you on. I'm excited to be on. Thank you. Thank you. Now, you are the overseer of business operations.
Can you just kind of, in general terms, explain what that is? In a nutshell, if you can. Once I figure it out, I'll tell you. Overseer sounds daunting. But yeah, anything that's business ops for both the team and the arena is something I get to deal with. So a lot of that's sales, marketing, but also operations, food and beverage. Anything you see going on that's not the team playing, I've got some piece of. But key is I have really smart people on the team that I work with.
Oh my goodness. Well, we, I mean, as fans, you are crushing it. I'm very thrilled to dive deeper and get to know you more. But I always start off by asking, what does a home game day look like for you? That's a good question. I'm still trying to figure it out I think.
We're in a little bit of a sales mode, so there's some of that where there are usually meetings that start 5 5 15 where we're showcasing new parts in the morning no no oh jeez no i went i went to like game time okay that's good that's a little funny no
A normal day starts me as anything else would. I go through a ton of meetings. I feel like that's what I live in, is meetings. And that usually wraps for me on a game day around 5. And that's when I kind of go into my game day mode, where... I go into more meetings, but they're usually sales focused.
And then throughout the game, I'm bouncing from different people who may be in the building. So I don't see a ton of our games at home. I think I get made fun of at my house because road games I'll watch intently and then home games. I maybe see 10 minutes. Well, that's what I was going to ask you because I stand up in 229 and I see you pop in and out and you'll watch the game and you're chatting with people, but...
Where are you mostly during a home game? Because I know you're here, there, and everywhere. That's the best way to put it. Here, there, and everywhere. So I am all over all five floors of the arena.
throughout a game and I get a lot of steps in and there are a few times in brief moments where I say okay where can I go watch for like 38 seconds and it's usually right next to you at 229 and it's funny you know having been there for a long time before That was kind of my hangout back when I was VP of marketing in the olden days.
And so it's kind of hard to break some of those habits of where you go when there is a moment to breathe. But that's one spot. And it's a great spot to be, to watch. I love that angle. It's a great angle. Shoot twice and you can see the net. Especially in the third period, the action's coming to you. It's a great spot. Now, because you are here, there, and everywhere, and you do get the opportunity to speak with a lot of fans, what would you tell fans that might be
recognize you but a little nervous to approach you and go up to you I mean like are you are you an open book and people say hi without a doubt I still have to remind myself that there are people who want to say hi to me because I It's just not what I think about in a game day. I love our hockey community and I love our fan base. And so I really enjoy talking with people. So the times that people do want to talk, I'm all ears. Unless I'm running to something, but then I usually kind of say hi.
Let you know that I need to run. But yeah, wide open book. Do you ever travel to the away game? Yeah, I will more moving forward. I've only done a couple trips this year. It's been getting my feet kind of under me a little bit more this year. We've got so much going on with the renovations and development. Just trying to figure out where we are from the sales process overall as I kind of get re-acclimated. But yeah, I think travel is good from...
seeing other buildings and seeing what they're doing. I like going to buildings that have recently done renovations to see some of the things they've done to make sure we're stealing best practices. I don't travel a ton, but I do it intently when I do. Yeah, and that's a perfect segue into what I wanted to start talking to you about because...
The fan base is growing so rapidly. Raleigh as an area is growing so rapidly. And there's so much that's going to be happening at Lenovo Center. So what do the fans have to look forward to in the coming years? I know there's a lot, but can you give us a little hint of what it's going to look like?
So, I mean, it's broken out in the way I usually describe. There's two different things. You have the arena renovations. So that's one piece of kind of think of anything inside the building itself. And then there's the development outside the building. So it's two different major projects.
Brian Fork gets to lead both to some extent and you know it's it's a task. I can't even imagine. And the inside of the building's already started. A lot of people don't know that they're arena renovations so we have to dig out. at the arena level so down behind the locker rooms we have to build out new spaces so that's red clay down there and to do what we need to do we need to make a wider footprint so they're currently digging out the red clay, excavating it out the back north end.
Our goal is for fans to never see that right now. you're succeeding because I'm in there like I'm in there in the weeds even more than fans are and I had no idea this was happening and if you were in there at midnight you would hear loud jackhammers and concrete exploding and then them carrying that out throughout the day so We are working kind of around the clock to get things ready.
It's a long story. I won't bore you with the details, but on that arena level to bring in this new Lenovo Legend Club and the bunker suites and some new fan access points on the ice level we have to take the stuff that's currently housed there so that's mainly storage areas and put that storage somewhere so that's what they're excavating right now we then move the storage we then build the rooms and the
new clubs and bunker suites and that's kind of part of phase one along with the 300 level the 300 level gets a full upgrade there's a new view bar going in there's new concessions that are higher end that are grab-and-go style much more convenient So there is a three phased approach to the inside renovations. This is phase one. Our goal is for most of it to happen in the off season.
I think it's a little bit lofty to say it will all happen in the off seasons. There'll be a little bit of bleed, but it's mainly the summers of this year and then the following two. And you kind of, start at the bottom the top and then work down and out of the building so next summer the summer after would be when we kind of hit club level and main con and then the final summer is when we you'd see a lot of
exterior renovations and kind of the look of the building change and then some of the functionality of the way the building will start to interact with the development outside so there's just so much that's going on it's it's kind of wild right now i cannot wait i know it a few years or however many years down the road but for also the outside to get that look and that entertainment and there's going to be like shops and restaurants and
I mean, I mean, can we all even maybe potentially live down there? Like one day if there's like apartment complexes? Not one day. It's in the plants. That's so awesome. And it is to me, you know, having gone to NC State and kind of growing up with the arena. Yeah. What's wild is if you look back at when the arena paperwork was signed in 1997. It contemplated mixed use in 1997.
It contemplated retail shops and hotels and those things. It's just taken us 28 years to get here, essentially, to where it's going to start happening. So in December of this year of 25, shovels will go on the ground outside to start building the first two parking decks then the Live Nation venue, and then what will be some type of sports bar concept that'll be kind of in the east parking lots this coming year.
There's a lot going on. Oh my gosh. What a time to be a Caniac and to be, you know, here in Raleigh. I'm obsessed with that. Ice-T is presented by Lane & Associates Family Dentistry. Now the team at Lane, they don't just handle fillings and cleanings.
They also do cosmetic dentistry, Invisalign, sleep apnea, and even TMJ care. So to find a location near you, head to lanedds.com. So you just mentioned, and I don't know if a lot of people know, but you... started with the carolina hurricanes as an intern yeah and now you are the president so You just kind of mentioned the growth, but what has it been like literally being, you know, seeing the team start when it was brand new? Carolina Hurricanes from the Whalers to now. What has that been like?
I smile because it does mean something to me because I know where we came from. And I think that's kind of fun, right? When I started in 2000, 2001, We were having to explain that the Carolina Hurricanes were a member of the NHL, and here's what the NHL is. I used to say I had to break myself of saying I work for the Carolina Hurricanes, a team in the National Hockey League.
That's what we said for the first handful of years while we'd introduce ourselves. And so it's amazing to see the growth from where that was. remember vividly certain trips where we'd go out of market and no one knew who we were and we had to explain that no we we don't play your local ECHL team we're playing the Detroit Red Wings and the Montreal Canadiens and
That was shocking to people. And then it was also, early days, there were people who didn't love hockey. And I think that's kind of dissipated to some extent. Oh, 100% it has. Yeah, and so it's kind of fun to watch the temperature change of where... Maybe we were fighting whether hockey belonged in the southeast.
to now everyone loves the idea and maybe they've got a different favorite team, but they've got an opinion and they want to talk about hockey, which is extremely exciting. Well, what I love and really just witnessed when we played the Washington Capitals was, well, I don't know if I love this, I'd rather have a Kane's jersey, but when people came,
And, you know, you're talking with the fans. They said, oh, I'm a Canes fan, but I'm from Washington. So when our team comes here, you know, I root for both teams. But people are switching jerseys. I mean, I told you, I'm from Boston. Yeah.
I do not root for the Bruins anymore even though they were my home team growing up so it's really great when the people are transplants and moving here and dedicated to a team they are now choosing the carolina hurricanes as their team we talked about a lot in the early days and still talk about it because you would have especially, you know, when I'd say pre this run of playoffs, pre-2017.
You'd have someone who's a fan of a team of the Canes 39 times a year, and then two nights a year, they're in a Rangers or Bruins. or whatever jersey. Right. And as I always talked to my staff back then of saying, hey guys, We're raising Canes fans now. And that 22-year-old who leaves NC State and moves to Chicago, we don't want them to immediately become a Blackhawks fan. So we need to understand that that happens. Right. Our goal back then was to get the kid.
And you let the parents stay a Rangers fan twice a year and 39 times a Canes fan. The kid, I want to be a Canes fan. And that's what's really exciting about right now is you're seeing that generational change. where there are people who grew up in the market and don't know this market without the team. If you were born in this market in the late 90s, early 2000s, Your cognitive years you know the Canes as being a Raleigh based team
And those folks are now buying tickets. And those folks are even starting to have kids. And you're starting to see second and third generation Canes fans. which that's the key thing to see a market flip. It's impossible for someone to go plan a team in a market and say, oh, you're going to have deep roots and you're going to overcome being... having rough seasons for four or five years.
You can't when you're on your team. Exactly. And we're finally starting to see that shift. And you and I were talking before we started rolling about Shane Willis, all good things, obviously, but he's done such a fascinating job with the community outreach as well and youth hockey. And we have one of the best youth hockey programs in the country. And that says so much too, where not only kids are loving the team, but they're loving the sport in general. So that's amazing.
Yeah, we just sent five teams to nationals. We had one team win a national championship. Oh, fantastic. And seeing the growth there. And Shane is a big part of it. There were people that came before him, Paul Strands, the Brian Memes. Yes. who laid the groundwork, but Shane's been phenomenal. Oh, I'm so excited. And, you know, we dipped our toe in, but let's go full throttle playoffs around the corner.
What can the fans... I need tea for this. Yeah, okay, yes. Let's take our tea for sure. Let me sip and make sure this is unsweet. We're good. We're good. Mine is perfectly sweet. Oh, good, good. I love that. I know I've never even asked you. I also start with... you know what kind of tea you like and you chose the sweet tea because you're from north carolina yeah yeah it makes me feel good good good well i'm glad you were feeling at home but yes let's dive into
the playoffs what can the fans anticipate i mean obviously the loudest house in the nhl there's a different vibe when it comes to playoffs without a doubt yeah and i've been a fan the last seven years so i did my sabbatical kind of away from the canes I think I've maybe missed two playoff games in the last seven years. So like we still kept season tickets. I still was at almost every playoff game.
outside of a couple of friends who had ill-timed weddings. But that moment when the team takes the ice is big. I've seen what our team is working on from creative, and I love it. And I think, not to give too much away, I think we're leaning into, there's been a lot of really positive comments from some of our players about how much they love Raleigh. and how much they love playing inside Lenovo Center.
And we're leaning into some of those comments and using that as kind of a motivator as the team takes the ice. I mean, I'm getting chills already, so I can only imagine. And when the lights are down and they're going and that video is playing, the chills and the goosebumps and the rally towels going. It's there's nothing like it. And if you've never been to a playoff game, please come because the electricity, especially at Lenovo Center, is I have moments where.
I am so thankful to do what I do. And then you get towards the end of the season and you're still thankful, but you're like, oh, this season's been long. playoffs, I always have a moment where I'm like, This is why I do this. This is why I do this. And I think sometimes it gets lost because we have the video before that says they can hear you in the locker room. They can. They can. And, you know.
Going back to my internship days, my early start days, I was on the promotions team and would do the in-game entertainment. And I was always near or on the ice for the anthem to make sure the anthem singer was good and backup mics.
In the playoffs, we usually had to communicate with two people. You couldn't speak to the other person, so we had to come up with hand signs because even though we're as close as we are here, you can't yell and talk. And we had to come up with signs of, okay, you grab this, you're time to get it. And I think that's what people need to understand is those guys are taking the ice. They can't hear.
And that's not always normal when you travel different rinks. It's loud, but it's not our kind of loud. And I'm excited for, you know, the new guys on the team that we just welcomed this year to experience that also for the first time. Oh my gosh. Amazing. Did you ever see in your path, in your life, that you would go from intern to president of this franchise? I was a confident kid, so I'd probably say yes.
That's great, though. You have to have that confidence. It was something I talked about when I was younger, and there were a lot of people who helped me, Jim Rutherford, Jason Carmanos, Pete Carmanos, people on that first iteration of the team, Mike Amendola. I would voice that to them. I would say, hey, this is a path. I've never had a dream of being a GM. I don't want to trade players. But as I got into the business, I've loved the business.
because I see what a team, a pro sports team, does for a community. And I'll be honest, when, you know, in that 2000 to 2005, 2006 run, It felt unique that Raleigh would have a pro sports team. I would say Pete Carmanos was probably a little early jumping into this market. And so for the fact that our community had a professional sports team, it meant something to me. And there was a piece of that of how do we keep this moving forward so it stays here.
And I love having been a part of that. But yeah, there was always a goal that I wanted to reach that mark. What's interesting maybe for me than maybe some other people in the pro sports ranks I haven't ever had that for other teams. So like if you offered me the president role of X team in X city, I don't know if I would be as excited about that. This was a particular place I wanted to be.
Because I loved what I was doing when I left. The last seven years, I've really enjoyed what I was doing with MDO Holdings and Michael Longer Jr. So for me to come back, it was a special role, a special time. Well, we're very thankful to have you. And now that your year one, if you will, is kind of wrapping up of you being the president, what has been the... There's been a lot of projects, a lot of fundraisers, but what has been the one that you are most...
That's a great question. You know, I think the things that always still surprise me, you know, we're at 107 straight sellouts. Yes. Which is just wild, right? That's a big one that I think still Doug from 10 years ago has a hard time fathoming.
I think that I still love what we get to do when we interact with the community. So I would point to two things. One, Our Western North Carolina assistance has been huge, and we met the million-dollar commitment thanks to our owner, our players, and most importantly, our fans, and watching where some of that money's going and hearing those stories.
I'm actually a little bummed. We've got a team in Western North Carolina right now. So Amy Daniels, Nigel Wheeler, our general counsel, a bunch of folks, Shane Willis are in Western North Carolina right now seeing where we've been giving the money. They've been texting me photos and stories. It's devastating where they still are, but it's really heartwarming knowing how much we're donating is really helping locations in need. um the other thing we had a kid anthony who came out um who
Was in a little bit different situation than a lot of the Make-A-Wish kids we work with. A lot of times you're working with kids who've been through battles but have positive prognosis. And Anthony's is not. And, you know, the fact he chose our team as his one thing that he wanted to do meant a lot to me. That, hey, here's a kid who's in a really rough spot, and this is what he wants to do is the positive time.
and then his outlook i mean i spent a lot of time with him the day he was with the team and um you would have never guessed where he was and and he so he just told me he said hey i take every day day by day And the Canes are a big part of it. How we're playing, what trades we're making, how guys are doing. And it's just a good reminder, one, how lucky we are. But two, what the team means to a lot of people. Yeah, the team means so much.
um there there is also a video of that journey with him right on the youtube page yeah it's um i remember we showed it in in game as well and it was a beautiful story but yeah that's what this team is doing. for this community and it's a family it's a family I actually got to if you watch the video back I almost get decapitated by Stormy and his giant flag on the ice
Because we don't usually put people in the storm surge with the players. That's right. I was taking Anthony out. We came out from the Olympia entrance and Stormy didn't know we were coming. My Matrix skills were good, so I dodged it really well. Listen, Stormy has a mind of its own, so I love that you were okay in that moment. That's something that I've always been intrigued by, though. Being down there on the ice for the storm surge, what was that moment like?
for you. That's cool. You hear the fans. I think that's the thing that maybe gets lost a lot of times from our fan base is that When you're on the ice, you hear them and it comes through. And when it's loud and when people are clapping, you feel it. And those moments, you know, you're doing the storm surge because you won. And so there's a piece of that where there's just elation that's built in.
and when you've got a special moment like that it just it's over the top how did the storm surge start i don't even think i know that do you i think there's i mean that happened when i was gone okay i think there's some mythical nature around how the storm surge and who actually started it
But I think there was, I think Justin Williams and Jordan Stahl and Tom Dundon. I think there was a bunch of people who were in play there. Okay. But I love it because it's a cool moment of connection between the fans and the... and the team after a win. It's just a neat way to stay bonded. And if you look now at what that looks like, then the three stars, then the bench interview, and how that plays as opposed to where we were 10 to 15 years ago.
You have people sticking around and not rushing to their cars. It's a rare thing. Like most people at the end of games in almost every market, it's okay. How quickly can I get out of here, get my car and get home?
We have a lot of fans who want to stick around for that cool moment. I mean, I stay for a while because I'm packing up my things you have to yeah i'm not rushing out i promise um no but but people are i'm still in traffic even an hour after the game because people are just enjoying and tailgating and wrapping things up and having conversations and it's it's so it's so wonderful to see that and when my parents came in town they came to a game and again my dad is
Very, very much a Bruins fan, but he was very excited and wanted the team to win because he could not wait to participate. in the surge so and we did we got a win and he was able i have a picture of him like with his arms up doing that so it really was it meant a lot to me too starting to shift a little bit i think be careful they're gonna come they're gonna retire and move down here and it's gonna be great and carolina will be the new number one Plus Boston.
you know if they know it's good for that But I was also reading that you had a hand in... two uniform redesigns. Okay, I was wondering where we were going. That's really cool! What designs? One that might not have been as popular was what we called our new storm design, which was our first big shift. So it was when we changed the red and the white jerseys. Okay. 13, 14.
That was a drastic shift. Sometimes you have to go away from the classic for the classic to be cool again. We listened to the fans, and then as I was leaving, I guess what's kind of the current red. was the last project I worked on. So it was what our current red jersey looks like of kind of bringing the flag pattern back in the bottom. I did get to work on the warning flag logo and kind of the negative space with the state logo.
But that didn't come to fruition, didn't get rolled out from probably two years after I left. But that is really cool and something I didn't even realize until, I don't know if it was Mike Foreman who posted it. And I was like, oh my gosh, yes, North Carolina is literally in between the flags. That's so unique. Yeah, it was funny. We went outside of our design team to try to start that project, and we kept saying things that we wanted and where we wanted kind of the little Easter egg moments.
no one could get why we wanted to do it and so we just said at that time don't worry about it we'll handle it in-house and I think What our team came up with was better than anything that anybody out of house was trying to help us with. The uniforms are fantastic and they look great. And that's really a really fun project that you get to work on. I will say this as a little bit of a teaser. We always like looking at them. So I don't think we'll...
I like that Tom Dundon likes to change things up. And so he's not one who gets stuck in, you know, a lore of this or that. So we are always analyzing. There are long processes. You know, even if you design something, it usually doesn't roll out for like a year and a half. Okay. Wait, is this a teaser saying there might be a new rollout? You know, I think we're always looking at our different kits. Okay. You can look at the home, you can look at the road, you can look at the third.
I think always try to keep things fresh and different. Thank you, Doug Warf, for that tidbit. We will keep our eye out. We will keep our eye out on these uniforms and we'll see what happens in the next coming years. Nothing drastic, but yeah, always fun to play with. We love it. We love a slight change here and there. I need to know, where were you?
During the 2006 Stanley Cup playoff win. And what part... of involvement were you at at this point with the canes yeah i was uh i ran our promotions fan development department so i would be probably the equivalent of sam uh heinson okay yeah at that point in time and I helped bring the cup to the ice so if you watch the video closely I'm with the two cup guys, helping them get the cup out of the back of the building and get it to the ice.
And then I get mobbed by like 40 people. And I was the one, if you ever look back at those videos, I won't say who, but they're still associated with the team. We were supposed to keep the family off the ice. And we had been such a family team that playoff run at all about the players and coaches' families. And so my job was to get the cup out and then to kind of keep the families at bay until the families could come on the ice.
and I was doing my best at keeping them at bay and one very influential person came up and was like, very politely. Doug, you're letting all the families on the ice. And I was like, no, I can't. And they're like, no, but you are, like right now. And so you can almost go back and watch this video of the families flooding the ice, these league officials somewhat freaking out and yelling at me and me kind of just being like, I...
I can't. Sorry, that guy told me. And you had to listen at that point. But how exciting? Did you actually get to enjoy the moment, though? Or were you so worried about the coordination? No, I was terrified. It probably was weeks later because...
you know the part about that too and i don't mean to go down this weird rabbit hole of memory lane but we had a parade the very next day and so we had to organize the parade and that was around the building at the time fayetteville street was closed as they were flipping it for pedestrian mall We'd wanted to do it there. The city then came back and said, well, we need to do a second parade. So we had these multiple parades we did. And then our job was to take the cup out in the community.
It was kind of a weird time we'd come out of the lockout where we lost a full season. My department was down to me. I worked all the way through the lockout. We had to hire a full department coming out. Paul Strand, John Chase, George Brown were guys that I hired.
two weeks before the season started we had no clue what we were doing that was the entire 05-06 season we won the cup we then are like okay go take the cup all around town opening night the following year we raised the banner and like i get teary-eyed and i'll never forget somebody saying like oh you're emotional i was like no i can't believe it's opening night like i don't know what just happened for a year and a half like i don't know where i am what's my name
what just happened. Oh, I love that story so much. Okay, so since you were working with the team for the Stanley Cup, do you have a ring? I do, yeah. I have a ring that actually has my name on it, which is wild. What does it look like? So it's a little smaller than the player ring, but it's exact same as the player ring from that year.
i don't wear it a lot because it's it's even though it's smaller than the player ring it's audacious and like you know you would notice it's not one that you can like oh what do you got on there it's like you're like hey you're trying to blind me and that looks really weird So I don't wear it a ton, but it means a lot to me. Do you keep it a special place in your home? I'm not going to tell you that. Oh my god, this is Spill the Teens! Don't!
Yeah, I've got it in a special place. Oh, good. Oh, my gosh. I would, too. Oh, my God. What a dream. And she's going to kill me for this. My wife also was with the team at that time. Okay. So we're a rare couple.
where both of us have Stanley Cup. The same exact one. Yeah, she was not my wife at that time, so it has her maiden name and mine has my last name. That's really great. That is very, very cool. And your daughter, I'm sure, finds that very, very... cool too does she even know or realize the extent of that she doesn't i don't think she finds anything i do very cool but she loves the team now she will she will certainly understand it she thinks that there she loves
KK and Jarvis and a handful of the players but she doesn't think anything I do is very cool oh she she will she will and wait I saw on your um On your social media. She's skating sports herself. yeah she is she is um she's starting softball and uh she you know she tries a lot of different things oh that's so great okay so your love growing up because you grew up in winston-salem yours was baseball correct and you grew up playing baseball yeah wanted to be
a professional player but then got into the business side of things yeah that's the only reason i didn't become a professional player is i really got interested in the business it wasn't because i wasn't good enough to be a professional baseball player of course no for sure but because your love is baseball um Did you really know anything about hockey before it came here? Did you follow hockey at all?
So it's funny, my buddies and I were a little different in that we did like hockey in Winston-Salem. And this is like a lot of people from my generation. We played Sega Genesis, and there were some great hockey games on Sega Genesis. And so... I'll never forget, I think it was like 7th or 8th grade, we all went and bought jerseys.
and we started playing roller hockey there were no leagues in winston salem and so that'll tell you kind of where that was in the early to mid 90s there was no place for us to really go find a place to play so we played street hockey i wore my Florida Panthers John Van Beesbrook jersey and acted like I was going to be the next goalie in the NHL. But it was such a pipe dream then. It was hard for us to watch and there weren't games.
So when the Canes came in, it was a really cool thing. We liked it, but it still, it wasn't the sport that I grew up playing. And I think that helped a little bit. I tried one season in minor league baseball working. And... There was too much where I wanted to... critique the players or or watch that piece yeah and in hockey there was never a time where i thought well i could
I could probably be out there doing fourth line minutes. That's never crossed my mind. And I think it's been able to help me separate between the game and the business. What was your favorite team? do you have a favorite Braves I'm a Braves fan if I had a guess I would so I was born in South Carolina and even growing up in Winston you know the Panthers came in late so I was
I'm a Commanders fan now, and that was the team that was here. I've grown to love the Panthers, but they were not here until I was 14 or 15. Then the Braves and TBS, that was all you watched. So like the Dale Murphy, Ron Gant, that 91-era Braves team that went to the World Series from worst to first.
that was like what my world was back in the 90s oh my gosh amazing and then look at this the hockey comes here and your your world just kind of comes full circle with your friends and do they ever like look back on those times and be like did you ever anticipate that that From us playing street hockey to you being the president now, do they? They text me a lot of weird questions. I'm sure they do. I'm sure they do. When you were bringing up Sega Genesis, did you ever play the hockey game?
grew up playing was Blades of Steel. Do you remember that one? Yeah, I do remember Blades of Steel. That was a good one. Blades of Steel was good. It was no NHL, so 93 to 94 when there could be fighting, and then you had one-timers in 94. Those were the big iterations of NHL. so i mean even when i was in the late 90s early 2000s i took my sega to nc state and we would have tournaments in my in my dorm room as a freshman so i guess it was something we always kept around um so what
do you do for fun if there is ever any downtime for you? I don't know. Listen, here lately there has not been downtime. I like to be active, so I like to work out and ride my bike. My daughter now loves bike riding, so I think any time we get, we kind of try to get out and get on a trail somewhere. Free time is not something I'm too close with here lately. Listen, I mean, I would be surprised if you had any free time, but I do hope that in the offseason you get your chance to...
Kind of have a little break. Now, does your daughter come to a lot of the games and is it great seeing the game through her eyes? I love that and I love that I kind of had what I call a sabbatical there where
I had seven years as a fan. You get ingrained to it. I was there for 16 years. It becomes what you know and do. I would always tell our staff, remember, like, People who are coming for the first time don't know these things and they don't understand certain things and we need to make sure that we're not
catering to an audience that's just kind of our our devoted fans we have to keep widening that net yeah um that helped me one leaving and kind of seeing the fan experience from a different angle but two yeah My daughter helps me see it through her eyes. She's nine. The lifelong fans, there was a study way back when, lifelong fans are made around age seven or eight. Okay. And usually it is a family tradition or something big happens.
right so we're focused on that that her age range of seven eight nine Making sure Stormy's getting to schools, making sure we've got good school programming, that you see the brand, you interact with the brand, and then doing everything we can to get kids to the game to see the game. and learn about the players. Those are big, big pieces because you have to put it at their level to where they want to consume it and understand those things and then they grow with it.
It's just harder at age 20 to try to introduce that to somebody. Absolutely. And speaking of the fans, what has been one of the biggest takeaways that you've gotten from the fans this year? Things that they like, things that they want to see improved?
I've had a lot of suggestions this year from fans. And they also have the opportunity on... There's a QR code in-game where people... can say what their favorite part of the game is and what they're not so there is a lot of opportunity for the fans to have their voice heard which is so great i think beer prices
Yeah, but you're offering that. I mean, we do have some games where it's the big hockey beer stick. Big stick, or it's usually a 22 to 24 ounce beer. People don't always break it down per ounce. those are fun um they are yeah i've heard about that i don't get to experience that anymore um it was funny when
Tom Dundon once asked me, like, do I know? I was like, Tom, yeah, I know the exact prices of these because I was buying them like six months ago as a fan. I think a lot that we've heard from fans is really how we're looking at the construction and what we're doing with concessions. I think most people, when you come to the game, what you want to do is be in your seat the longest you can. How do you reduce lines getting in the building? How do you make parking easier?
How do you make the ingress process easier? And then how do we make concessions quicker, faster? uh restrooms more readily available and i think those are all things we're trying to take into account as we're doing this construction process fantastic fantastic Okay, well, we have made it to the last segment. Oh, man, I'm nervous. Don't be nervous. It is called Spill the Tea. Okay. And just answer to the best of your ability. Oh, God.
Don't get me in trouble. I won't, I promise. It's been fine so far, hasn't it? Yeah, I think so. Okay, okay. A Major League Baseball team coming here to Raleigh. I don't know. Man, you say you're not going to get me in trouble. That's like the hottest topic. There are a lot of steps to that. And I think what we're trying to do with Major League Baseball is we want to make sure we're ready if it's possible.
They have released nothing to any real extent about expansion or anything to that nature, but I applaud Tom Dundon for always wanting to make sure that we have done our homework. and that we're ready if something presents itself. But there are a lot of steps in that process. Of course, of course. I just had to ask. You were sitting in the chair, so I just had to ask. It would be very cool. It would be great.
Okay, now these aren't hard at all. Favorite place to eat on the concourse? If you could choose one snack. I think our barbecue is amazing. Oh, it's so good. So I love our barbecue and slaw. you know outside gonza i'm a big gonza fan so um i i usually would hit that up but i'm a picky eater are you yeah i'm a little tougher to to nail down okay interesting you just don't you you kind of like your basic Yeah, yeah, I kind of like them. It's not basics.
I eat gluten-free, so it makes more things a challenge. But I do love our concourse because there are some good gluten-free options. There are great gluten-free options, and I do commend... Lenovo Center and you and everyone for that because yes I myself
I might have been in a few people's ears the last seven or eight years because I was the fan trying to eat. But I think there's a lot of solid options. Absolutely. And we're trying to continue to push those forward. Fantastic. Delicious stuff on the concourse. Okay. On a scale of one to ten. How stinky is the locker room? I've never been down there tonight. I have no idea. I'm maybe immune to it. So if you went into like a youth locker room. Yeah. That's like a 10.
I'm sure. Because those bags don't get cleaned. You've got to remember that our guys' equipment is cleaned regularly. That's right. They still sweat, and it still smells of sweat. But to me, it's like a three. It barely registers for me. Yeah. Yeah, no, I can imagine that. Because the locker room, I mean, when we see it from a fan's perspective, the camera you know does a little shot of them inside the locker room
Such a nice locker room. It looks so clean. Yeah, and Bob Gorman and team do a great job of keeping those guys' stuff clean. Yes. It's the... 12 and under team that you go into at Invisalign that that's where you might want a nose plug. Listen, they're just starting the deodorant. They're just getting into all that. They aren't sure what's going on. That's so funny.
Um, okay, so normally when we see you, you are, you know, in your suit and tie and buttoned up, but do you ever wear a king's jersey and if so i wear a lot of i don't i don't wear a jersey um I've got a number of jerseys that I've acquired over the years just through random auctions and things of me liking the team. Yeah. People ask me a lot of times kind of who.
I don't usually go with the top guys. I love Derek Stahl, Rod Brendamore, Ron Francis, Glenn Wesley, our four retired players. Scott Walker and Tuomo Rutu are two guys that I used to get asked the question, like, Who would you say were favorites? I wouldn't put them as favorites. They're guys that, one, were great to work with. They were great community guys. They were great family guys.
they also played like how i would have played i think smaller a little undersized but kind of feisty I think Logan Stankoven could fit that bill a little bit right now. I've always liked those guys.
hustle players they're hustle players yeah it's not to say they weren't high in talent no no for sure because i always used to hate that knock when i was a player he's a hustle guy it's like what are you saying i'm not good well but you just and you can relate to that hustle because you've done it your whole life so i i I can appreciate that. And with the playoffs being around the corner.
how good are you feeling about this season? We don't have to say what the end goal is, but how good do you feel heading into the playoffs? I love where we are. I think we are sneaking up on people. I agree. And I think
We have a team that can compete with anybody. And I think a lot of it's going to depend on how we are gelling at the right times. What's the goaltending play look like? What's our defensive play look like in front of it? How's our power play clicking? And I think... I feel good about where we are, and it's odd right now.
that we have almost two weeks where you've clenched. We essentially know who we're playing and likely at home, right? We know we're starting with the Devils, likely starting at home Easter weekend, which is always fun to slay the Devils on Easter weekend. But we've got like 10 days until that kicks in. So there's a time where you can actually give some guys some rest.
Hockey might not look the best while you're doing that but I think our team will be really well prepared for the playoffs. I absolutely agree. And this last one is not a question. Okay. More of a listener suggestion. As we know. No, no, no. I think this could be a really cool idea. Okay. Just let me know your thoughts. Okay, so we know Coach Rod Brennamore.
would never want like a statue of himself somewhere he's not like that but do you think it's possible we could name the main road in the entertainment district when it develops 17th street as a non-gerod okay i like that um Rod deserves anything and more that we could give him. So I think 17th Street would be, that's a really cool option.
i think a statue i think you name it rod helped cement our team as credible i was actually joking with him the other day um because you know when he moved here and at 2000, 2001. We were still trying to figure ourselves out as a city, as a team. He moved in the middle of a huge snowstorm. I didn't know that. Yeah, and so he had this kind of rough intro to Raleigh, and now he is the staunchest defender of our region. He married Amy Biedenbach, who's now Amy Brendamore.
who's a NC Stater, dance team at NC State. They are true, true triangle residents. And I think it's just the coolest thing to watch him go from player to coach. And he has always been an effort, grit guy. But I think we owe a lot of where we are to Rod. So you name it, I think it's a great idea. Fantastic. Well, on that note, Thank you, sir, for all your hard work and for giving all of us Caniacs the opportunity to
not only enjoy the best team in the NHL, but to have our voice heard and you have done a fantastic, fantastic job. It's an honor to have you as a boss boss, and I appreciate all that you've done. And with that, thank you so much for joining me on the ICT Podcast. Thank you, man. Appreciate it. Thank you for watching this season of the ice tea podcast presented by Lane and a I am so the last episode. Team Joe.