Hartford Wolf Pack
Bob Crawford
Tom Voorhees introduced Bob Crawford, voice of the Hartford Wolf Pack. A Harvard graduate, Bob started his broadcast career with Harvard's hockey team. Currently he lives in New Britain with his wife, and they have two sons in college. The Hartford Wolf Pack is a member of the American Hockey League (AHL) and is the top player development team for the New York Rangers. The Wolf Pack has been in Hartford for 23 years now, the same duration as the Whalers were here. Heather Pantano's husband Paul, once worked for the Wolf Pack.
Bob began his NHL broadcasting career right out of college, now 32 years ago. "It's a young person's game on the ice and often in the office, but I've managed to hang on", declared Bob. The Rangers organization and Spectra, which manages the XL Center are also great. Bob also serves as public relations person for the Wolf Pack, which is a full time position and keeps him working year around. Recent changes on the broadcasting side, resulted in the ending of their familiar AM radio broadcasting show in favor of webcasting. They were previously heard on I-Heart radio, at 1410 AM, but the signal was often weak. Access is now available via www.hartfordwolfpack.com or through AHL TV online at https://theahl.com/tag/ahltv.
It is an exciting time now as the Rangers have made roster changes by trading away a number of older, more expensive players. They've also made a commitment to rebuild the team through new player development, further trades and draft picks. This manner of building a team occurs over a few years, which requires a lot of patience on the parts of the team, management and fans.
John Davidson, the new Rangers president, former goal tender and commentator believes the Wolf Pack is important to the overall organization and he is committed to making the Wolf Pack successful and integral. The Wolf Pack has been first place in their division for most of this season and also has an entirely new coaching staff with 3 new faces recently seen in the coaching office. While the Wolf Pack missed making the playoffs for the last 4 years, and 6 of the last 7 years, this followed a previous pattern of success in their first 14 of the 15 years they have been here. Today, their expectations are that they are heading towards future successes. Defense, offense and goal-tending are all improving and the overall idea is to get players ready to move up to their NHL team, the Rangers. Two young players have recently gone up to the Rangers and now the Rangers have three goal tenders, which is unusual. That includes a Russian player who passed through the Wolf Pack organization. The Wolf Pack team is buoyed by many young players and several of these players are also Russians. Bob gave a shout-out to Paul Pantano, who stopped by our meeting, as one who remembers the one Wolf Pack championship, in 2000. Concluded Bob, "We are hoping for another title in 2020."
Questions and Answers:
Don Bonner: I played hockey as a youth, and noted there was "stupid fighting" on the ice back then, and now there is less of it. Bob: The instigator rule adds an extra minor penalty to the fight instigator and the other team also gets a power play. It's no longer like in the old days when fighting was used as an intimidation technique.
Don Bonner, continuing: The speed of the game is as fast now and the player skill "unbelievable." Bob: The salary cap requires having players with several skill sets as opposed to as back then, just being a fighter. Much less fighting is now seen. Players do get continuously faster and bigger every year.
Rollie Sterrett: In Division 1 college hockey , both players are put off the ice and possibly suspended for fighting.
Bob Cave: How many fans attend? Bob: They average 4000 fans / game, but this time of year there may be twice that number. We are one of the top teams in the AHL in day-of-game sales. We have many spur of the moment attendees. But we are lower performing among the league's teams in terms of season ticket holders.
Questioner: Would attendance be better if the XL Center was improved? Bob: It's not holding us back but the building is 40 years old and does need updates. Many mechanical issues exist, including the HVAC. A recent ice-making system replacement was welcome.
Questioner: What has been the impact of having UCONN hockey at the XL center? Bob: It's been a wash as serious hockey fans just get treated to more hockey and it brings more sports fans to Hartford generally. Numbers-0wise it has not negatively impacted attendance. Our market is families with kids with many discount plans and promotional ticket offerings directed at getting families to attend greater than once per season.
Don Bonner: Any uptick on the nights when dollar beers and hotdogs are offered? Bob: Yes!
Questioner: Any talk of bringing a new NHL team to Hartford? Bob: No, nothing serious, and that goes back to the XL center buildings' condition too. It's not up to NHL standards. To get a major league franchise it would have to be completely redone, with the cost at least $200 million and up to $500 million dollars. The state government would have to invest in this, as it would be tough to attempt to rely on greater Hartford alone to afford and pay for hosting an NHL team. The annual economics of having a team is close to the 80 million dollar range, though with respect to it happening, you can never say never. Winnipeg lost and regained a team in recent years thanks to a deep pocketed owner.
Kurt Lux: The 1970s were a heyday for hockey when he could still name many hockey players. Since then other sports have publicized their stars but the NHL has not. Bob: The culture of hockey is more "about the team" and players have a hard time enjoying the spotlight. The league and the teams are seen as bigger than their stars, however that is changing now as marketing the stars is becoming more acceptable.
In closing Bob noted he had brought a bunch of full color Wolf Pack calendars for Rotarians to take with them.
Heather indicated she plans to organize a group of Rotarians to attend a Wolf Pack game on a Saturday in the near future