Spirit seeking new teammates

DARRELL L. BREESE

Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - Teammates wanted.

Locally based Junior A hockey team seeking new members. Must have a passion for hockey, have a burning desire to succeed and be a great team player.

One other qualification is having a large amount of cash to invest in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley's newest sports franchise.

The Wasilla Spirit is looking for local investors to form an ownership group.

When the team moved north from Springfield, Missouri Jack Tragis president of the Fairbanks Ice Dogs helped convince the North American Hockey League board of governors that if they would take temporary ownership of the team, a local ownership group would take over.

Acting as president for the Spirit, Tragis thinks its time to start looking for that owner.

Now that the season is underway and the residents of the Valley have had a taste of Spirit Hockey, Tragis and the Spirit are ready to entertain offers for the team.

According to Spirit Marketing Director Jamie Smith a deal for the team could be made for around $250,000.

"Four or five businessmen or investors could easily form an ownership group for about $50,000 each," Smith said. "That would get them the team, all the equipment and everything involved."

Tragis doesn't think it would take that much.

"There is a deal that can be worked out for as little as say the better part of $100,000," Tragis said. "Right now Marty Brickey, the owner of the Springfield Spirit owns 75 percent interest in the Wasilla Spirit Corporation. An interested party could pick up majority ownership from him for $100,000 a little bit more than that.

"But there is also an opportunity to buy him out totally," he continued. "There are a lot of different possibilities for ownership. We're willing to consider any serious

offers."

Tragis added that there have been inquiries from individuals who live outside the Mat-Su area, but stressed that a local (Valley) was desired.

"Three or four people have made serious inquires," Tragis said. "But there not locals, we really want a locally based owner or ownership group."

"If we can't find someone locally we'll consider the offers from outside the area," he continued. "The price of poker goes up the longer you wait. The longer the wait the greater the value of equity will be in the team and thus the greater the price. The sooner we find the local owner to get in the better for the team and the new owner."

Tragis indicated that having local ownership has been a key to the success of the Ice Dogs in Fairbanks.

"Fairbanks is a community owned non-profit and that has lead to a real connection between the team and the community," Tragis added. "Since the team is locally owned the people have treated them as their own. We couldn't operate up their without the community behind us."

Tragis indicated that the current owners would begin to entertain offers from outside the Valley after about 90-120 days if there was no local interest. But added that they have had three serious inquires asking for more information and a hint that another individual is preparing an offer.

"It's a great opportunity for someone to get in on the ground floor of what is going to be a great team," Tragis concluded.

Darrell L. Breese can be reached at 352-2267 or at darrell.breese@frontiersman.com