Proposed owners provide $500,000 to save Grizzlys

The Olds Grizzlys are certainly not on life support anymore, as representatives of the new ownership group made a presentation to the Olds Sportsmen's Recreational Association (OSRA) at last week's annual general meeting (June 21), and announced they have raised a half million dollars through private investors.

Both Jason Jaffray, interim president of the Friends of the Grizzlys Society, and Grizz alum Mike van Tetering made a pitch to the OSRA membership, finally revealing details about the new owners, including seven alumni.

After some heated debate, including concerns over players leaving and lack of communication with the board and coaches, the OSRA voted in favour of accepting the change in ownership effective June 30, pending approval by the AJHL.

In addition, instead of electing a new board, members voted to leave the current board in place until the transfer of ownership is completed, at which point the OSRA will be dissolved.

A group of 15 private investors have come up with $500,000, well beyond the final debt figure of $321,579.

The group issued a press release last Thursday (June 22) listing 15 members of the new ownership group, including Grizzly alumni Darcy Dallas, Josh Erdman, Mike Van Tetering, Shawn Pitkanen, JP Trottier, Gary Lebsack and Ian Perkins. In addition, local business owners Ed and Paul Hildebrand, Scott Leatherdale, and Mike Galye, have signed on, along with Richardson Bros. Construction and the Olds Minor Hockey Association.

Jaffray said the group considered other fundraising avenues, but at the end of the day, decided they wanted private capital.

"We haven't drained that pool of people that have made this work for many years, and will continue, I'm guessing, to make this work," said Jaffray, noting that they will still need the community's support – through sponsorship, ticket sales and raffles – for yearly operations.

Van Tetering said the group wanted to have a good investor base, and enough capital moving forward, that it could stand on its own.

"We didn't want to go to the community again and say 'we need everyone to contribute or else the Grizzlys are gone' – kind of the hostage kind of thing," he said.

To date, the new ownership group has signed the purchase agreement, assumed the liabilities of the franchise, and submitted its application to incorporate as a non-profit organization.

In addition, to meet a condition set by the AJHL, the group put $105,000 into trust with the league on June 15.

Right now, two sticking points are preventing things from moving forward more quickly: the 75 days it takes for the province to process the non-profit application, and AJHL approval of the ownership change.

The group cannot officially form a board or hire staff until it has incorporated, making it difficult for it to take any organizational control at the moment.

The AJHL deadline is June 30, and the group is currently in the process of submitting ownership documents for review. At this point, neither of them expect any obstacles.

"There should be no reason why this should fall apart now," said Jaffray. "There's a lot of people that have put in a lot of work and time and effort into this in the last 28 days and we're not going to let it fall apart now."

With such a lag out of the gate, it's hard to know what to expect or hope for from the Grizzlys on the ice this year. During the meeting, head coach Dana Lattery caused a stir when he told the members that "half of the team is thinking about leaving."

"There's definitely concern, when you are in limbo for a month," said Jaffray, who currently plays for Munich in the German Hockey League. "I'd be one of those guys that wants out too, because I don't know if the team's going to be in place."

"Now we've gotten to the point where you know what, we ARE going to be Olds Grizzlys," said Jaffray. "We need to get people on board, and positions in place, (so) that we can convince these kids that this is the place you want to be, this is the place that you are going to get your NCAA scholarship from, this is a system that you want to be a part of because we're gonna grow over the years, and we want to be one of the best teams in the league."

But are they really going to lose players?

"Yep. Oh yeah. We already have," said Lattery afterward.

The head coach said it's been a long month.

"Looking back, this probably should have been triggered four months ago," he said. "It's not their fault – it's just bad timing."

At the end of the day, Lattery said, the point is that the Grizzlys will play this season.

"We tell our players every day that you have to put the team first. And the team IS first, and the team IS here," said Lattery.

"A financially stable hockey team in the town of Olds," said Lattery, "it could be awesome."

Darcy Dallas: President Whitewater Management; Grizzly Alumnus, 1990–1993 (Sundre)
Josh Erdman: Owner/Operator Alberta Parking Lot Services; Grizzly Alumnus: 1989–1993 (Red Deer)
Blake and Russ Parker: President, Braken Holdings Ltd. (Calgary)
Ed Hildebrand: Owner MELP Ltd. (Olds)
Paul Hildebrand: Owner/Operator Hildebrand Motors (Olds)
Richardson Bros. Construction (Olds)
Scott Leatherdale: Owner/Operator Scottco Chemicals (Olds)
Mike Galye: Owner/Operator The Denture Clinic (Olds)
Mike Van Tetering: Calgary Fire Department; Grizzly Alumnus, 1987–1989 (Carstairs)
Jason Jeskela: COO Raging River Exploration (Carstairs)
Olds Minor Hockey Association (Olds)
Shawn Pitkanen: VP Drilling Codeco Energy Group; Grizzly Alumnus, 1984–1985 (Calgary)
JP Trottier: Whitewater Management; Grizzly Alumnus, 1987–1990 (Didsbury)
Gary Lebsack: VP Land Whitecap Resources; Grizzly Alumnus, 1989–1991, 1992–1993 (Calgary)
Brian and Ian Perkins: Owners/Operators Perkins Farms; Grizzly Alumni, 1992–1995