Can't believe it's been 10 years

It's 10 years this week since the Green Bay Gamblers last played for and won the Clark Cup - given to the playoff champions of the USHL. The Gamblers have already won the Anderson Cup two years in a row - given to the regular season champs or team with the best overall record. It's been a long drought for the Gamblers. Since Jon Cooper and his staff took over last season, the results have been nothing short of amazing. Mark Osiecki was the last head coach to win the Clark Cup. He left the Gamblers to be an assistant at UW and just last week was named the new head coach of Ohio State. We've had coaches with good pedigrees, but in the last several years winning has escaped us.

This Friday and Saturday at the Resch is the start of the championship round. The Gamblers take on Fargo. These players have been going at it since late September. They are pumped! Playoff hockey is intense and exciting. It's a great show. I say show because it is definitely entertaining. We probably won't have as big a crowds as this accomplishment deserves because it's getting late for hockey and the games aren't listed on a printed, season schedule. But the media coverage has been great, so we're hoping for at least 3,000 at each game for the start of this best of 5 series. Even if you're not a big hockey fan (I wasn't) you will be entertained by the speed of the game - it is a great spectator sport. See you at the game!

EJ brings wow factor back

It's been a little while in my opinion, but Saturday night it happened again. The WOW factor at the Resch. Elton John brought it. In fact, few can bring it like he can. I was standing the near stage at the beginning of the concert escorting the photographers to the pit. I was among the first to see Elton emerge from backstage and then as the crowd noticed him walking in the dark, the fever pitch began to rise. Once on stage and with a salute to a roaring crowd, Elton began an incredible 2 hour 45 minute performance. After he finished his 12 minute opening song, he got up from behind the piano (you see it in the photo) fired up and ready to go telling and gesturing the crowd "come on, let's go!" It gave me goose bumps. Wow. This is big time. Limos lined up out front, a mega superstar on stage and the place was rockin on a Saturday night. I've heard Elton likes to play buildings where many of the big acts don't come. Being a medium sized market, that applies to us many times. But not Saturday night. Elton John saw to that. It was his show and if I heard it once, I heard it a hundred times from fans in the seats....Wow! What a show! While some performers hang around the Resch a bit after the show, not Elton. He was out the door right after his last song. On to the next Wow.

Gamblers/Elton John/Gamblers

While many of us sleep this weekend, the operations crew at the Resch Center will be busy overight on Friday and Saturday changing from hockey to concert to hockey. The Gamblers host Indiana in the second round of the playoffs on Friday night and Sunday afternoon. Sandwiched between the two is an Elton John concert that will pack the house. What a lot of people don't know is that the ice never leaves. We just cover it up with a special material and set the chairs and stage on top of it. In fact, we keep the ice in pretty much for everything.

If Elton's concert is anything like the one he performed the last time he was here 6 or 7 years ago, we're in a for a treat. He played more than 2.5 hours straight. If you're interested in going, take a chance and head to the box office.

The Gamblers meanwhile are on a great roll in the playoffs. After games 1 and 2 in Green Bay, they head to Indiana for game 3 next Friday and game 4 Saturday if necessary. Game 5 if necessary will be in Green Bay Tuesday, April 27. Seems like forever. Hope to see you this weekend at one of the events!

Resch loses a special friend

As the Gamblers continue their playoff run this week at the Resch Center, it's a little strange looking up to the section we call ADA East and not see John D sitting at his usual perch. John D is John Dederich, who passed away last Saturday while attending the Final Four in Indianapolis. He's been a fixture at this complex for probably close to 40 years, starting full time in 1972. He was the manager of the Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena for the county and a had a big hand in the building and design of both Shopko Hall (Brown County Expo Center back then) and the Resch Center.

As a decorated Vietnam veteran, John was also one of the leading forces in the construction of the Brown County Veterans Memorial. I don't know this, but I dare say John had a rough go of it for a while after losing both of his legs in a mine accident in Vietnam as a young man. The John I knew never complained. He was a voice of reason who always had a "smart" answer - sometimes smart as in intelligent and always smart as in smart-ass! That's what you got and that's what you loved about John, never taking himself too seriously.

The last project I did with John was a few weeks ago sending a news release for him regarding a deadline for Veterans Memorial brick orders. Once the release hit the media, John got a bunch of orders in the mail and came to me and said "now look what you did!" We joked that sometimes things work out like you want them to.

I guarantee you John wants us to celebrate his death. Not celebrate that he died mind you, but just have a good time on him. He absolutely went out the way he wanted. A man who attended a million events (that might not be an exaggeration) died after watching the Final Four. He was at the Gamblers game the night before...sitting at his usual perch, at the end of ADA East. See you at the next big event John. Save me a seat.