Into the Fog, ed. 20
Thank You For the Good Times, Part Two
February 26, 2008
The time has come for many individuals involved with the St. John’s Fog Devils to accept that this great organization is coming to an end, and that part of that end is seeing people relieved of their duties or moving on under their own terms. As unfortunate as it is, I am one of these people who is seeing his time with the organization come to a close, and as I stated in last week’s edition of Into the Fog, it’s time to say thank you to some people. Once again I apologize to those who aren’t interested in my own personal thank-yous, but again I can’t think of a better way to make sure they’re seen.
I guess my first and foremost thanks goes out to the Dobbin family, particularly Brad and Derm, both of whom gave me an opportunity that few others probably would have. I started out with the team as a volunteer and within a few months was left in charge of the website and eventually in control of a large portion of hockey and media administration. I can’t stress enough the appreciation I have for the chance they gave me, I truly had a blast every day that I was a part of the franchise.
The second important thanks that I have goes to my family, who were incredibly supportive during the team’s run in St. John’s. Starting from Day One as season ticket holders and even today living as the ultimate die-hard Fog Devils fans, both of my parents were the exact type of people we needed more of to make a go of things. I want to thank them for their support of the franchise and for the support they gave me personally during some times that were tough as the sale closed and the decision that the team was leaving became more of a reality.
Other thanks I would like to extend would go to the team’s hockey staff, that being the training and coaching staff. Thanks to Todd Row for always being a good conversation and Shannon Coady for so many things that I don’t even know where to start. Thank you to the goalie coaches, Louis Guay and Peter White, Louis for being the mellowest, most pleasant man I think I’ve ever come across and Peter for being the only guy I could count on to show up at the rink on a game night to assess our team’s performances with me. I’d also obviously like to thank the main staff - Darryl Williams for always being a pleasure to deal with, Ed O’Brien for being great company on road trips and always being able to be counted on for a good laugh, and Real Paiement for teaching me more about the game and the business thereof than any thousand years of school could teach. I wish all of these people the best in the future, and take my word for it when I say that they all deserve nothing but the best in whatever paths they choose to take.
The final major thanks I have to extend however, is one to a group of people that I don’t personally know particularly well. That group is our fans. Those of you who bought tickets every night, who spent infinite hours sitting at a computer on the team messageboard to debate all that we’ve done on and off the ice, and who hollered at anyone who would listen about how great QMJHL hockey is. You 2500 people are the true fans of a team that is building towards great things, and you were there every step of the way showing great patience and understanding for the process that building a winner actually is. It kills me to know that you did the work of loyal fans to support the build, and the bandwagon in Verdun is filling up with people ready to reap the rewards. So, from the bottom of my heart, thanks to you all.
And with that, Into the Fog is going to come to a close. I’ve enjoyed writing for you all over the past three seasons, and I’d like to say thanks to all of you for reading. My apologies to anyone I forgot to thank, but in the vein of the Oscars I think I’m being played off the stage. Thanks to everyone who made the past three years great, I hope to see you all again somewhere down the line.
Matthew Ryder is currently in his third season with the St. John's Fog Devils. He has written for spectorshockey.net and nhltraderumors, and has also been featured on CBC Radio One in St. John's doing commentary on the AHL and QMJHL. He can be reached for comment at matthew@fogdevils.com.
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