Atlantic City Weekly

Share this Story:

THE ATLANTIC CITY Boardwalk Bullies are again entering a season rife with off-the-ice uncertainty. Last spring area Bullies fans were given a reprieve when the team negotiated a one-year contract extension with Boardwalk Hall.

However, it was clear that unless the financial situation improved significantly, this could be the Bullies last season in town -- again.

What is different about this year is that there is almost as much uncertainty on the ice. Mike Haviland, after three years as head coach, taking the Bullies to the playoffs all three seasons and winning the ECHL Kelly Cup Championship in 2002-2003, resigned. Many expected him to make an upwardly mobile move to the American Hockey League. Instead he made a sideways move to the Bullies' arch rivals the Trenton Titans, a more financially stable franchise.

Replacing Haviland as head coach is 28-year-old Matt Thomas, Haviland's assistant coach the last two seasons. Thomas is the youngest active coach in the ECHL this season.

In other moves, team leader Stefan Rivard retired. Also, during the off-season the Bullies signed its first affiliation deal with the New York Islanders/Bridgeport Sound Tigers. And, of course, the NHL players have been locked-out by the owners. That should have a positive trickle-down effect, talent-wise, with the AHL's ranks swelled by NHL players, meaning that some AHL-quality players will have to find work elsewhere, including the ECHL.

New head coach Matt Thomas is happy with his team's increased size and toughness. "We started on the right foot. We're going into the season undefeated [after two pre-season wins in Las Vegas vs. the Wranglers]. We're going to try and maintain that trend. It's the one time I want what happened in Vegas not to stay in Vegas but to come back to Atlantic City. I liked the way our players adapted to the system. Our division is going to be so strong. It is every year. It could be two or three points separating first and fourth place."

After a first week on the road beginning October 22 at the Pee Dee Pride, the Bullies play their home opener against Haviland's Trenton Titans October 29.

"With Havy being the coach there now, it definitely adds more to the rivalry," says Thomas. "It adds more excitement for our fans and their fans." As for his style, Thomas admits it is similar to his mentor's.

"We both believe in the same things," he says. "We have good team speed. We're good in net; we have a system in place that I'll continue to run. It's going to be a high-tempo, transition type of team. We want to shut down the other team and get goals in transition."

One change will be in the size of the players. "We've added some real big bodies," says the 5'6" Thomas with a sly grin. "[Forward] Gray Shaneburger is 6'4", 210 lbs.; Scott Horvath is back, 6'3", 225. We just picked up Patrick Foley, 6'1", 220 who hits like a truck. Brad Both [pronounced Booth] is 6'2", 230. We've got a lot of big guys up front that are the punishing type, that hit hard, hit often and are no-nonsense players." It sounds like the Bullies, who have always been a low-end penalty minute team, are looking to live up to the team name this season. "We're going to add a little more of that element to the team. We're still a speed team that's good with the puck. We hope our skill overpowers other teams."

Even with the loss of Rivard, the team has retained the veteran presence of all-star center Luke Curtain (33 goals, 78 points) and defenseman Ian Walterson, as well as last year's rookie standouts Brian Fahey (11 goals, 26 assists), an all-star defenseman, and center Josh Prudden (18 goals, 34 assists). Says Walterson, "It's our job [mine and Luke Curtin's] to take the younger guys and show them the way. Matty's going to rely on us a lot to take that leadership role."

As for the new blood, Thomas predicts, "The guy that leads the crop is defenseman Dan Peters. He was with the Philadelphia Phantoms for three years. He's a guy who's not a big imposing body, but he competes harder than anybody I've ever seen." The coach adds that, "Brad Both will be the most feared player in our division. He won't lose many fights and he can play, too. He hits hard and will give the other team a lot to think about when he's on the ice."

In the category of skill guys, "Derek Edwardson was a top player in college; he's a very crafty player," says Thomas. "He'll contribute to the offense. "So will Paul Caponigri. He can score and he's quick. We just picked up Brett Nowak [pronounced Novak] who played for Providence in the AHL last year. We don't have many 6'3" centers in this league and he's a skill player. On defense we have Eric Nelson, a swift-skating defenseman, and Vince Macri, who we got from the Islanders. Ben Wallace played at Cornell and he's an effective stay-at-home defender. Because of the lockout, Pittsburgh just sent us Patrick Foley."

The ECHL released a pre-season coaches' poll. Despite the Bullies 47-19-6 record last season, on paper the league's northern division coaches decided that with Haviland going to Trenton and Thomas as a rookie coach in AC, Trenton was favored to win the division. The Bullies slipped to sixth out of eight teams. Does that add fuel to the competitive fire, coach? "We lost a lot of players, so it's understandable. But I do want to prove them wrong. It is extra motivation. They don't think we're going to be good. We'll go out and prove them wrong."

Boardwalk Bullies play their first home games at Boardwalk Hall on Fri., Oct. 29 (vs. Trenton) and Sat., Oct. 30 (vs. Reading). Both 7:05pm starts. For tickets, call Ticketmaster at 1-800-736-1420, visit the Boardwalk Hall box office Mon.-Sat. from 11am-5pm. For more Bullies information, call 348-7825 or visit boardwalkbullies.com.

Taking Advantage of Lockout

Bullies vice president and GM Dan Belisle certainly hopes that the NHL lockout means there are Flyers and Devils fans out there who are willing to give the Bullies a look-see in order to obtain their hockey fix. Right now the Bullies are short of their goal to sell 1,700 season tickets. "Realistically we hope to get to 1,200 season tickets, but we still have a ways to go, admits Belisle. "We are certainly hoping the lockout will help us [draw new fans]. We're trying to work with the other teams in the league to figure out how we hit the NHL fan. We had some interest from the Islanders Booster Club and the Devils Booster Club about outings, which would be tremendous. We're hoping some of the Flyers fans will look at us as an alternative. We're looking to develop a package, create an incentive for Flyers season ticket holders (also Devils and Islanders season ticket holders) that if the NHL were to resume, we would refund any unused tickets, if they renewed their season tickets with the NHL teams. We're trying to create something like that and attract some of those fans."