Hi Stars fans,
After a few days of reflection post the end of the regular season, I thought I’d take some time to update you all as to my thoughts on the season as a whole & how we aim to progress and ultimately continue to grow the Stars brand into the 19-20 season.
It is of course no secret that we are extremely disappointed at not securing a playoff berth. In my career & personally speaking , this is definitely the biggest low, as I genuinely felt we made big steps forwards on the ice this season, so to just miss out on the final position was heartbreaking. Of course, it would have been a great accomplishment, especially dealing with the amount of injuries we incurred throughout the season and to key players, the grueling schedule was tough and also we had the most competitive competition in the history of the Elite League. In the 9 years of the Dundee Stars existence, this team finished with the 3rd highest winning percentage without any conference system. In other years, this winning percentage would have easily qualified usfor the playoffs, but unfortunately we couldn’t make it this season even though we took it to the very last weekend.
As a club, our main focus this year was to grow the visibility of the Stars brand both via media channels but of course also in the stands. That objective has been more than reached I am delighted to say. When I took this job and speaking to ownership, we knew it would take time to not only be a competitive team on the ice but to create sustainability for the club for years to come. Looking back on recent years & with the losses of Edinburgh & now Milton Keynes it would have been realistic to say had we remained neutral in terms of bums on seats/sponsorship, we also might not have been able to continue in the Elite League. Thankfully, the strides we took this year have been tremendous and we have grown the fans base by 20% over the last two seasons. We are one of the very few clubs across the entire EIHL that have grown their attendances across the league, especially with losing home vital conference games against Fife, Glasgow and Edinburgh with what was a new league structure across the 18-19 season. Our brand awareness has rocketed with more coverage than ever before, so a massive thank you to all of the various media outlets who have supported us. The sponsorship has increased also which is fantastic to see and goes further to show how vital the strong relationships we build with our sponsors, both old and new, is to the viability of our great club.
Whilst we will for the foreseeable future always be a club battling for that final playoff berth in what is a very competitive league, please believe me, the future is bright in Dundee! Myself, owners and all staff will continue to work extremely hard to push this organization to the next level, and I sincerely hope that you, our loyal fans, will continue to do the same!
I want to take the time to thank all the players, who I truly believe have left this club better than how they found it. As is normal within our league, there will be a turnover of players, but I have already entered into talks with those I wish to come back next season. Keep your eyes peeled across social media and the club website in the coming weeks and over the summer for updates on how recruitment is going.
Thank you to our amazing sponsors, the OSC, the Dundee Ice Arena and most importantly to our great fans.
Finally, season ticket sales have been open since Monday and they have been great thus far. A really encouraging start. As you all know, season ticketsholders are essential for this club, so please get those applications in and keep spreading the word and enticing others to sign up, they won’t be disappointed with what they see.
I’ll be back in touch again soon with more updates as the off-season sets in.
Thank you,
Pach
