Greetings from San Jose;

I am so behind in my letters during the last two weeks and apologize for not keeping you informed. I could use many excuses, but since no one really cares about excuses, I will blame it on mourning the San Jose Sharks loss to Edmonton last week. After being up 2-0 in the series, the loss is still hard for the organization to swallow. Don’t worry about the Sharks as they have a young core of Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Jonathan Cheechoo and others and will regroup for next year. As a life-long Cubs fan, I grew up with the slogan “wait until next year”, but I do not want to use that in my hockey life.

It has been a busy two weeks. I officially have a desk! Our offices continue to take shape with the help of the DCU Center staff. While the excitement of the start-up is fun, it is nice to have my own chair again. Our new phone system is in, we have been connected to the internet and we are ready for the five month push to opening night in October!

Baseball takes center stage in Worcester this week and to our friends at the Tornadoes, we wish you all the luck on your drive to repeat as champions. Go out and support the team - it will fill your hockey offseason and keep you in game shape for yelling, screaming and sharing good times with family and friends.

In my five months in Worcester, I have given many speeches to many different groups. I have written about most of them here and will relay another engagement that took me to the Greendale YMCA to speak to the Retired Men’s Club of Greendale. They meet at a nice time of the morning, 9 a.m., and pack the gym. The day I addressed the 300 in attendance, they awarded money to several worth while charities, conducted organizational business and their chorus serenaded everyone. So much for retired - I was exhausted when I left! Thanks for having me there guys; we look forward to you singing at the DCU Center next season.

Back to hockey! I must tell you it was really nice to hear from so many Worcester Sharks fans during the playoffs and your condolences were welcome. We have a great hockey town here and we are excited to build it back into one of the top AHL cities. We will be announcing Opening Night soon as the AHL schedule format and division alignment are now out. The Sharks will be swimming in the Atlantic Division with forging incredible rivalries as Providence, Springfield, Manchester, Hartford, Lowell and Portland fill 62 of our 80 dates. Tell your friends to call our office today at 508.929.0500 and get on board.

I return to Worcester next week from the west coast to see the town honor local boxing champion Jose Rivera. I like the championship feel this town has to offer!

Best regards,

Michael T. Lehr
President