June 26, 2006

Hi Sharks Fans;

Who remembers their camp experiences as a kid? Mine were day camps with my brothers and we hated them. Last Sunday we took my 10 year old son to Camp Ligonier in Central Pennsylvania. It was straight out of the movie “Parent Trap.” The kids sleep ten in a cabin, there is a mess hall, a small camp store, pool, fields, and so on. We picked him up this past weekend, and let me tell you I highly recommend it – I want to go next year. They have two street hockey rinks – was there a Gretzky among them? One never knows!

Training camp is only three months away. The new Worcester Sharks will be training in the DCU Center for almost all of camp. Many details are to be worked out but Michael’s camp got me thinking of our next “kids” camp! The draft this past weekend saw us moving up four slots to get the player we wanted. It is hard to argue with the success of the drafts under our head scout Tim Burke – and he saw a need to move up to get Ty Wishart, a 6’4 205 lb defenseman from Prince George. To see all of this year Sharks draft picks click; http://www.sjsharks.com/DraftCentral.asp . Nice job Doug Wilson, Tim Burke and the entire scouting staff.

So back to camp. I have to give equal time in my letter to my daughter Maggie who wrote me from Grandma’s boot camp in New Jersey last week after reading Michael’s letter:

Dear Dad,
Since Michael got to write a letter last week I think I should get to as well. First I would like to talk about my trip to Worchester. I like the town and I especially like your staff. My favorite part of the whole trip would have been our day with Amy (Raeder – who is our Marketing Coordinator).
Who came up with the name Finz? I LOVE that name.
Love Always,
Maggie

Maggie went on to write about her week at Grandma’s and the fun part for me was I flew over to Newark to bring her home. I keep saying it is all about the children in these letters, but it is! Through their eyes I see the world, through their hearts I feel it – hug one today! Ok back to business!

The dog days of summer are upon us. I am learning that beginning July 1 we can expect some slow times for a few weeks – good! We are approaching six months as the Worcester Sharks and a break may feel good. But let me tell you, the Sharks plan to take this territory from late July until opening night and beyond. Get on board!

Have a great week!

Michael T. Lehr