Dear Sharks Fans,

 

Almost nine months to the day, a franchise was born in dramatic come from behind shoot out victory Friday night. WOW! Yes, I am a proud father once again.

 

Over a week ago, we dropped the puck at the New England Sports Center in our first home exhibition game. As I stood looking over the crowd and listened to the National Anthem, for the first time I felt the reality of birthing this new franchise. The week that followed was filled with events, meetings and hard work. Our young players have been grinding it out on the ice, our young staff working till the wee hours of the morning - night after night - and the city has welcomed this new team. Each step is bringing us closer to the start of our first season.

 

Last night in Portland, Maine it all began for real. Chasing a 2-0 deficit to the Atlantic Division Champions, the fought back and then erased a 3-2 deficit with a minute to go to tie and sent the game into overtime. It was nail biting, fun and exciting.  We moved to the shootout where great goaltending prevailed – SHARKS WIN! 

 

I stood behind our group of staff, city leaders, and my partners from the DCU center in Portland and took it all in. I watched the 50 loyal Sharks boosters in their new white t-shirts high five and cheer – Sharks Hockey was alive. Thank you to all who joined us on the trip, to the Booster Club who sent us goodies and t-shirts, thank you to my coaches and team who have worked so hard to get ready for the season. 

 

Thank you to the fans that helped get the Sharks here, to the corporate community, and to my staff. Let the fun begin.

 

Now don’t get me wrong, I know it is one game out of 80, but this was special. On October 14, it will be even more special. A packed house at the DCU Center will really make this hockey celebration complete.

 

Stay tuned to our ever growing website for news and information. Sign up there for Sharks email news and keep up on all we have happening.

 

Have a great week and I look forward to seeing around 7000 of you on October 14^th!

 

Best regards,

 

 

Michael T. Lehr

President