Warbirds Host 1st Annual Pre-Season Charity Carnival

When Greg Ezell took the position of general manager, he made a conscience effort to make the season ticket holders involved in pre-season, season and hopefully championship activities.

"The season ticket holders are one, if not the, most important group of fans to us. They are the ones who come here game after game with the dedication and passion that we carry over onto the ice. These guys and girls are our 7th man on the ice."

Keeping true to his word, Ezell and the Minnesota Warbirds have held a few events for season ticket holders up to this point. The first event was sponsored by Pepsi and had Team Warbird, which consisted of Ezell, Chris Bell, Chris Coogan, Matt Mahoney and Priscilla Williams, taking on season ticket holders throughout Fort Snelling.

The second event was held at Chez Bananas. This event was a sit down, formal dinner where the players were announced to season ticket holders. There was an auction which saw items such as Priscilla Williams' pink skates, Adam Stevens' helmet and orange visor and an autographed Reaper stick by Bell and Williams being sold to fans and proceeds going to charity.

The event, however, didn't keep its formality for very long as the team held a Karaoke session in which their are incriminating video of Ezell signing Rebel Yell by Billy Idol.

The third event saw the Warbirds host a fishing tournament.

"These events were spectacular, but they will be small in comparison to what we have cooked up for the upcoming event, which is not only for season ticket holders, but to all fans. Those events were strictly for the season ticketers because we wanted to thank them for 5 years of undying support and love. This even is for all the fans."

Ezell said in a short interview before the announcement of the 1st Annual Warbirds Pre-season Charity Carnival!

The newly built Frank Barron Pavilion was open to season ticket holders, fans and media as the event kicked off.

"It's great because you always want to give back to the community," said Minnesota Warbirds winger Sawyer Withers. "And everyone is involved, not only are we giving back, we're having a lot of fun doing it," he said.

For sure, the Minnesota Warbirds Charity Carnival is a day of fun, filled with interactive events, including locker room tours, autograph sessions and photo opportunities, and in attendance was the entire S6 Minnesota Warbirds team.

"Honestly, this is what it is all about," said captain Miika Kemppinen. "We're interacting with the fans, taking pictures, signing autographs and we even have a Rock Band competition going!"

The charity-driven carnival fun began with the VIP session in the morning, located in Legends. Fans had the opportunity to have memorabilia autographed by their favorite Minnesota Warbirds players and coaches.

The auction event held some great items for fans to bid on. There was a replica S4 Wilen Conference championship banner, some sticks and skates signed by players, Robi Albert and Patrick Walford autographed mask and pads, Greg Ezell donated some autographed gloves from the S4 finals and the popular item was a pair of the new Warbirds jerseys autographed by the team.

The event continued throughout the day with two more sessions filled with carnival-type games (like the always popular "strong man" and "wheel of chance") and interactive activities like video game sensations Dance Dance Revolution and Rock Band.

The Rock Band competition, which was sponsored by Harmonix, lets fans play against players from the Warbirds to see if they can beat them in a virtual concert.

"It is pretty intense," Said a sweating Chaz Hooker, who just finished a 3-song set including Battery by Metallica, Let There Be Rock by AC/DC and Master Exploder by Tenacious D. "Some of these kids are really good!"

The Warbirds had 2 teams that cycled between playing with the fans. The first team was Hooker on bass, Scott Edmonds on guitar, Ryan Sassman on vocals and Dylan Withers on vocals. The second team, which did score better, saw Adam Stevens on guitar, Patrick Walford on the drums, Jamie Shimbashi on the bass and Priscilla Williams leading the vocals.

"I think this event is fantastic and the Rock Band tournament makes it that much better," Said Walford who watched the first squad play against a team of fans. "Everyone seems to be really into it."

Most of the activities featured a Birdz' skater or coach, and children of all ages were able to challenge their favorite player in physical games like ping pong (Robi Ablert) or knock-hockey (Eric Baily), play video games with Zac Abrams (Dance Dance Revolution) or Chris Coogan (Guitar Hero), or enjoy a tour of the Warbirds new locker room with head coach Kristian Marosi.

The Carnival is the first of many that will be hosted by the Warbirds.

"We're so happy to have done this for the fans and for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation." Ezell said at the media table.

The mission of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, a nonprofit donor-supported organization, is to assure the development of the means to cure and control cystic fibrosis and to improve the quality of life for those with the disease.

"I had a great time." Said Eric Baily.

This will become an annual event at the Frank Barron Pavilion and should generate a lot of money towards fighting Cystic Fibrosis.

Warbirds Welcome Home An Original Bird

In what has been an unprecedented amount of press conferences this year, the Minnesota Warbirds instead opted for the smaller one, a press release. The press release itself was short, but powerful, as the 'Birds welcomed back one of their original members, Kenneth Lehtinen.

Ezell: I initially traded Kenu because I felt that Chris and Priscilla could help the franchise. When I heard that Kenu was available, I made immediately picked up the phone and called Mr. Rodriguez.

Kenu has been a Warbird since the team was created and him not being with the team was felt throughout the locker room. I feel that this is the perfect move and the right move for us on and off the ice.
The Warbirds traded Kyle Kujawa, BK Kim and a 1st rounder to Toronto for Lehtinen.

An e-mail was sent to Ezell asking how he felt about letting go of those wingers, to which he replied:

Who?

Right now, it seems all is right in Minnesota as an original Warbird finally comes home.

Lehtinen was not available for comment.

Managerial Power: The Struggles of a Rookie GM

PART II

We left his office, the large glass door shutting behind us. The entry-way was empty as a Minnesota Warbirds logo danced on his secretary’s desktop computer. He looked at it and shook his head, displeased that she left it on over the weekend. We headed to the elevator and he pressed the down arrow and we stood in silence.

Being with him can be sort of intimidating as he doesn’t has much to say anymore. The loud, boisterous player has seemed to fade into a quieter, jaded general manager, hell-bent on building one of the best teams the BHL has ever witnessed. His eyes seem darker, his hair a little grayer and his tone a little more harsh and instructional. No longer were his complaints about practice time and formations, but more about trades and other BHL general managers.

We walked into the elevator and he pressed the B button. It’s actually a short ride from his 10^th floor office to the basement where the locker rooms and practice facilities are held. As the elevator began to descent, we struck up a conversation out the outlooks of the teams this year, however it was nothing substantial.

The Minnesota Warbirds locker room is exactly what you would expect it to look like. Walking in, you’re met with a massive logo painted on the wall, however, this one is only half done. The bird is finished, but the words Minnesota are not.

“Fucking logo change.” He murmured, walking past it. Once past the wall, you are met with two trophy cases on either side of the logo. One has some pictures of opening night, the S4 Wilen Conference Championship trophy, and other memorabilia from past seasons, and the other one is vacant. He stopped, staring at the vacant one for a minute.

“This will be full by the time I’m finished here.” He said and continued to walk to the locker room. He stopped at the door that read “Authorized Personnel Only” and pushed the door open to an array of lockers and brown and white practice jerseys.

Each locker was neat and hadn’t been touched yet by the players. The lockers were wooden with a golden name plate screwed into the top. You could walk by each one and read the neatly printed names, D. Withers, Albert, Coogan, Hooker…Each locker had the same thing inside of it. A brown practice jersey with white numbers, a white practice jersey with brown numbers, a blue jersey with white numbers, a red practice jersey with no numbers, and a pink practice jersey with white numbers, each one hanging on individual clothes hangers.

“What’s with the different colors?” I asked as we stopped in front of his locker.

“Each one symbolizes something. The brown jersey is for the first line wingers and first defensive pairing. The white jersey is for second line wingers and second defensive pairing. The blue is for the third, the pink is for the fourth and the red is for the guys who get injured and are coming back from injury. I think Pris will enjoy the pink.” He said with a smile, his first one of the day.

Below each jersey was the players custom equipment. Ezell has white, black and red Puma skates to go along with his white Prkle! stick. He took a seat by his locker and removed his shoes. He picked up his cell phone and made a call.

“Hey man, you can come by if you want. Yeah, I’m at the arena. No, I had the staff equip everyone, so you’re stuff should be here. Skates and stick, yeah. Ok, I’ll see you when you get here.”

He looked up at me as I stood there with a quizzical look on my face.

“Go grab some skates.”

Minnesota has their outdoor opponent?

It appears that the Minnesota Warbirds have picked their opponent in the upcoming outdoor game that they will be having during the S6 regular season.

"We're very excited to be given the chance to host a game outdoors. It is something that we've been working towards for a while. To celebrate our 5th year in the league, and it do it outdoors is special, not only for the players, but for the fans as well." GM Greg Ezell said at a press conference held earlier in his tenure.

For those who aren't in the know, the then Dakota Warbirds announced an outdoor game to celebrate their 5th season in the league, something most teams can not celebrate as teams seem to move very often.

"We've come down to two clubs that we would like to face in the outdoor game. The basic qualification is that we wanted a team that was also celebrating its 5th anniversary in the BHL and by process of elimination, it brings us to Montreal and Austin." Ezell said in a press conference held earlier this week.

After that statement, it was asked which club the Warbirds organization has chosen.

"We have come to a conclusion. We are going to seek out the GM of that club within the next few days to make arrangements." Ezell said with a smirk.

He then stood up and left without naming the club that the Warbirds have chosen.

Speculation says that Ezell's close relationship with Cavaliers GM Ty Dupperon give them the upper hand. Take into account that Montreal and Minnesota will be two of the three club who are slated as the strongest in the Wilen Conference.

Not many people think Austin has a shot, however they can not be counted out.

What team will the Warbirds choose? I guess that information will be revealed in the coming days...