DANVILLE — With a new era under their belt, the Danville Dashers debuted a new look on Friday.
In a conference room at David S. Palmer Arena, the Dashers unveiled the team's new logo, a departure from its sleek predecessor to something more aggressive.
“We want to have a more intense, edgy look. It's something that (Dashers owner Barry Soskin) and I have talked about a lot,” Dashers general manager Diane Short said. “We didn't want to completely rebrand the Dashers, but we did want to have a new look. We'll be designing the uniforms and all the merchandise this season.”
Soskin was at the event and spoke about how some things will be changing.
“I'm not the sole owner, but I'm part of a group that owns seven teams in the league and eight franchises overall,” Soskin said. “I'm happy that our group can bring this back to Danville. I don't know if other groups are willing to take the risk, but Diane knows that from the first few years with the old Dashers.”
The Dashers will play in the Federal Prospect Hockey League, which is set to expand to four teams next year.
“We're currently in Biloxi and Baton Rouge in the South and looking at Beaumont, Texas,” Soskin said. “This year we'll have 14 teams, but we've come a long way. I'm proud of the addition of teams and it's fun to watch the league grow.”
The Dashers will also be playing games in Topeka, Kansas, to see the league grow.
“As the league continues to grow, we're looking at some neutral-site games,” Soskin said, “one of which will be in Topeka, where we'll play four games against Topeka and give Danville a Friday and Saturday game because it's going to take a lot of time to get things going.”
Friday also marked the first public appearance of head coach AJ Tesoriero, who has been with the Dashers for seven years and is ready to take charge.
“I'm very honored and excited to take on this role,” Tesoriero said. “I want to teach these guys discipline and respect and teach them the values that I've learned.”
“There will be some familiar faces you've seen before and some young, fresh Dashers. We'd like to thank Barry, Diane and (Palmer Arena general manager Teri Gaffney) for having us back for this event. We're taking it to the next level.”
Season tickets have yet to be announced, but Soskin is ready to give something back to hockey fans who pay for tickets.
“Everybody gets a jersey when they buy a season ticket,” Soskin said. “We've done it in other markets and it's worked and it's helped build the fan base. It's no different than any other market. We want to help rebuild and regrow here and hockey can help us do that.”
