Senators Article: Better attendance, more sellouts have B-Sens' brass upbeat
January 16, 2004

Posted by: Bob Howard
Credit: Press Connects.com

Better attendance, more sellouts have B-Sens' brass upbeat

BY SCOTT LAUBER

Press & Sun-Bulletin

BINGHAMTON -- Their performance on the ice is down, but the Binghamton Senators are booming like never before at the box office.

Despite their 16-17-4-2 record and sixth-place standing in the AHL's East Division, the Senators' attendance through 23 home games is up 9.1 percent from the same point last season, their inaugural campaign. Not even last month's suspension and subsequent exile of fan-favorite enforcer Dennis Bonvie has chased people from the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.

"I can't say we're ecstatic," Senators minority owner and vice president of operations Tom Mitchell said this week, "but we're pretty darned happy. We'll be ecstatic when every seat is filled for every game. But I think we're exposing the American Hockey League to people for the first time, and that's what we want to do."

The Senators are averaging 4,303 fans to the expanded, 4,717-seat Arena, and the 100,000th fan to view a B-Sens game this season will pass through the gates tonight when the Albany River Rats visit. Nine games have sold out, an improvement over the three sellouts the Senators recorded through 23 games last season.

Of the AHL's 28 teams, only Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is filling its building more than the Senators, who are averaging 91 percent of capacity. And since the Senators suspended Bonvie and placed him on the trade market after Christmas, four of seven home games have been sold out.

Clearly, the novelty of the AHL's return after a five-year absence hasn't worn off.

"Last weekend, we had a few representatives from the league at a game, and they all said, 'I wish we could create the same atmosphere in all of our other buildings that we have in Binghamton,' " Mitchell said. "I think that's a great compliment to our fans."

But perhaps the greatest sign of the Senators' prosperity came Thursday morning when all-smiles majority owners Tim Smith and Tom Bolles practiced with the players.

"I don't know if I made the team," Bolles, a novice skater, joked as he barreled off the ice. "But I discovered one thing: I don't know how to stop."

As long as support for the Senators doesn't, count on Bolles to keep smiling.