Interview With Jeff Hunt

Jeff Hunt was on the TEAM 1200 SportsCall with Gross and Galley today.

As of 9 am this morning, there were 650 tickets remaining for the home opener tomorrow night. Hunt said they typically sell 800 tickets on game day, so he is optimistic about a sell-out. The overall seat capacity has been lowered by about 500 due to new seats.

Hunt has had the benefit of seeing the team play on the road, giving him a chance to see the rookies play. He is excited to see how well they’re playing, and he is excited about the home opener --- to have the fans see the new team.

Gross said that he talked with Petruzalek after the press conference that was held the other day. Gross asked him if he was going to cut his hair, knowing that Killer doesn’t like the long hair look. Petruzalek told him that his girlfriend was on her way from his homeland for a visit and she is going to cut his hair. Hunt said that if this is true, he was going to go tell Killer right away as that would make his day. Hunt said that maybe Kaspar would also cut his, but Gross said that Kaspar already said that he wasn’t going to cut his hair.

Hunt talked about Kaspar’s *celebration* after he scored his first goal in Sudbury the other night. He said that the way Kaspar reacted was a normal reaction in his home rinks, and it is not considered disrespectful. Apparently Kaspar didn’t realize that it wasn’t part of the culture here, but he sure does now. (I don’t think I’ll ever forget when Petruzlek waved to the crowd after he scored his first goal in pre-season. I think that if Kaspar *celebrated* his goal at home, it would have gone a little better for him.)

Hunt said that the returning players have developed physically over the summer. "You would not believe how developed these guys are after the summer. Especially Elgin Reid." (Read: thick necks.)

He talked about Colbert being captain, and said that it was an easy choice. Colbert is respected by his team mates and is respectful to others. "Killer has his hockey priorities for picking a captain, while I have others, like role modelling in the community." Hunt said at ticket pick-up night that if his boy grows up to be like Will Colbert I couldn’t be happier. He also added, that if his boy grows up to be like Brendan Bell he would also be happy.

Tickets: there is an NHL lock-out, but that doesn’t mean that 67s tickets are sold out. Hunt says that he has 20 conversations a day that go like this: "You must be sold out now that the lock-out is here, eh?" Hunt says this is not true. For instance, there are 5000 tickets available for the next couple of games. He says the hardest thing right now, is getting the message out that there are tickets available.

At an upcoming game they will be honouring Memorial Cup winning teams of the past and many former players will be there (Mark Bell, Gary Roberts, etc.). See link.