Interview: Andy Abramson, GM Celebrity All-Star Hockey

Interview: Andy Abramson, GM Celebrity All-Star Hockey
By Matt Brown, Boston Correspondent

Related: Inline and Online with Celebrity All-Star Hockey

LCS spoke with Celebrity All-Star Hockey General Manager Andy Abramson recently. Andy has been involved with the NHL and related ventures for over 20 years, starting with the Philabelphia Flyers organization in the mid seventies.
LCS: The coordination needed to pull off one of these events seems massive. Is it usually pretty crazy getting all the team members there at the same time and place?
Andy: Getting them there is much more difficult than a real NHL team. The NHL teams travel on one plane, in one bus at one time. With us, it's totally different. Every player has his own schedule, from door to door. That means different flights, limo rides, airport pick-ups, arrival times. With all the changes that an actor goes through in a normal week, with meetings, screen tests, readings, rehearsals, shooting, and a personal life, we have to be able to make the changes.
Much of this happens at the last minute, but after ten years of it, we've pretty much figured what to anticipate.
LCS: Do the guys lug in their own equipment, or do you have a Celebrity Hockey equipment stash that you lug around to the arenas?
Andy: Well, the great thing about our guys is every one looks after their own stuff. Every once in a while we have to handle one or two players' equipment due to location shoots and such, but as a whole it's bring your own for our guys. The team does bring the sticks, supplied since our inception by Christian Hockey Sticks, our CCM uniforms and socks. We get masks from ITECH to keep everyone looking good. Our equipment managers take that responsibility so the guys all look the same. Just like a real team.
LCS: You have two team rosters listed on your website. Do the two Celebrity teams often play against each other (grudge match style) like at the All-Star game?
Andy: We did that at All Star and it seemed to work out fine, and also in LA this past March. Since our roster is so large we can do that for select events, but it takes more coordination than a regular event where we have legitimate opposition.
LCS: Does the group have any other associated events or charities that you regularly pair up with? Or are you looking for any? Also, how do the sponsors fit in?
Andy: We've done a few ski events for the Gunds (owners of the San Jose Sharks) and we are talking with a few resort towns about future events to combine either golf or skiing. Right now that's all formulative but looking more and more likely for 1997-98.
We let the local NHL or minor league club pick the charity. In some cases the charity picks us. Basically, more than 85 percent of the charities have been children's charities. We tend to lean that way since kids are a worthy cause that can always use additional help.
LCS: Any new recruits for upcoming games? Do you plan to, or have you ever had women players?
Andy: Alan Thicke brought Manon Rheume to play with us back I think in 1991, just when she was finishing her junior career in the QMJHL. So we claimed her before Roller Hockey International and anyone else, including Phil Esposito. We also had Cammy Granato before the women's Olympics was finalized, so in that regard we've sorta been pioneers. We knew it would make for good copy, and they can play their positions as well as anyone on our squad. They were more than just a couple of pretty faces.
As for new players, Scott Wolfe, Scott Grimes, and Danny Masterson have played in the last few games. They're from the FOX hit show "Party of Five." We expect them to log lots of ice time next year.
LCS: How has the NHL changed, both in hockey and charitable/community relations, in the years that you have been affiliated with them?
Andy: Having been around hockey for almost 20 years, the new NHL is really getting things going. There is a whole new mind set under Garry Betteman, Brian Burke, Steve Soloman and Rick Dudley. They are aggressive, forward thinking and innovative. They also have a group of owners who are progressive and marketing oriented like in Miami, Anaheim, Vancouver and such. That combination is what is propelling hockey, along with Broadcast partners like FOX Sports and ESPN. Their approach to charity is not so new, just improved.
John Ziegler had the vision to start the Fighting Blindness League Draft with Gordon Gund to fight RP (Retinitis Pigmentosa) some years back. What it did was bring the corporate community closer to the NHL in a charitable way. Now the new guys are taking that philosophy and taking it to a whole new, and greater level.
Personally, my involvement with the Flyers during the Ed Snider ownership era (1976-1988) was quite rewarding. The Flyers have over time very quietly been leaders in sports management. The current crop of leaders, Bobby Clarke, Ron Ryan, Mark Piazza all have done a great job. An old friend who is retiring, Jack Betson, and Ed Snider's daughter, Lindy, were very innovative back in the early 80's and started a Flyers fan database. If you wanted to get on the list you sent in a post card, or filled one out a various retailers. That list swelled at one point to 60,000 names or more. I'd bet that a majority of the people on that list at some point in the last 15 years either bought a ticket, a season seat or something Flyers related. Innovations like that, the Flyers Wives Charities and Hockey Central, which Ed Snider founded in 1976, all made them a success off the ice. We've been real fortunate to play two games at the Core States Spectrum for both of those worthwhile Flyers Charities.
The franchises that utilize charity and blend it into their marketing by 'giving back' to the fans and communities end up successful in the end. That mailing list, or as Jack called it, the databank, all ended up serving as a core tool for the marketing of our events.
LCS: Why do guys sign on and play?
Andy: The players don't sign contracts and are not paid. They do this because they love the game and want to raise money for charity. Isn't every hockey player's dream to be on the same ice or line as Gordie How, Bobby Orr, Bobby Clarke, or Yvan Couryerer? For our guys, that dream comes true about once a month.
Dave Coulier tells a great story about how he went to the Gordie Howe hockey school when he was growing up in St. Clair Shores. Twenty years later when he was in Detroit to promote the upcoming game we had against the Red Wings, Dave and Gordie got the ice at Joe Louis Arena all to themselves. Dave was really jazzed, and he and Gordie have developed a very nice friendship that earned Dave a spot on the Heroes' ice some years back in Montreal at an All-Star Weekend. Gordie introduced Dave to the other NHL Heroes in the room and told them that Dave was going to be centering his line. One of the players turned to Dave and said, "When God speaks we listen." Dave was one happy hockey player. Imagine: Montreal Forum Ice, with Gordie Howe, facing off against Richard or Beliveau.
LCS: So, can we look forward to EA Sports having the Celebrity Hockey team on their NHL 97 computer game? Or how about a set of trading cards for fans to get signed? (Hey, it could happen with good PR, right?)
Andy: We've actually talked to a few companies about doing some things. Right now we're more focused though on getting the games on the ice in 1996-97 and making a return appearance at the NHL All-Star Game in San Jose next January. The idea of a video game or CD-ROM is not that far off, though, if the market desires it. No cards are being made of us yet... but maybe if it's subtly suggested in a news article?
LCS: Well, that leaves out LCS, because we are anything but subtle.
So, boys and girls, if you want NHL 97 to let you coach Chris Potter, Matthew Perry, Jason Priestley, Dave Coulier, Richard Dean Anderson, and the rest of the Celebrity All-Stars, so that you'll have a better excuse for losing to the Senators 11-1, make sure you send those cards and letters to Electronic Arts. While you are at it, send hundreds of postcards with the return addresses of all your local politicians to Fleer, Topps, Upper Deck, and Pinnacle. That should start the bidding war for the Celebrity Hockey All-Stars '96 Card set. Hey, they put out insert sets for everything short of NHL coaches' dogs; so why not Celebrity All-Star Hockey?