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Friday, September 17, 1999
Feel the pain, IceRays: Stevens resigns, leaving WPHL club voiceless
Corpus Christi lacks broadcaster, director of public relations after abrupt departure
By Mark Button
Caller-Times
Jake Stevens has left the IceRays.
The Corpus Christi radio broadcaster and director of public relations resigned from the minor-league hockey franchise Wednesday.
"I think he had a good opportunity in New York, so he was headed up there," said Bill Davidson, general manager of the and part-owner of the IceRays. "I don't want to hold anyone back, though it will be tough to replace Jake. He did his job very well."
Stevens apparently left abruptly without speaking to IceRays management. He came to the IceRays after doing play-by-play for an independent minor-league baseball team in Bend, Ore. Stevens graduated from the University of Michigan, then received a master's degree in broadcast journalism from Syracuse.
Stevens was unavailable for comment.
IceRays coach Taylor Hall said Stevens would be missed.
"He was very popular and good at his job," Hall said. "He was just like one of our players and I wish we could have him back. But I understand. It's just like with the players: There will be movement and change. I certainly wish Jake the best, and we'll just have to find somebody else."
Davidson said the Western Professional Hockey League and Rick Dames, a friend of Stevens' and the owner Pacific Broadcasting, which will air the 1999-2000 IceRays games on KCCG 107.3 FM, are working together with the IceRays to find a replacement for Stevens.
"I think Jake was one of the better young broadcasters in the country and I really wish him well," Dames said. "I'm confident that we can work together with any replacement to give the fans a terrific IceRays broadcast."
The IceRays begin the season Oct. 13 with a 7:05 p.m. home game against Austin.
IceCubes
A HALL HEADS TO UTAH: Hall will fly to Salt Lake City Saturday with a twofold agenda.
The second-year IceRays coach will have his eye on defenseman Kevin Holliday, one of Hall's offseason acquisitions, in the Utah Grizzlies preseason training camp. Hall also said he wanted to further develop his friendship and working relationship with Bob Bourne, coach and general manager of the Grizzlies, an International Hockey League team.
Bourne, who was on four Stanley Cup-winning teams in his 12 years with the New York Islanders, coached against Hall in 1996-97 when Bourne coached the WPHL's Central Texas Stampede and Hall headed up the New Mexico Scorpions. The two have been friends since.
The IceRays do not have an official affiliation with an IHL team this season. Hall did have an affiliation with the IHL's Las Vegas Thunder last year, but the Thunder folded this summer.
A WPHL APPROVES GAMES: The league approved the IceRays' request to host two preseason games against Lake Charles.
The IceRays will entertain the Ice Pirates, who knocked Corpus Christi out of the playoffs last year, on Oct. 3 at 6 p.m. and on Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. Both games will be played at Memorial Coliseum.
Staff writer Mark Button can be reached at 886-3613 or by e-mail at buttonm@caller.com.<r>
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