Happy Monday!!!! Sorry for the lack of reports on this blog over the past week, but I took a much-needed vacation to the mountains of North Carolina for a week and I made a promise that I wasn’t going to do anything work related, so I didn’t. I know there was some news made last week that I’m sure that many of you are already aware of, including a new affiliate agreement with the Augusta Lynx in the East Coast Hockey League. In addition, I know that Mike Butters (who ran the Helena Big Horns junior team owned by Oren Koules) was named general manager in Norfolk while Darren Rumble was named the Admirals’ head coach. And of course, the prospect camp gets underway today in Victoria, British Columbia, the home of Len Barrie’s resort Bear Mountain.

I also received an email last week in reference to Ron Campbell cleaning out his office last week. I spoke to somebody at the town hall meeting on July 15 who mentioned that Oren Koules was going to be moving into Campbell’s office. And while Campbell would not be retained as team president, he would remain for the time being in a consultant role. Campbell has done a tremendous job not only for the team, but for the Tampa community since he came down in 1999 after Palace Sports and Entertainment purchased the team. Campbell has been at the forefront of bringing such events as the Women’s Final Four, the ACC Men’s Basketball tournament, NCAA regional basketball and the 2012 Frozen Four to the St. Pete Times Forum. I don’t think Campbell gets the credit he deserves for the job he has done in making Tampa a major stop for some major sporting events, not to mention a ton of music acts into the building to make it one of the busiest venues in North America.

I’ll be back later to give you guys a news update on something that is expected to happen tomorrow. I’ll also give you a run down of what I did on my vacation, including one tipped over canoe and the experience of a !!!!!