SPRINGFIELD – The Springfield Thunderbirds are scheduled to welcome the Eastern Conference champion Charlotte Checkers to the MassMutual Center for their season opener on Saturday, Oct. 11, at 6:05 p.m.
Springfield will also celebrate its 10th anniversary since the team replaced the Falcons with the Thunderbirds in 2016. Team president Nathan Costa couldn’t help but smile as he thought about how much had changed over the last decade.
“Ten years have gone by very fast,” Costa said. “I always thought it would be a possibility that we would still be here after 10 years, because being driven by pure failure is a special thing. From my end, I took over a team that was last place in attendance. But there was a business plan in mind that the ownership had to help make things super successful, as it has been.
“There were some dicey times over 10 years, though, when you take over a team like that because you have to get things started up again. So getting a chance to not only take over the team but keep them here and do it the right way has been special.”
The Thunderbirds were quickly rewarded for their dedication, as the American Hockey League chose Springfield to host the 2019 Lexus AHL All-Star Classic for the first time in league history. The momentum was short-lived, though, as the AHL was forced to cancel the remainder of the 2019-20 season due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Costa, however, believed that setback ultimately benefited the organization.
“Dealing with the pandemic was one of our biggest challenges,” he said. “We were having so much momentum as we hosted the All-Star Game coming out of 2019, we were in the middle of having another good year, and then the season ended. Especially for an independent team, there were some dicey days, not knowing what was going to happen because we’re in a business that brings people together.
“It was a day-to-day situation where you couldn’t do anything with people, so it was a scary situation. But I think the ownership groups did the right thing to get us through that and help us come out of that stronger.”
Now fast forward three years, and the Thunderbirds defeated the Laval Rocket in the Eastern Conference championship in June of 2022 to help Springfield make its first Calder Cup Finals appearance since the Indians reached that point in 1991.
It was a moment Costa won’t forget.
“Winning helps a lot of stuff, especially in a market where hockey is important to people,” he said. “You can’t rely on that when you’re on the business side because you have to do what you need to do regardless of the wins and losses – that’s always been my focus.
“I think when you look back on 10 years from today, it will always still be my favorite moments,” he continued. “It was just a cool thing to come out of the pandemic and have such crazy things happen throughout the year. But then having that run was pretty special. Though we weren’t able to win it all, it’s still been pretty cool to have seen the growth and success.”
But aside from the players and coaches on the ice who helped Springfield reach that point, Costa acknowledged some essential individuals behind the scenes who have also been key contributors to the team.
“Another cool part about this is how half of my staff has been with me for almost 10 years,” he said. “Those members are Todd McDonald (vice president of sales & strategy), Matthew McRobbie (director of business development), Ryan Smith (manager of media-community relations & broadcasting), Jessica Hansen (senior director of finance & human resources), and many more people that I’m missing have been with me since the beginning.
“When you look back at it, we couldn’t have been as successful without this group of people. That core group on the business side has helped drive what we’re doing. We have a great group, and at the end of the day, the ownership has been over-the-top supportive. And Paul (Picknelly) leads that charge because he lives, breathes, and eats hockey now.
“He wants to win a cup more than anyone.”
But aside from the Thunderbirds’ success on the ice, Costa said he enjoyed watching his team reach a record 20 sellouts last season. Not only did that figure include 14 consecutive sellouts to end last year’s regular season, but it also broke Springfield’s previous mark of 15 combined in the 2022-23 season.
“We have grown our season-ticket base over the course of the last 10 years,” he said. “And it’s a testament to the support of professional hockey here in Springfield. And a lot of our fans have been coming out, even before we took over the team, and it wasn’t always the coolest thing in the world, but they continued to do it.”
Costa, though, also understood that it hadn’t always been easy for most, especially with the demolition and reconstruction of the Civic Center parking garage next door.
And that’s why he couldn’t be more thankful that the new MassMutual Center parking garage was opened in April.
“Over time, there have been some challenges and obstacles,” Costa said. “But the fans have weathered a pretty crappy situation over the last three-plus years. And MGM stepped up for us when our parking garage needed to be fixed since it was in disrepair.
“MGM was there and provided us all with free parking, and has been a great partner for us. Walking over from MGM in the middle of winter isn’t the easiest thing in the world. So hopefully, the new landing and parking garage will be exciting for us in the downtown area.”
And to show his appreciation, Costa has remained committed to rewarding this supportive fanbase with another fun reason to be excited for the upcoming season.
“There are a bunch of fun moments that we have planned,” he said. “Opening night will always be fun, and we will also be celebrating 10 years of Thunderbirds hockey, which is still crazy to say. We’re the type of organization that wants to continue looking forward. But we also want to keep pushing the envelope and doing some different things.
“We’re going to do a Bobblehead Night to recognize Matthew Peca for his career and dedication to this city, especially since he’s our team’s all-time points leader. We’re also going to do another Ice-O-Topes Night, which is one of the coolest rebrands in all of sports.
“We’re also partnering with MA250 on the 250th anniversary of the country. So we’ll be doing a specialty jersey night, where they will have a revolutionary era feel and look to it, which will be fun and different. But we also have one last big event that we haven’t announced yet.”
And if those promotions aren’t exciting enough, Costa was thrilled to mention a new start time for Saturday night home games, with hopes that families with younger children will have a better opportunity to attend these events.
“The big thing that we’re trying to do is 6:05 p.m. start times on Saturday,” he said. “That is something we’ve kept our eye on for the past few years, since the AHL is having a good shift when it comes to starting earlier on Saturdays.
“And if you come to one of our games on a Saturday night, there are over 1,000 kids there with their groups. And a lot of the time, when we start at 7:05 p.m., they are funneling out between 8:45 p.m. and 9 p.m. before the third period starts.
“So we felt that it would be a better fan experience overall, and there was a window of opportunity for us (to do it).”
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