THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS-GAZETTE STORY BY JENNIFER BAILEY
DANVILLE — It’s out with the old and in with the new for the Danville Dashers’ logo.
Danville Dashers Owner Barry Soskin and General Manager Diane Short said they are not the old team, and the new logo for the hockey team shows it.
Soskin said he loved the old logo. It was sleek and took him to where it was going to be fast action, with teams fearing the deer.
“This one, I think somebody pissed off the deer,” Soskin said.
Short said the new logo is a little more fierce and edgy. It was in theworks during the past year. They didn’t want to totally rebrand the Dashers but give it a new look.
They unveiled the new logo at a team event Friday morning at the David S. Palmer Arena.
“We’re back,” Soskin said. “We can go and talk about yesterday. I’d rather not. Let’s talk about the future.”
Soskin said he’s no longer the sole owner of the team. He’s with a group involved with the team.
There are 14 teams in the Dashers’ league. The Dashers are a member of the Federal Prospects Hockey League.
“We’ve come a long way,” Soskin said. “I’m proud of all the additions that we’ve had. It’s fun to watch the league grow. I’m glad that our group can bring this back to Danville. I want this to succeed.”
Although a game schedule hasn’t been released yet, he said they are looking at a few neutral site games as the league continues to grow. They will be playing four games in Topeka, Kansas.
“That will give Danville Fridays and Saturdays almost exclusively which should help with the draw,” Soskin said. “Because it’s going to take more than what we had last time to make this work.”
He added that everybody wants to see this back. Everybody too knows some of the hardships Danville’s been through, no different than other markets.
“We’re going to come through them. This is something to support what we’re doing here. We want to help. We want to be part of what we’ve got going in the rebirth of the growth of this community. We just want to help with the quality of life,” Soskin said, adding that hockey is a “pretty nice way of doing that.”
Short said while they’re sharing the new logo with the public, some things still are being kept secret prior to the season starting.
“I want to surprise everyone with some of the new things that we have during the games, game-day activities…, fun things for kids also,” she said.
Soskin said said season ticket holders this year will receive a jersey. This announcement received a lot of applause from the fans in attendance.
He loves to see everybody wearing jerseys at the games.
Season ticket prices haven’t been announced yet.
Head Coach A.J. Tesoriero, who goes by Coach Tes and who lives in Covington, Ind., said he’s honored and excited to accept the position. He played as a Dasher for seven years and was a member of its championship team.
He said he’s looking to teach the guys some discipline and respect. There will be returning Dashers and new young players.
“We’re going to take it to the next level here and I’m excited to get it going,” he said, adding that he’s looking forward to bringing the Dashers another championship.
Tesoriero said they are in a great market to move players onto the next level.
Arena General Manager Teri Gaffney said it’s going to be a fun year and she’s sure the seats will be filled.
Dashers fan Samantha Sapp, 17, of Hoopeston, is excited for the season to start. She grew up going to games with her family since she was 5 or 6 years old.
“First time we went, dad’s like ‘we need to come back,’ and I’m like ‘yeah,'” Sapp said about the fun they had.
She likes the action and fighting among the players. She said she likes the new logo and they plan on getting season tickets. “I already have like maybe 12,” Sapp said of her jerseys.
The Dashers played at the arena from 2011 to 2020, winning a league championship in 2017.
The arena’s previous board terminated Soskin’s lease in favor of the Vermilion County Bobcats in 2020. But the Bobcats folded in February 2023 after the team failed to show up for a game.
The ice at the arena will be in by mid-September and games will start in October.
