Sports

Naugatuck Man Goes from Hot Dogs to Hockey

Keith Lombard, who grew up as a Ranger fan, was recently promoted to assistant general manager of the Danbury Whalers

Diehard hockey fans fill section 102 of the Danbury Ice Arena for Whalers home games just as they did when the Mad Hatters called the venue home three years ago. Keith Lombard, who grew up in Monroe, is responsible for the Zoo Crew, another pack of rabid fans who bleed Whalers' green and white.

Lombard, 29, now a Naugatuck resident, grew up as a New York Rangers fan and started watching semi-pro Mad Hatters' games at the arena on Independence way when he lived in Danbury.

"It was a good time," he recalled. "Danbury has the best fans in hockey. It was unreal. They were only there for one year. Then the Whalers were coming."

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Some may know Lombard for his hot dog cart business in Naugatuck called Lucky Dog Hot Dogs. He had started volunteering to recruit fans to Whalers' games last year and was hired as a group sales manager. About two weeks ago, Lombard was promoted to assistant general manager of the minor league hockey team.

Lombard said he will still do some catering for parties and events on the side, but added he is now 100-percent focused on the Whalers.

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Herm Sorcher, CEO and managing partner of the Whalers, said Lombard has been marketing and promoting the team and will now work in its day-to-day operations. Sorcher credits Lombard with "recruiting a whole network of people who became huge Whaler fans."

Lombard is known around the facility as "Lucky Dog," because of his hot dog business.

"Lucky is one of the most amazing most positive individuals I have ever met," Sorcher said of Lombard in a press release. "The guy walks into a room and I immediately smile — anyone like that we need in this organization."

'I want to be a part of this'

Lombard went to Stepney Elementary and Chalk Hill Middle School in Monroe and to Abbott Tech in Danbury, while growing up. Though he was a big Rangers fan, he never played hockey before.

Skateboarding was Lombard's true passion.

He was building hot rods, classic cars and some motorcycles last year, when a Facebook conversation brought back memories of Mike Vallely, his hero from that sport.

"I made a post about wanting to get back into skateboarding," Lombard said. "I said, 'Am I too old to get back into skateboarding?' A friend said, 'Not at all. Mike V. is 40 and he’s still skating. He’s gonna be playing for the Whalers.'"

Not missing out on the chance to see his idol, Lombard bought a ticket to opening night, which was Oct. 29,2010.

Lombard said the atmosphere for the Whalers game was 10 times better than the Mad Hatters games.

"It blew me away," he said. "The atmosphere was awesome. The hockey was great. After the game I said, 'I want to be a part of this.' I had a passion just to be a part of the team and to help out in anyway I could."

Lombard said taking the family to a Danbury Whalers hockey game is affordable and fun. Tickets cost $15 a piece for adults and $10 per child.

"I put the quality of play right there with the Sound Tigers and CT Whale — on that level," he said.

As a group sales manager, Lombard started out by gathering groups and going to businesses to promote the team. He also arranged customer and employer appreciation nights.

It was different than selling hot dogs at the Town Green and Rotary Field in Naugatuck.

"With hot dogs, people are coming to you because they want your product," Lombard said. "I was going out to people."

He soon found he had a knack for selling tickets.

"When you have a product like the Whalers, it's an opportunity," Lombard said. "If I was selling something else, it might not have been as easy."

The Whalers already had the diehard fans of section 102, who Lombard calls the backbone of the fan base, when he recruited the Zoo Crew.

"This whole section of the arena is dubbed the Zoo Crew," he said. "They love the game. I had gotten a group of people, who didn't know a lot about hockey, to come to a game and they told their friends about it. It grew and grew. Now they barely miss a game and all of them are now buying season tickets."

There are about 30 people in the crew.

'Beedlemania'

Among Lombard's highlights, according to Sorcher, is coming up with the idea for the Beedlemania T-shirt.

"We had a player named Lynn Beedle," Lombard said. "I was with the Zoo Crew and he scored the tying or game winning goal and the place went nuts. The first thing that came to my mind was 'Beedlemania.'"

Such player promotions are part of the job.

"Our goalie is Nick Niedert and 'Nick the Brick' is his nickname," Lombard said.

The Whalers logo is the letter D with a whale tail coming out of the top of it. In the Nick the Brick T-shirt, the D is a brick wall instead of the team colors and his name and jersey number is on the back of the shirt.

Aside from promoting players among their fan base, Lombard said the Whalers want them to sharpen their skills and move up to the next level.

"We’re single A, we’re really a development league," he said. "We have a lot of kids out of college, who played for UConn. An unknown from Central Connecticut University turned out to be one of our best players."

The next levels up are the East Coast Hockey League, Central Hockey League and the American Hockey League, which is AAA and just one step away from the National Hockey League.

Two of the Danbury Whalers' players made it to the AHL this year.

"We led our league in having our players called up to the next league," Lombard said proudly. "Our goal is to get these players in and promote them as soon as we possibly can."

No Curse Here

Growing up as a Rangers fan, Lombard said he went to around 10 games.

"The worst part about it was, out of all the times I've gone, I've never seen a Ranger win," he said.

Fortunately, this run of bad luck did not extend to the Whalers. The team won its home opener with Lombardi in the stands and went on to have a winning season.

"We actually made it to the playoffs," Lombard said. "We played New York, the number one team in league, and were within four minutes of going to the finals. They forced overtime and went on to beat us in the deciding game of a five game series."

Lombard often looks back upon his quick rise through the ranks of a professional hockey team.

"It's unreal, the only word I can come up with," he said. "To go from a fan in the stands buying a ticket opening night and then six months later being the assistant manager is just unreal."

This article was originally published on Monroe Patch.


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