DANCING TO A DIFFERENT TUNE
When Colleen Miller and the Colorado Eagles contacted recent CSU
graduate Amber Pointer to choreograph the new “Eagles Chicks” dance
team for the Colorado Eagles hockey team, she had no clue a hockey
team could even use dancers during games.
“I was very excited right away to hear from Colleen and the
Eagles, but then I started worrying about operations,” Pointer
said. “I had no idea how it would work or what I was expected to
create.”
Miller, director of media and public relations for the Eagles,
was given the opportunity to create one of the first dance squads
for an ice hockey team.
“My major was interdisciplinary communications and I have always
wanted to work in sports,” Miller said about her job with the
Eagles. “So this was a perfect and lucky match for me.”
Co-owners Ralph Backstrom and Bill Stewart expressed interest in
a dance team when they noticed Northern Colorado’s affinity for
hockey. They wanted fans to have an experience completely unique to
any other sporting event in Colorado.
Stewart is a graduate of the University of Denver and a former
player under Backstrom, creating a tandem of Eagles owners who love
the game and have left nothing behind in creating an exciting
experience for everyone attending an Eagles home game.
The New York Islanders, the Dallas Stars and the Florida
Panthers of the National Hockey League use dance squads at home
games, but only the Eagles actually allows the dance team to
perform on the ice, instead of in the aisles of the stands. A huge
rubber mat is rolled out onto center ice for the Eagles Chicks to
perform on.
“Lisa and Amber have done a terrific job already,” Backstrom
said after the Eagles’ inaugural home game. “They really had the
crowd going after that first period.”
Colleen Miller’s first step in assembling the squad was to hire
Lisa Kennedy, the dance team manager who boasts more than 15 years
of dance experience and was also part of the National Basketball
Associations’ New Jersey Nets drill team for three years.
Then Miller hired Pointer as head choreographer. Pointer has 20
years of dance experience and has been a part of the Denver Nuggets
dance team since 2002. She also graduated from CSU with a degree in
psychology in 2002.
“The Eagles Chicks will bring another degree of entertainment
and excitement to every Colorado Eagles home game,” Pointer
said.
Kennedy and Pointer worked together throughout the summer and
held tryouts for the team on Aug.13 at Highland Motors, one of the
team sponsors. Now the team practices on Thursdays at The Pulse in
Fort Collins.
The Eagles Chicks dance team consists of Kennedy, Pointer and 12
dancers, eight of whom will perform at every Eagles home game. Six
of the Eagles Chicks currently attend CSU: Nicole Knight, Lindsey
Kovacevich, Kelly Reindel, Charleen Ryszkowski, Chanel Winter and
Jessica Lukon.
Lukon, who came to CSU from southern California, thanked her
school and the new professional hockey team in Colorado for her
spot on the Eagles Chicks.
“I just practiced hard and waited for the opportunity,” Lukon
said. “I love school and I love dancing for the Eagles so I
consider myself pretty lucky.”
The first appearance by the Eagles Chicks in front of their new
home crowd was a quick routine to the AC/DC track, “You Shook Me
All Night Long.” The one-minute dance performance answered all the
questions about operations and left the entire crowd hollering and
pointing and wanting more.
Then came the free shirts. All eight Eagles Chicks left the ice
then returned before the second period began to pepper the stands
with Eagles T-shirts. After the game they went outside the
Budweiser Events Center and handed out glass mugs, thanking and
talking to season-ticket holders and fans.
“We just want to help out as much as possible and make this a
fun experience for everyone,” said Kovacevich, Eagle Chick and CSU
student. “That is why we are here.”
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