Brandon Spears, captain and founder of The Bullets released the following statement to the media today:

 

"I would like to start off by saying hello to all our fans and welcoming back our supporters. Much like all of you, we here at The Bullets are eager and excited to drop the puck on the 2006 season. It has been a long winter. I personally have been very busy keeping in shape, skating multiple times a week, and doing some heavy duty scouting. This year is kind of a turning point for us: we no longer consider ourselves an expansion franchise and we have put a lot of pressure on ourselves not only to provide an exciting brand of hockey for our fans, but also to ice a very competitive team every night and seriously challenge for the championship.

 

Mike Adelson and myself have put countless hours into scouting, meetings, phone calls, and research over the past 5 months or so. We have a vision of where we want this franchise to be and it is all coming into fruition. While this year's version of the team will be based around the same traditions and the same core group of players, there will be some changes. Some of the changes this year are being done to proactively make us better and some of the changes are being done to offset the unfortunate loss of key components.

 

Michael Ceresney has not had his contract option picked up. Various personal reasons and other career moves led to him not being re-signed but we wish him well in all his future endeavours.

 

Adam Katchky will not be returning for this season as he has been presented with an incredible job offer and felt it was the best thing for his family. Devin Bialo will also not return after moving to Guelph, Ontario to further his education. We wish both Mr. Katchky and Mr. Bialo the best and hope to one day see them back in a Bullets uniform. They were outstanding in the dressing room, loved by the fans and will be missed.

 

The status of alternate captain Jeff Rotman is not clear at this point in time as he is currently recovering from a severe knee injury. Jeff is an original member of the team and an important leader, but nothing is more important than his health. Right now we don't know if he will be cleared to play in a month or if he will require surgery that will derail any chances he has of playing this season. As it stands right now we are moving forward assuming that he will not be a playing member of the team and if it so happens that he can join us later on that will be a bonus.

 

As far as replacements and rosters go, we are working around the clock to put the finishing touches on everything. According to the Collective Bargaining Agreement there is not much we can say about prospective players, but things should be wrapped up fairly soon. We are just crossing the i's and dotting the t's on the contracts of Mark Leibtog and Troy Climans. Both of these men have shown throughout their house league careers to be dependable players and will give us some much needed depth up front.

 

I can't say much, but we are also currently exploring the possibilities of free agents Jesse Glowinsky, 'Max', and Jordan Levine.

 

Now onto news that has really excited us around the office: The Bullets will have new jerseys for the 2006 season. No, don't worry; the traditional black jerseys will still be worn as our primary jerseys, but we will now have a 2nd uniform in a mostly white colour scheme. I am really excited about adding an alternate uniform to our collection. This not only makes it easier to always have distinctly different colours than our opponents, it gives our fans something new to see at the games and to purchase for their collections. While the design is under wraps right now, we will be releasing details and pictures shortly, with purchase availability to come shortly after. The new uniforms will be keeping the tradition of black, white, and teal colours. As for any more details you will just have to wait and see.

 

Stay tuned Bullets fans. More news will be coming out very shortly and many details should be finalized after I return from my scouting trip to the Olympics. The site is always being worked on and will be edited shortly to move over to the 2006 season platform while of course archiving everything from the past."

 

LET'S GO BULLETS!!!!