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Lunch with Ernest

Hockey's on hold; he isn't

By ERNEST HOOPER
Published March 25, 2005

Anyone who thinks this area doesn't have a passion for hockey hasn't talked to Jay Feaster.

The Lightning general manager calls Valrico home and says it's not uncommon for people to greet him at school, at church or at the grocery store with a common refrain: When are we getting hockey back?

Pull up a chair and join us.

How frustrating has the work stoppage been for you?

What's frustrating about it is when you think back to Game 7 of the finals and you have 23,000 in the building and another 20,000 people outside. You had so many people who had never experienced hockey before, but became fans during the run. Most of those people are people you're looking to convert.

I had strangers coming up and hugging me that night.

That's the thing. We had a great summer in terms of selling. We increased the season ticket base, but you don't know what's going to happen now. How many of those people that were casual fans are going to stay with us? That's the frustrating thing. I think we were poised both on the ice and off the ice to capitalize on the success. Now, who knows?

How do you and the Lightning staff keep your spirits up?

That's a difficult thing because there are so many things involved with it. Part of it is the camaraderie of being together as a staff on the road. The coaches, the trainers, the equipment managers are going out together for dinner and you miss that. The other thing is that you can't do anything about it. It's not as though John Tortorella can come in and problem-solve this. It's happening at a level beyond us.

You recently held a fundraiser for the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center. Why is it important for the organization to do charitable work when the team isn't playing?

I think one of the things that this organization does a good job of is being a good community partner. Not someone who is just looking to make money, take your money. I think we've done a good job of trying to be responsible and give back. During the Stanley Cup season, we raised $1.6-million for area charities. The idea is we want to be here a long time. When you're thinking about the Tampa Bay Lightning, whether we win the Stanley Cup or it's an off-year, we want you to say: They're here, they're active and they're involved.

I know the time off is frustrating, but it did allow you to be home more. What's more enjoyable, being the Lightning GM or coaching your son's basketball team?

Oh gosh, being the GM of the Lightning. I can trade those guys if they're not performing. That was some experience. Honest to goodness. We were doing a drill and I said, "Use the backboard." One of the kids at the back of the line said, "What's the backboard?"

But that was something you wouldn't have been able to do if the team was playing.

That's been really enjoyable. Our fifth child was born on Nov. 10. Prior to that time, I had been on the road with our minor league affiliate up in Springfield, Mass., and I was up there almost every weekend from mid September until the baby was born. Then I basically took three months off. That was three months of being home every day and watching the baby grow, every morning taking the kids to school, coaching Bobby's basketball team. You have to look for some silver linings and that was certainly one of them - the family time.

Five kids? You are Catholic!

Thank goodness for our oldest. Theresa will be 13 in April and she is the best. She's the team captain. I always joke she wears the captain's C on our team. She is a big help. So is Bobby. He'll be 11 in April and he's a big help. It's fun to watch them interact with the new baby. My wife is a saint. If you think about it, during the hockey season I'm on the road when the team goes. We have a plaque that a friend gave us that says, We interrupt this marriage to bring you the hockey season.

And when Anne married you, she thought she was marrying a lawyer. She didn't realize she was getting into hockey.

Fortunately, she's always been a sports fan. She grew up in Rockville, Md., and her dad was a lacrosse player in college, and he was a Redskins season ticket holder. When we first got married and I first started working for the Hershey Entertainment and Resort Co., we had access to the corporate box seats and we would go to the Bears games.

How difficult was it to leave Hershey to come to the Lightning?

That was the hardest thing for her. Her family was within two hours, she had her friends, she was established and then to leave and come here, that was when it was tough. She was very active with the parish back where we lived, and I figured it would be the same thing here. Back there, we had 1,500 people in the parish. We come here and there's 2,500 families in the St. Stephen parish. It's totally different.

What do you think of Valrico now?

We like it out here. When we first came here, we couldn't get the kids into Nativity and everything had a waiting list. So we settled in Bloomingdale and part of that was to be at the elementary school, Alafia. When the parish decided they were going to undertake this building project, we were very much a proponent of that financially, timewise and otherwise. Now, all the kids who are able to be in school are at St. Stephen. It's good. We have all the things that make it a neighborhood and a community.

Are you ever going to go back to practicing law?

I hope not. That would not be what I want to do. I used to say when I was at Hershey, my worst days there were better than my best days practicing law. Even if you do a good job for the client, at the end of that day they get that bill and it's, Oh my.

DESSERT: A postscript from Ernest

Ernest Hooper writes a column for the daily Tampa & State section of the St. Petersburg Times and also writes a weekly column, "Lunch With Ernest," for the Brandon Times section. North of Tampa is running this week's column because Jay Feaster may be of interest to our readers. Lunch With Ernest is edited for brevity and clarity.

[Last modified March 24, 2005, 08:15:13]