Priestner makes offer for Blazers

From The Daily News of Thursday, Aug. 9:
In the WHL's all-time player index, Mike Priestner’s name is incorrectly
spelled.
Should he end up owning a WHL team, you can bet that situation would be
rectified, and Priester would be changed to Priestner.
Priestner, the 52-year-old owner of the Edmonton-based Mike Priestner
Automotive Group (MPAG), is behind a second offer to purchase the WHL’s
Kamloops Blazers.
Priestner, who played for the WHL’s Kamloops Chiefs in 1974-75, also is the
father of James Priestner, a 16-year-old goaltender who was the 31st
selection in the 2006 WHL bantam draft and is second on the Blazers' depth
chart heading into training camp.
“I would just be on my own,” Priestner said of his offer. He then referred
all Blazers-related questions to Kamloops lawyer Dev Dley, who is a former
WHL commissioner.
“The crucial thing for (Priestner) is that he doesn’t want to rock the
boat,” Dley said. “He thinks on the hockey side of things they’re going in
the right direction. He likes their approach.”
River City Hockey Inc. (RCH), a five-man group led by Vancouver businessman
Tom Gaglardi and including four ex-Blazers players, made an offer of $6.1
million July 18. Under the terms of that offer, the shareholders would be
bought out, the coaching staff would be retained and remaining monies after
all expenses had been paid would go to the Kamloops Blazers Sports
Foundation. As is standard in a lot of deals such as this, the society would
terminate other front-office employees — and be liable for any severance
packages. Those people then would be allowed to re-apply for the positions.
According to Dley, there would be minimum disruption to the organization
under Priestner’s offer.
“He wants to keep the local shareholders involved so he will keep the
shareholders intact,” said Dley, adding that Priestner would purchase 55 per
cent of the franchise, leaving shareholders with 45. “The end result is that
the community continues to own a portion of the team and there is a
guarantee of money flowing into the foundation.
“It’s the best of both worlds . . . it’s the absolute best of both worlds.”
Dley added that what Priestner has done is "put a value on the team that is
more than Gaglardi's people and then offered to buy the majority of the
team."
Priestner’s offer, Dley said, also is worth “more (than RCH’s), and the
actual details provide a much greater return to the community and on a
longer term basis.”
MPAG has 10 dealerships, five in Edmonton and one each in St. Paul, Alta.,
Peace River, Alta., Yellowknife, Richmond and Nelson. According to MPAG’s
website, it has more than 500 employees and annual sales of more than $500
million. MPAG sells vehicles from Jeep, Land Rover, Daimler Chrysler, Dodge,
Hyundai, Ford, Saleen, Jaguar and Arctic Cat.
Priestner was born in Windsor and raised in Winnipeg where he attended
Tuxedo Shaftesbury High School in the city’s west end. He and his wife,
Patricia, have been married for “30-plus years” and have three sons — Jared,
26, works with MPAG, and Colin, 22, just graduated from the U of Alberta.
James, the youngest at 16, may be a future Blazers goaltender.
Mike’s younger sister, Cathy Priestner Allinger, was a world-class speed
skater and now is the executive vice-president (Sport, Paralympic Games and
venue management) with VANOC.
Mike went 10-3-2 with the Chiefs in 1974-75. Brian Henderson and Mark Earp
were among the team’s other goaltenders. One of the skaters was Don Moores,
who now is on the society’s board of directors.
Priestner joined the Chiefs after playing for the U of Calgary Dinosaurs and
George Kingston, one of Canada’s coaching legends.
“That was an unbelievable experience,” Priestner said.
He also played for the AJHL’s Calgary Canucks (1972-73) and had a short stay
with the WHL’s Winnipeg Jr. Jets in 1971-72, the same season in which he, as
a 15-year-old, played for the MJHL’s Winnipeg Monarchs. They were coached by
Murray (Muzz) MacPherson, who would go on to coach Wayne Gretzky with the
OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
Priestner, who played “about 60 games” with the Monarchs that season,
especially remembers one game.
“I broke a stick at the old Winnipeg Arena after a period and (MacPherson)
made me pay for it,” Priestner said. “I’ll never forget that. It was a good
lesson.”
Priestner ended up joining the Chiefs as a 19-year-old out of university.
“I had fun for the time I was (in Kamloops),” he said, adding that he
visited Memorial Arena while at KIBIHT a couple of years ago. “I went in the
old dressing room. The stall I sat in was exactly the same. It was an
amazing experience.”
And now he would like to experience owning a major junior hockey team.
“It’s been a lifelong goal of mine,” he said.
Priestner plans on being in Kamloops on Aug. 16. He will drop off James —
training camp opens Aug. 23 — and would like to meet the Blazers’ board of
directors.
“I’m hoping to have a meeting with the board,” he said, “to see if any of
this makes sense or not.”