OverTime Neighborhood Pub Watch Party - Next Friday Night

The Buccaneers will be on the road taking on the Sioux City Musketeers next Friday night (March 5th) - but that doesn’t mean you have to miss the game!  Join us at OverTime, located at 4810 86th Street in Urbandale, for a watch party for the game on b2 Networks!  OverTime will be showing the game throughout the restaurant at no charge to Buccaneer fans!  There is no cover charge and OverTime is the perfect family environment to enjoy the game!  During intermissions, Buccaneer staff will be doing raffles, trivia and much more for some amazing prizes!

LIVESTRONG WITH THE BUCS NIGHT

Make sure not to miss the “LIVESTRONG WITH THE BUCS NIGHT” on Friday, February 5th. Wear yellow to the game and help the Buccaneers support Des Moines LIVESTRONG and the fight against cancer.  There will be an exclusive Brian Duffy original T-shirt depicting our 30th Anniversary and the partnership with LIVESTRONG - proceeds from the sales of the T-shirts and a silent auction will benefit the Des Moines LIVESTRONG chapter!  Make sure you’re there - and LIVE STRONG!

For more information about the Des Moines LIVESTRONG chapter please visit their website by visiting www.livestrongdesmoines.org.

Jimmy Buffett Night

Join us for Jimmy Buffett Night at Buccaneer Arena!

Enjoy 1/2 price margaritas, 1/2 price cheeseburgers and escape the cold of winter with the heat of Buccaneer hockey!

Shawn Johnson Bobblehead

Shawn Johnson Bobblehead Giveaway

Saturday, February 20th - 7:05 p.m.
Tri-City Storm vs. Des Moines Buccaneers

Olympic Gold Medalist Shawn Johnson will be on hand as the Des Moines Buccaneers and Coca-Cola give away Shawn Johnson Bobbleheads to the first 1,000 fans through the gates.

Regular game tickets are available for purchase at the Buccaneer Arena ticket office or online.

As a special offer, the Des Moines Buccaneers are offering a limited number of VIP PACKAGES ($25) and a GUARANTEED BOBBLEHEAD PACKAGES ($15) - both including a guaranteed Shawn Johnson Bobblehead. 

$25 VIP PACKAGE INCLUDES:
A guaranteed Shawn Johnson Bobblehead
An Arena Level ticket to the game
A ticket to a pre-game reception with Shawn Johnson
Pre-game appetizers during the reception

$15 GUARANTEED BOBBLEHEAD PACKAGE INCLUDES:
A guaranteed Shawn Johnson Bobblehead
An Arena Level ticket to the game

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO PURCHASE TICKETS PLEASE CALL THE BUCCANEER ARENA TICKET OFFICE AT 278-BUCS (2827).

Thanksgiving Night

Join us next Thursday night as the Buccaneers welcome the Omaha Lancers to Buccaneer Arena for the first time this season.  It's Miller Lite Buc Beer Night - so make sure to bring your friends and family out Thanksgiving night - because we're sure you're going to be ready for some $1 draws of Miller Lite after spending a day with family, friends and turkey! 

The Great Teddy Bear Toss (We Hope)

It's our annual Teddy Bear Toss on Saturday, November 14th - bring a teddy bear and toss it on the ice after the Bucs score their first goal against the Sioux City Musketeers. All teddy bears will be donated to local children's charities.

When posting this, we figured we'd do a little research on the Teddy Bear Toss as our interns were looking at as with looks of utter confusion as to where this hockey tradition started.

According to Wikipedia, the first Teddy Bear Toss was said to be in Kitchener, Ontario at Kitchener Rangers games - it's most popular in the Western Hockey League cities of Calgary, Alberta and Portland.

There also seems to be battle between these teams...

The 7,485 fans and supporters of the Portland Winter Hawkswere the first to break the WHL and CHL Teddy Bear Toss record in the 2006 - 2007 with an on-ice donation of 14,361 stuffed animals Saturday, November 25th, 2006. The teddy bears rained down from the stands when Kyle Bailey broke a scoreless tie exactly one minute into the overtime period. This record was eventually broken by the fans of the Calgary Hitmen less than a month later. On December 10th, 2006, when Ryan White scored a short-handed goal 14 minutes into the first period of their game against the Prince George Cougars. 15,540 teddy bears were thrown onto the ice by the 16,380 fans in attendance.

On November 24, 2007, the Portland Winterhawks briefly reclaimed the record with 20,372 stuffed animals coming from the 6,343 fans at the Memorial Coliseum on the 10th Annual Teddy Bear Toss Night. However, fans had failed to realise that the goal that initiated the toss had been disallowed. The record quickly fell again, as six nights later, fans of the Lethbridge Hurricanes set a new mark of 22,736 bears. The Hitmen once again reclaimed their record on December 2, as 26,919 bears hit the ice when Ian Duval scored against the Cougars.

Here are some videos of these epic teddy bear tosses:
Calgary Hitmen (2006) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcif2tNeq6o
Calgary Hitmen (2007) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql_2Fs2q7Q8

Des Moines Buccaneers Booster Club Fundraiser Event

We are excited to announce that Schwan’s Fundraising will have a truck at the Buccaneer Arena on Friday, November 13th from 1 PM - 7 PM; Saturday, November 14th from 9 AM – 5 PM; and Sunday, November 15th from 9 AM – 5 PM. Based on the dollars sold on these days, Schwan’s will donate a percentage of the dollars to the Booster Club, so please come by and show your support for the Des Moines Buccaneers Booster Club.

The truck will have over 300 of Schwan’s quality products to choose from. Simply come by, place your order with the Schwan’s Representative and take your products home to enjoy! We are confident you will find something for every eating occasion, flavor profile and for any nutritional need.

Thank you in advance for your support of the Des Moines Buccaneers Booster Club and this fundraiser. With your participation we will be that much closer to our goal of generating funds to be used for items such as scholarships for the players.

Guaranteed Fight Night

Join us on Saturday, November 7th as the Buccaneers join forces with STAR 102.5 to COMBAT HUNGER in Central Iowa. Fans who bring a non-perishable food item receive $3 off an arena level ticket to the game that night against the Tri City Storm.

We're also hosting a fight at center ice between to Drake college students in a epic battle - they'll take it to center ice decked out in full fight gear and fight three 10 second rounds. The winner will receive a great prize package.

(And a sidenote to those diehard Bucs fans - Andrew Panzarella will not be playing in Saturday's game for Tri City - he'll be scratched and fulfilling a two game suspension for fighting in Tuesday's game - check out Pointstreak to see the boxscore for the game.)

Promotional Ideas

Those of us in the office are excited that the 2009 - 2010 schedule has finally been set - and we're beginning to look at the promotional side of things and plan out what we're going to do each game night to make the experience more exciting and to add to the already promising product on the ice.

This is where you come in, we're looking for some great new ideas for promotions. We've been doing this for a couple of seasons and it's getting a bit harder to come up with something new, something exciting and something that you want to see.

We're of course looking at having Buc Beer Nights again, despite some misgivings from fans these are the nights that bring the most people to the arena and the nights that the Arena itself thrives on - but we want to fill the schedule with other nights that bring those Buc Beer Night crowds back for more.

What are some ideas that you have? Remember they have to be financially feasible and work in the arena! We've done trivia contests, giveaways, appearances - but we want more specifics. What do you want us to give away? Who do you want to see at the arena? Should we do a Pink in the Rink or Armed Forces night? Let us know!