What a difference a year makes.
The Estevan Bruins announced an unprecedented profit for last season at their annual general meeting on Thursday.
The team's bottom line showed a total profit of $201,075 for the fiscal year ending April 30, 2012.
It's a degree of financial success virtually unheard of in Junior A hockey, particularly considering the team's off-ice struggles while it was a tenant at the Civic Auditorium.
Only one season earlier, the last one in the Civic, the team had lost over $60,000.
"It's almost unbelievable, but yet so gratifying to see the hockey club prosper like this," said Bruins president Jeff Pierson. "I distinctly remember when I started on the executive, what a bleak position the hockey club was in."
Pierson told those in attendance at the AGM that not many junior clubs are so fortunate.
"This would be somewhat of a rarity for a junior hockey club to have a year like this. Moving into Spectra Place was a complete rebirth for this franchise," he said.
The team said goodbye to two executive members and welcomed a new one, with one spot remaining unfilled due to a lack of nominations.
Trevor Knibbs and long-time secretary Gayle Gustafson both did not stand for another term. Brent Sauter and Randy Bye each stayed on for another two-year term, while Brian Skjonsby joined the board. All three were acclaimed.
In the financial statements presented by MNP, the only area where the Bruins posted an overall loss was in regular season operations.
Season tickets brought in $177,646, game day admissions netted just under $100,000 and the team made a profit of $55,000 from the 50/50 operation.
Major expenses included $145,182 for salaries and benefits, $62,907 for equipment (including a bill of about $20,000 for sticks, less than half the stick expenditure from the previous year), $52,692 for bus rental and $46,290 to pay billets.
The team made back about $40,000 in the playoffs, most of that money coming from the walk-up gate.
Corporate sponsorship and advertising represented easily the biggest windfall for the Bruins, bringing in a total profit of $227,916.
More than $180,000 in revenue came from signage and logos, while nearly $70,000 came from patron advertising.
The Bruins made about $20,000 from their Sun and Fun lotto and $13,000 from player trades. Their spring 3-on-3 hockey program made about $24,000, which was then donated to the Estevan Minor Hockey Association and the City of Estevan.
The team had $121,111 in general and administrative expenses.
Bruins operations and marketing manager Becky Tait said a lot of credit goes to past executives who did their best to keep the team above water in the tougher days.
"There's been a lot of hard work from a lot of people on the executive and in the community to bring the Bruins to where they are financially right now. The big thanks goes out to those people, not only past presidents and executive members, but also corporate sponsors that have been around for a long time. People we've owed money to for a long time, we're now able to pay those bills immediately," said Tait. "We run this hockey club like a business now instead of a charity, and it definitely makes a big difference."
The Bruins invested in a few items to turn their game nights into an entertaining show, including a mascot, an ice team and other gimmicks to be used during intermissions.
Perhaps the biggest purchase was the 50/50 Central selling system, which allows sellers to use hand-held mobile devices, which keep the tally updated electronically and make it easier to sell more tickets. The Bruins' 50/50 revenue increased by roughly 300 per cent.
"We knew last year that we were having a good year financially," Tait said, "and to purchase those things, we knew there was a chance that things might not work out, but you have to take a chance when you're having a good year financially. You need to spend the money that you know will bring in money."
Tait added that the team still has to be careful with its spending and that it won't need to continue making the kinds of purchases it did last year.
Pierson said the team wanted to take advantage of the move while the opportunity was there.
"We viewed it as a fresh start, moving into Spectra, and thought it would give us a fighting chance to get in a good financial position. I think we just seized the opportunity of moving into Spectra Place and made it as big as we could."
He said that although "there's only one first year in Spectra," he's been happy with the crowds and corporate support so far this season.
He added that the team has to use its strong financial position to bolster the on-ice product as much as possible, noting that the community deserves it after all the support it has given the club.
"We owe it to them to put a winning hockey team on the ice and this will give us the resources, I believe, to make that happen."
