November 11, 1997

I got the chance to chat live and in person, across lunch, with Orlando Solar Bears goaltender Allan Bester a couple of weeks ago. Bester is entering his fifteenth season of professional hockey. Even before having ankle surgery (10/17/97) which will keep him in the stands rather than the net for the next 12 weeks, fans were as likely to find Allan Bester on the Web, as on the ice.

Oh, I tap in all the time and find out what's going on. Check stats, read articles, different things like that. I think it's a great medium. It lets me find out a lot of information about different teams. Just a wealth of information. It's fantastic!

What other online places do goaltenders visit?

I check out the webpage Barry Potter does on me. Check the mailbox (guest book) to see who figures they're sending me notes when they're sending them to Barry. So I check that all the time. The only reason I found out about it is my friends back home would say 'did you get my message', and I didn't know what they were talking about. So I talked to Barry, and said 'oh, okay!' But I enjoy it, I enjoy it a lot.

Allan Bester has been in professional hockey since he stepped into the Toronto Maple Leaf organization at age nineteen. What was the instant celebrity like?

I really didn't know any better back then. I didn't know to be overly nervous. I was 19- years-old. I had no aspirations of becoming a professional athlete. I was playing hockey to get my education. I was a good student. I was a pretty good hockey player. But I never thought I would play in the NHL. That wasn't something that was driving me. When I got the call to go to Toronto at 19 years old, it was just to go to do the best I possibly could. It was the hockey hotbed of the world. I mean there was no place more hockey-oriented than Toronto was.

The team started winning a little bit and I played pretty well, for stepping in at that time. And I became the "Darling of the End Blues," as was quoted one time in the paper. And I was a pretty good story for them to write about, you know, a 19-year-old kid steps in and becomes the savior.

What other nicknames had Bester been saddled with (er, given) during his career?

Well, there was The Savior. And I've always had 'Beaster', or 'Beast', or Little Beastie.

And where did Ernie come from?

My first year in Toronto, I walked in the rink one day with my glasses on instead of my contacts. At that time I had gold-rimmed glasses. And I walked in and Bill Stewart turned around and looked at me and said, "You look just like Ernie Douglas from My Three Sons". And that was it. They knew I didn't like it, so it stuck.

Don't tell Allan Bester that hockey isn't catching on in Orlando!

Well, I think it's been exceptional for hockey coming in to a brand new city that has never experienced hockey before. First of all, I think Don Waddell (former Solar Bears General Manager) did a great job of selling hockey to the city - and the whole organization, not just Don.

And the great thing is the people here are sports fans. And loyal sports fans. They're not fickle. Once they find something they enjoy, and they feel their team is working hard, they seem to accept them and cheer for them - period. Whether they're playing well or not. As long as the hard work's there, it seems like the city is going to support their teams.

We realize that, as players, and we love it. I'm amazed how quickly hockey has caught on here. When we were in San Diego, they had a team that had the best record in hockey, and a lot of people didn't even know they had a professional team in town.

Solar Bear fans have not been too happy with the print and television media coverage of their hockey team. What do the players feel about that coverage, versus, say their RdV brethren?

We can't compare ourselves to the Magic. The Magic are the NBA. We're a minor league team. We believe we're not in the minors, that the IHL is a major league, but we're not the NHL. We can't expect to be treated like the NHL, even in Orlando. Granted we'd like more coverage, but there are so many other sports in this town that are money-makers that are huge, Florida-wide, rather than just Orlando. You've got the Gators, the Magic.

There are so many other things going on, it's hard to push hockey when it's 90 degrees out, and the people are watching football, baseball and basketball. Now if we had an NHL team, maybe it wouldn't be quite as difficult, because of the television coverage and things like that. But this is our second year, going into our third, and I think it is coming along quite well.

We as players would like to enhance that as much as possible. Being out in the public eye, doing more advertising, by selling the team ourselves. What's nice about the IHL is you end up keeping players that become recognizable with your team. NHL players are in and out so fast. And any other minor league such as the AHL, you might have 20 new players from year to year. They turn over very quickly. Here, at least with independent clubs, you sign a guy for 2-3 years and he's your property. He's not going to be going anywhere.

And what sorts of things would Allan Bester like to be involved with, in a few years, once he decides to no longer step in front of the net?

Well, I've been thinking about it a lot more recently. I know I love the family aspect of this organization. I've got many plans to possibly stay in the organization, doing exactly what I don't know.

I know our player's association (Professional Hockey Player's Association) has come onto the Web, with PHPA.com and we'll be selling merchandise. I might as well let you know I'm on the executive committee to the PHPA for the IHL so I'm going to be pushing this myself. The merchandise is top quality. You'll see some of the players wearing the apparel. There's not a lot out yet. I keep checking our webpage to see what's on there. Beautiful sweatshirts, hats, and golf shirts. Real quality. A nice 3-player logo with a goaltender, a defenseman and a forward. Mock-turtlenecks, tote bags. When I did the golf tournament for the PHPA this summer in Niagara Falls, they gave us a gorgeous golf travel bag for flying. And they have briefcases.

Once he's through with hockey, I think marketing is a distinct possibility, for this man's future.

Contributed by Erika Heumann, the Hockeynut

Erika Heumann Hockeynut; Solar Bears' author; and currently unemployed Mechanical Engineer - eminently employable. Other Articles I've Written