By MAURY THOMPSON
GLens Falls Post star

GLENS FALLS -- City and United Hockey League officials
are negotiating with a new ownership group that would
buy out the assets of the financially beleaguered
Adirondack IceHawks and keep the team in the city,
Mayor Robert Regan said Monday.

Regan would not reveal the identity of the potential
owners, but said he expects a deal will be reached
before the end of the current season.

"Our guiding principles at the moment are twofold --
to first ensure that our financial interests are
protected, and second that hockey continues to stay at
the Civic Center not only for the rest of the season,
but for years to come," he said.

The team's financial problems have become increasingly
public in recent weeks.

On Friday, the Warren County Sheriff's Department
seized the proceeds of concession sales during an
IceHawks game to satisfy a civil court judgment
against the team and its owners.

The Sheriff's Department seized about $8,100 to
satisfy a $50,000 judgment for debt owed to Michael
Cantanicci, president of New Country Motor Group in
Clifton Park.

A lawyer for a Westchester County-based payroll
services firm also has threatened to take legal action
to collect more than $15,000 he says the team owes his
client.

And the team's owners, Art and Lori Shaver, are
delinquent in more than $300,000 in debt to the city.

Regan said that he and Civic Center Executive Director
Suzanna Bernd began quietly working with UHL
Commissioner Richard Brosal in September to find a new
owner for the team.

Neither Brosal nor the Shavers could immediately be
reached to comment on Monday.


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