Son rises on Phantoms

Alex Zoldan takes control of .Youngstown's hockey team’s daily operations as its first season opens.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

Phantoms Premiere At Covelli

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The home opener against the Indiana Ice Saturday night, 7 PM at the Covelli Centre.

YOUNGSTOWN — There’s a familiar last name running the front office of the Youngstown Phantoms hockey team.

But this Zoldan is not Bruce, a prominent local businessman who made his fortune from fireworks. Zoldan owns the Phantoms, the United States Hockey League team that opens its inaugural season Saturday at the Covelli Centre.

Instead, it’s his son, Alex, a 23-year-old Youngstown State University student with a cherub face and curly hair, who’s running the junior hockey league team’s day-to-day operations as the Phantoms’ president.

The 2004 Boardman High School graduate admits that “by far, I’m the youngest guy in the room at the [USHL’s] board of governors” meetings.”

His experience with the inner workings of the hockey business before being named president this past summer is limited to being a huge fan of the sport, helping his father with the now-defunct Mahoning Valley Phantoms and being in charge of the music played during the former Phantoms games last season.

His father said he sees his oldest son, who expects to graduate next year from YSU with a degree in business administration, as someone who has his “finger on the pulse of the tastes” of young people and knows what it takes to attract those in their teens, 20s and 30s to the Covelli Centre.

“I’m absolutely proud of him,” Zoldan said of his son. “Taking a position like this is great for his future. To be in the business world and the sporting world, there’s a lot of challenges.”

Alex Zoldan said he’s prepared to face those challenges.

“The toughest part is trying to deal with everything,” he said. “You try not to let anything get by you. You handle all the details, no matter how little. It’s the lighting, it’s game-day operations, it’s ticket sales, it’s promotions. Not one item can be soft, or the entire product is soft. I’m learning a little bit each day.”

He’s also confident that the Phantoms will succeed on and off the ice in the team’s first season in the USHL, considered the top amateur hockey league in this country.

“I was told by others in the USHL that it would take time for the team to win,” he said. “Not only am I confident we’ll win, but we’ll make some noise in the playoffs.”

The son of another famous Mahoning Valley family is an inspiration to the younger Zoldan. Jed York, 28, is president and owner of the San Francisco 49ers football team. York’s parents, John and Denise DeBartolo York, own the team and serve as its chairman and chairwoman. The Yorks are family friends of the Zoldans.

“I admire the work that he’s done,” Alex Zoldan said of Jed York.

In a June interview with The Vindicator, York said he started with the 49ers working three or four weeks “in every single department,” and then was promoted to vice president of strategic planning. He was appointed to his current job after the 49ers’ 2008 season ended, three years after he started working for the professional football team.

“I really feel obligated to carry on the traditions and the legacies that my family has started,” York said.

Alex Zoldan feels that way about his new job.

“This is something I want to stay with for the foreseeable future,” he said. “This is what I want to do.”

His 61-year-old father said he sees his son having a promising future in hockey and envisions Alex and Ron, his other son, who is 19 and a communications major at The Ohio State University, one day owning a National Hockey League franchise in Cleveland.

There’s also the family’s main business — fireworks.

“Ever since I was little, I worked at the fireworks store, loading fireworks on the shelves, packing bags for customers,” Alex Zoldan said. “I enjoy the fireworks business. It’s something I hope to get involved in one day and be a part of. But to say I have my future map planned, I don’t.”

Zoldan, who co-owns B.J. Alan Co. with his two brothers, said he’s “one of those obsessed people. I’ll probably be in business as long as I’m physically capable.”

But he wants his sons to eventually get involved in the family’s fireworks business.

“As a parent, you always hope that your kids are able to work together,” he said.

Zoldan said he’s had disputes with his brothers and other family members involved in the business. But you work out those issues because you’re family, he said.

“There’s too many outside negatives working against you that you certainly don’t want to work with negatives within your own family,” Zoldan said. If his sons are able to understand that and “get over sibling rivalries then they’ll be able to work together. That would be my hope.”

IF YOU GO

Phantoms opener

The Youngstown

Phantoms of The United States Hockey League start the team’s inaugural season Saturday.

Faceoff: Against the Indiana Ice at 7:15 p.m. Saturday at the Covelli Centre in downtown Youngstown.

Tickets: Available at the center’s box office, by calling (330) 747-7825 or by visiting the team’s Web site, youngstownphantoms.com. Tickets are $9.50, $11.50 and $13.50.

Also available via Ticketmaster.com.

Source: Youngstown Phantoms