The Grand Forks Border Bruins said they are moving forward after the recent resignation of team president Michael Wirischagin.
Ward Faust, who was elevated from the vice-president to president position after Wirischagin stepped down, didn’t want to comment specifically about the situation but did say that Wirischagin would not be remaining on in his capacity as broadcaster for the webcasts of Border Bruin games.
“We’re going to go with Martin Vanlerberg. He’s going to take it over and he’s going to do the whole thing,” Faust said.
The new president said that Wirischagin was not present at a meeting last Wednesday and also said that the team wanted to set its eyes to the future.
“We discussed how we’re going to move forward with it and we’re happy to move forward as a team. It’s always been a team effort, it’s not about one person – one person leaves, somebody else steps up,” explained Faust, who also said that the vice-president position would remain vacant – he said the team would now turn its attention to fundraising.
“The Border Bruins have always had past issues with raising money and stuff like that, so right now that’s what we want to focus on,” the Border Bruins’ president explained.
“We’ve got the team going ahead and right now, the vice-president isn’t as important as the fundraising aspect of it.”
He said that the team would be having a garage sale and a cash bingo coming up and he also said that newly-hired coach and GM Brent Batten would be available shortly for a meet and greet.
Wirischagin was elected as team president at the Border Bruins’ AGM back in March and announced last week that he would be stepping down citing an employment opportunity.