Bienkowski turned Rangers into model franchise in 18 years at helm
With Blueshirts boss set to retire in June, the club is on the hunt for a successor
KITCHENER — Steve Bienkowski can remember the rough years.
It was the mid-1990s and the former Kitchener Rangers goalie, turned accountant, came back to the Aud to help the franchise on a volunteer basis.
When he peered into the books, it was ugly.
The storied Ontario Hockey League franchise had built up a $1-million reserve over three-plus decades but burned through half of it in a three-year span.
Attendance — about 3,000 per game — was still strong, for the time, but nowhere near the more than 6,000 the Aud sees today.
“How bad was it?” says the 57-year-old.
“Did they have three years left? There was no owner to put money in. That’s how bad it was. It wasn’t a good situation. I’ve never forgotten.”
Today, the Rangers are a model franchise in the OHL.
The team is financially sound, has hosted and won a Memorial Cup in the past two decades, packs the stands for almost every game and is a destination point for players and coaches.
And the turnaround happened under Bienkowski’s watch, first as a board member and president and, for the past 18 years, as the club’s first ever chief operating officer and governor.
In June, he’s calling it quits. A search for his replacement is underway.
“I just think it’s a good time,” he says. “I don’t know if it’s the right time, but I’m comfortable with it.”
Bienkowski’s bond with the Rangers goes back to his playing days.
The Oshawa goalie came to the club in 1979 after winning a provincial title with the St. Michael’s Majors. A season later he was celebrating the Blueshirts’ first OHL banner.
“No ring,” he recalls. “We got a hockey jacket.”
He moved on to Wilfrid Laurier University after two seasons and backstopped the Golden Hawks to their first Ontario University Athletics championship and was named an all-Canadian before joining the working world as a chartered accountant.
By the mid-1990s, the OHL was chang
ing fast.
The Rangers were being run by a volunteer board and needed guidance. The club was losing money, lacked a business structure and had just two fulltime staff members in the office.
“They needed to modernize,” says Bienkowski. “It’s no slight on anyone. They were just here to run the hockey team.”
They needed a business leader.
Bienkowski, who made Waterloo Region his home, was happy to step up. He quit his job in Toronto and became the club’s inaugural COO. The team’s board of directors, made up of ticket subscribers, remained in place but took more of a governing role than an operational one.
And boy did things change. The Rangers have turned a profit for the past 24 years. Along the way, the club has completed — and paid for — several renovations at the Aud, bid for and won the rights to host the 2008 Memorial Cup and graduated several players and coaches to the NHL.
The team’s rabid fan base has never been stronger with 5,600 season ticket holders and crowds often surpassing 7,000.
“From where we started to where we are today, I think the team has been left in a stronger position,” says Bienkowski.
“From where we started to where we are today, I think the team has been left in a stronger position.” STEVE BIENKOWSKI KITCHENER RANGERS COO
“That’s probably what I’m most proud of.”
There are on-ice highlights too.
Like the hiring of general manager and coach Peter DeBoer, who helped cement the club’s reputation as a developing ground for future pro players and who took the team to the 2003 Memorial Cup, where it beat the Hull Olympiques to end a 20-year gap between titles.
The 2008 Memorial Cup stands out too. The Rangers lost to Spokane in the final at the Aud but the event was profitable and lauded for its personal touches, such as the commemorative sweaters that were worn by the home team and then auctioned off to support local veterans.
Through it all, Bienkowski has always remained in the background on hockey decisions, save for hires.
“He doesn’t micromanage,” says Rangers GM and coach Mike McKenzie. “For me as a hockey person it has been important to have that confidence and trust.”
Now, the hunt is on for a successor.
Rangers president Shawn McKelvie and members of the executive committee will conduct interviews and hire the next COO, but for transparency an outside firm is identifying top candidates.
Those interested in the gig will need to be able to lead a staff of about a dozen people, understand and appreciate the club’s structure and relationship with the board and have a hockey background.
“It’s a daunting task,” says McKelvie. “He’s the only one that has had the job.”
As for Bienkowski, he’s ready to spend more time with his kids Michelle and Erin, and partner Theresa Foss and her kids Zach, Carlie and Joel.
He’ll still be at the Aud regularly, sitting in his season seats. And he’s hoping to go out on a high.
In November, the Rangers looked like a writeoff, but now the club is battling for top spot in the OHL’s western conference.
It’s a familiar script. In 1980-81, when Bienkowski shared the crease with goalie Wendell Young, the Rangers were in last place at Christmas but went on to win the OHL title.
Now, as he readies to leave, he’s eager for a repeat performance.
“You couldn’t write a better story,” he says. “First year and last year, it could be bookends.”