| The Green Bay Blizzard
is a professional arena football team, that plays in the af2, the minor league of the Arena Football League. They play their home games at US Cellular Field at the Resch Center in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin. They are currently in the Midwest Division of the American Conference. The team's logo represents Bruiser, the team mascot. The team's drumline is known as the Frostline. The team is owned a group headed by former Green Bay Packers linebacker Brian Noble.
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GREEN BAY BLIZZARD TICKETS
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Team History
2003, A Year of Miserable Beginnings
The Blizzard started out as an af2 expansion team in 2003 with Jose Jefferson as the teams head coach. The team finished an abysmal 2-14 good for last in the National Conference Midwest Division. They only averaged 2,957 fans a game. The Blizzard knew that they needed a new direction if the young franchise were to survive.
A New Direction in 2004
In an attempt to jump start things the Blizzard replaced Jose Jefferson with former
Green Bay Packers linebacker
Brian Noble. The team did make some improvements during the 2004 season, however the Blizzard finished the season 6-10 and once again failed to get out of the Midwest Division cellar. The Blizzard in better shape in terms of staying afloat, especially better than after 2003, but the team's future was far from secure.
2005, The Landsee Era Begins
2005 was to be a different story. For the start of the 2005 season the team changed from the National Conference to the American Conference. The Blizzard became a member of the American Conference's East division. The team also replaced Noble with
AFL veteran coach Bob Landsee. The switch to the American Conference was the change the Blizzard needed. The team continued their trend of improvement in 2005 finishing 9-7, good for 3rd in the East Division, and reaching the postseason for the first time. Even though the Blizzard fell in the first round to
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton the Blizzard faithful knew that better things were yet to come.
2006, Under New Ownership
In 2006 Blizzard head coach Bob Landsee became the first coach in team history to return for their second season. The Blizzard also came under new ownership as former Blizzard Head Coach
Brian Noble lead an investment group that purchased the team. Noble became the new President of the four year old franchise and began a complete revitalization of the organization. The team drastically lowered ticket prices which help the Blizzard to really boost their average game attendance. The team set a new single game attendance record of 7,184 in the season finale against Louisville. The team experienced an improvement on the field as well. The Blizzard went into the final game of the 2006 regular season tied with the
Louisville Fire for first in the East Division at 9-6. This set up a showdown between the two teams at the
Resch Center for the East Division title. The Blizzard did not disappoint a record crowd of 7,184 knocking off the Fire in a 54-53 thriller. The 2006 season got even better as the began the postseason. The Blizzard earned a first round bye and enjoyed a week off to await their second round opponent. The Blizzard drew the 2005 Arena Cup Champion
Memphis Xplorers for the franchise's first ever home playoff game. The Blizzard continued in their winning ways knocking off the defending champs 67-50. The teams first playoff victory sent them on to the American Conference Championship Game vs the
Florida Firecats. Once again the Blizzard proved that they were for real winning the conference championship 60-47 sending the Blizzard on to
Arena Cup 7.
Arena Cup 7
The Green Bay Blizzard as American Conference Champions would face the National Conference Champion,
Spokane Shock, a 2006 expansion team. The neutral site for the game was
Coliseo de Puerto Rico in
San Juan, Puerto Rico. But the Blizzard's luck had finally run out as the Shock handed the Blizzard a 57-34 loss. The Blizzard's 2006 season was one for the ages, but the Blizzard faithful now knew that their team had come to stay.
2007 A Year of Unexpected Changes
Coach Bob Landsee had difficulties resulting from surgery and was forced to take the 2007 off from coaching. He was replaced by Defensive Coordinator Doug Lytle. The Blizzard endured a roller coaster season going undefeated at the
Resch Center during the regular season while going a miserable 1-7 on the road. (Only road win came at
Cincinnati) The Blizzard did succeed at making the playoffs for the third consecutive year and surprised division rival and (Midwest) Division Champion, Quad City Steamwheelers 39-34 in the first round game. When another division rival,
Louisville Fire knocked off
Spokane the Blizzard earned the right to host a second round playoff game against the Fire. The Blizzard carried over their success at home from the regular season by knocking off
Louisville 37-27 and advancing to take on
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in their second consecutive American Conference Championship Game. However this Cinderella story went no further as the Blizzard lost a close one to the Pioneers 46-43, ending the Blizzard's 2007 campaign.
[1]
2008, Landsee Returns
Coach Bob Landsee returned to the helm in 2008 and the Blizzard and the Blizzard continued on their winning ways amassing a 11-5 record and capturing the Midwest Division crown. The Blizzard set a single game record in attendance vs
Lexington with 7,258 and had the largest average attendance in team history with an average of 6,125 fans per game. In the first round of the playoffs the Blizzard really redeemed themselves by knocking off
Lexington 65-37 who had beaten the Blizzard twice in the regular season in nail-bitters. (49-48 in
Green Bay with a last second score and two point conversion and 55-54 in Overtime in
Lexington.) The Blizzard then hosted
Manchester in a second round game after the Wolves knocked off
South Georgia. In what must have seen like Deja Vu for the Blizzard, the Wolves scored in the final seconds and took the lead and the game 55-54 with a two point conversion, ending the Blizzard's season.
Overall Records
| Location
| Wins
| Losses
| Ties
|
| Home
| 35
| 23
| 0
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| Away
| 23
| 33
| 0
|
| Playoffs
| 5
| 4
| 0
|
| Overtime
| 1
| 3
| 0
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Attendance Statistics
Season By Season Average Attendance
| Year
| Average Attendance [2]
|
| 2,957
|
| 3,683
|
| 3,532
|
| 5,836
|
| 5,859
|
| 6,125
|
| 6,093
|
| 4,841
|
Playoff Game Attendance
| Year
| ATTENDANCE
| OPPONENT
|
| NO PLAYOFFS
| N/A
|
| NO PLAYOFFS
| N/A
|
| NO HOME PLAYOFF GAME
| N/A
|
| 6,005
| (Conf. Semi Final vs Memphis)
|
| 4,349
| (Conf. Semi Final vs Louisville)
|
| 5,140
| (First Round Game vs Lexington)
|
| -
| (Conf. Semi Final vs Manchester)
|
Season-by-season
Note:
W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties''
| Season
| W
| L
| T
| Finish
| Playoff results
|
| 2003
| 2
| 14
| 0
| 5th NC Midwest
| --
|
| 2004
| 6
| 10
| 0
| 4th NC Midwest
| --
|
| 2005
| 9
| 7
| 0
| 3rd AC East
| Lost AC Round 1 (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
|
| 2006
| 10
| 6
| 0
| 1st AC East
| Won AC Semifinal (Memphis)
Won AC Championship (Florida)
Lost ArenaCup VII (Spokane)
|
| 2007
| 9
| 7
| 0
| 2nd AC Midwest
| Won AC Round 1 (Quad City)
Won AC Semifinals (Louisville)
Lost AC Championship (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
|
| 2008
| 11
| 5
| 0
| 1st AC Midwest
| Won AC Round 1 (Lexington)
Lost AC Semifinals (Manchester)
|
| 8
| 6
| 0
| 2nd AC Midwest
| --
|
| Totals
| 55
| 55
| 0
| (not including playoffs)
|
* = Current Standing
Current roster
| Uniform #
| Player
| Position
| Height
| Weight
| College
| Experience
|
| Nate Green
| WR/DB
| 5'10
| 195
| Georgetown College, Ky.
| 3
|
| Gino Guidugli
| QB
| 6'3
| 230
| Cincinnati
| 1
|
| Robert Garth
| WR/LB
| 6'4
| 235
| New Mexico State
| 6
|
| Steve Gonzalez
| WR/DB
| 6'0
| 190
| Menlo College
| 2
|
| Anthony Crissinger-Hill
| WR/LB
| 6'3
| 215
| Florida Atlantic
| R
|
| Donnie Amandi
| DB
| 6'0
| 185
| Kansas
| 1
|
| Edward Kwaku
| DB
| 6'0
| 202
| Florida A&M
| 1
|
| Scott Burnoski
| WR
| 6'2
| 204
| University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
| 1
|
| Collin Drafts
| QB
| 6'3
| 212
| Charleston Southern
| 2
|
| Bruce Eugene
| QB
| 6'1
| 280
| Grambling
| R
|
| Joe Sykes
| OL/DL
| 6'4
| 275
| Southern U./West Virginia
| R
|
| Gus Tyson
| FB/LB
| 6'3
| 255
| Virginia Union
| 2
|
| Bob Forstrom
| K
| 5'7
| 170
| St. Norbert College
| 1
|
| Rusty Midlam
| WR/DB
| 6'0
| 180
| Ohio Northern University
| 1
|
| Eddy Yauch
| FB/LB/OL/DL
| 6'1
| 295
| Langston
| 2
|
| Tyree Young
| FB/LB
| 6'0
| 300
| IUPUI
| 2
|
| Jeremy Sheffey
| OL/DL
| 6'3
| 295
| West Virginia
| R
|
| Tyler Birkley
| FB/LB
| 6'2
| 260
| UC-Davis
| R
|
| Raymond McNeil
| OL/DL
| 6'1
| 315
| Fort Valley State
| 1
|
| Rod Olds
| OL/FB
| 6'3
| 305
| Jacksonville State
| R
|
| Aqua Etefia
| OL/DL
| 6'3
| 305
| Grambling
| 1
|
| Antwan Burns
| WR
| 6'0
| 210
| Minnesota
| R
|
| Kory Lothe
| DL
| 6'4
| 265
| Eastern Illinois
| 1
|
| Mike Ware
| DL
| 6'2
| 298
| Illinois
| R
|
| Stephenol Santos
| OL/DL
| 6'3
| 325
| Saginaw Valley State
| 1
|
| Kelly Rouse
| DL
| 6'2
| 276
| Delaware State
| R
|
| Quartez Vickerson
| OL/DL
| 6'5
| 285
| Grand Valley State
| 1
|
Blizzard Alumni
| Name
| Position
| Team
| League
|
| DB
| Columbus Destroyers
| AFL
|
| OL/DL
| British Columbia Lions
| CFL
|
| OL/DL
| Chicago Rush
| AFL
|
| OL/DL
| Cleveland Gladiators
| AFL
|
| DB
| Georgia Force
| AFL
|
| DB
| Georgia Force
| AFL
|
| DB
| Montreal Alouettes
| CFL
|
| OL/DL
| Georgia Force
| AFL
|
| FB/LB
| Kansas City Brigade
| AFL
|
| QB
| Arizona Rattlers
| AFL
|
| QB
| Georgia Force
| AFL
|
| OL/DL
| New York Dragons
| AFL
|
| WR/DB
| Philadelphia Soul
| AFL
|
| FB/LB
| Georgia Force
| AFL
|
| OL/DL
| Colorado Crush
| AFL
|
| DB
| Dallas Desperados
| AFL
|
| FB/LB
| Dallas Desperados
| AFL
|
| WR
| Dallas Desperados
| AFL
|
| QB
| Grand Rapids Rampage
| AFL
|
| DB
| Hamilton Tiger-Cats
| CFL
|
| DB
| Utah Blaze
| AFL
|
| OL/DL
| Los Angeles Avengers
| AFL
|
| OL/DL
| Chicago Rush
| AFL
|
| OL/DL
| Utah Blaze
| AFL
|
| DB
| Georgia Force
| AFL
|
| WR/DB
| Utah Blaze
| AFL
|
| WR/DB
| Columbus Destroyers
| AFL
|
| WR/DB
| Grand Rapids Rampage
| AFL
|
| OL/DL
| Utah Blaze
| AFL
|
| WR/DB
| Calgary Stampeders
| CFL
|
| WR/DB
| Edmonton Eskimos
| CFL
|
Staff
- President - Brian Noble
- General Manager - Jim Kraft
- Director of Operations - Nick Olsen
- Ticket Director/Media Relations - Jeff Buehler
- Head Coach - Bob Landsee
- Vice President of Football Operations - Doug Lytle
- Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator - Mark Stoute
- Defensive Coordinator - Sammy Walker
- Equipment Manager- Jason Derenne
- Assistant Equipment Manager -Jeremy Hawkins
Notes
- http://www.arenafan.com/teams/Green_Bay_Blizzard-101/history/2007/
- ArenaFan Online : Green Bay Blizzard - Team History