By DAN HICKLING
MinorLeagueNews.com

WILKES-BARRE, PA. - 10/06/01 - Just how long can a rose bloom in coal
country?

Indefinitely, if you are the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, who are primed
for a boffo box office performance during the 2001-2002 campaign.

Just beginning their third season in the American Hockey League, the Pens are on the verge of selling every seat in the First Union Arena for the entire season.

There are, at this writing, just 1,100 tickets available througout the
remainder of their 40-game home schedule, reports Penguin president Jeff Barrett.

"It's absolutely amazing," Barrett said. "It's a tribute to the people of this area, who have come out and supported this team."

The Northeast Pennsylvania region has lavished great support on the team,
ever since it set up shop in 1999. In the opening season, the Pens played before 26 sellouts in the 8,143 capacity arena.

The following year, 33 games were sold out, as was plus the highly successful All-Star game, hosted by the Pens.

Now in Year No. 3, when many sports franchises find that the honeymoon is over and the rose petals have fallen from the bloom, the Penguins, who like their Pittsburgh parents are owned by superstar Mario Lemieux, are poised for their most successful season yet.

"We went up from 4,000 season tickets our first year," said Barrett, who came to the team from Pittsburgh, "to 6,400 our second. This year we had to put a stop to it at about 7,500."

Barrett, who started the organization a year before it took to the ice, had to do quite a selling job in an area better known for bituminous deposits than backhanders.

Now that the available tickets have all but disappeared, he feels that the
Pens biggest job still lies ahead.

"Every thing we do," Barrett said, "we're looking three to five years down the road. We've got a ticketing staff of seven people. We're sold out, so why do we need seven people? All year long, they're now customer service people. They will meet with each and every season ticket holder. We're going to try to extend their (ticket) leases for three to five years more."

Community appearances are a staple of the Penguin marketing plan. Barrett cited 176 player appearances made throughout the region last season as a key to their success.