With National Hockey League training camps underway and the 2025-26 American Hockey League season also just around the corner, the Belleville Senators joined the Belleville Chamber of Commerce for a special roundtable at their regular breakfast event this morning at Sans Souci in Downtown Belleville.
Belleville Sens Vice President of Business Operations, John Mathers, and Head Coach, Dave Bell, participated in a panel discussion to update Belleville Chamber members on the goings on around the club ahead of the season, and to answer any questions that attendees may have had.
Attendees enjoyed a coffee and mingle period, followed by a full buffet breakfast and the roundtable chat.
Vice President of Business Operations, John Mathers, who moved to the city last year, says he has ‘Really fallen in love with the region.’
“I’ve really been enjoying Belleville, love how it’s close to Toronto and Ottawa, I’m in Ottawa once a month and lived there for nine years,” he said.
“I really appreciate this region and really enthusiastic about the opportunity that exists here.”
Head Coach Dave Bell says to be 1 of 4 Canadian teams in the American Hockey League (AHL) is ‘pretty amazing.’
“To get the eyes on Belleville, even if it’s a National Hockey team in Las Vegas, they have to research and look up Belleville to play their affiliate maybe, so for us to have a team in Belleville is a really cool way to put eyes on the community.”
Head Coach Dave Bell said the process to building a team begins at the end of each season.
“It’s about who do we want back, who’s coming back, you make that your foundation. Garrett Pilon is coming back, you get your core guys, you recognize what you need,” he said.
“This summer, we signed guys to multi-year deals, which is not super common in the American Hockey League. We signed multiple guys to multiple years that we identified as good people and people that can help our team. Then you add certain pieces, like we need more skill here, more goaltending, then just plug the pieces in. But the first thing we talk about is the character of the person. When we’re going to recruit a player, before I even look at his stats, I call for reference checks on who they are as a person. If there are any red flags with the person, he may have lead the league in scoring, but if I find out they’re a bad person, we move on to the next person. That’s always at the forefront on how we recruit.”
Coach Bell says his number one rule is to ‘Do the right thing’.
Vice President John Mathers says Belleville is the second smallest community to host an AHL team and the second smallest rink.
“These things impact the economics, but what makes this city and this region incredible is how you want to punch above your weight,” he said.
“You look at the not-for-profit space here and I’m blown away every time. This is an active community that wants to be connected and wants to do the right thing. When you combine that, you have a lot of opportunity and you have a lot of connection that can really drive success.”
Mathers says over the past four years, the Belleville Senators have generated $1 million in community impact.
“We have a preseason tournament coming up, so Laval and Toronto are coming into this market. Tickets are only $12, we were able to play around with the price in preseason. $5 of every ticket is going back to the Belleville General Hospital Foundation,” he said.
“I’ve been in this business for over 20 years and I’ve seen 50/50 sales structured the same everywhere I go in three different countries. It is unique in this region. We’ve partnered with over 13 partners this year and they get a split with how many games they come to, how many volunteers they give, so we were able to help 13 partners. Typically, in Ottawa for example, that’s one partner and they will distribute the funds. So, it’s structured a bit differently here and it’s really cool. It fits with this region and it’s something we’re going to continue to build on, to grow, and generate more money.”
Coach Bell says that when new players and their families come to Belleville, there’s a three-page resource list for businesses and experiences former players have spoken highly of, and that is another way the Senators give back to the community.
“For us to compete with a Chicago, an L.A. of the world, we’ve had guys beg to come back and play in Belleville, who love coming to Belleville, sometimes they visit in the summer. We’re a sneaky, undercover, great spot that we’re trying to get the secret out about.”
Vice President John Mathers says the Sens are focused on two main things this year in terms of business and community support, one being promoting the team, games, and players, and the second being coming to a game.
“Coming to games and having fun is the key to us,” he said.
“We spend a lot of time and energy making sure that experience is a 10/10. But what we’re going to do and what we have done is listen to our fans. Last year we surveyed our fans six times and they were able to tell us what was good and what wasn’t. We try to solve those things piece by piece because if people come to the games and have a good time, they can tell other people about it. Knowing when the games are with connection of the community and then coming to the game and having a fun time.”
The Belleville Senators 2025-26 Preseason will have games against the Laval Rocket on Oct 3 at 7pm and Oct 4 at 3pm, and a game against the Toronto Marlies on Oct 5 at 3pm at CAA Arena, which will benefit the Belleville General Hospital Foundation.
Additionally, fans who donate $125 or more to the campaign before October 13, 2025, will receive a pair of tickets to a regular season Belleville Sens home game.
Tickets can be purchased at this link or at the Belleville Sens Box Office located inside the Quinte Sports and Wellness Centre.
(HAILEY MACDONALD)
