Lakers Staff
Ralph Hayne - President / CEO
Ralph started the Lakers as an expansion team for the 1993-94 season serving as general manager from 1993-2001. He helped guide the Lakers to three Junior B National Tournament appearances (1997, 1998, 1999). The Lakers won the 1999 Silver Cup to become the National Champions that year. As the team operations grew, Ralph became president, allowing new, additional staff to assume key roles in recruiting, player development and community relations. Ralph was on the White Bear Lake, MN, youth hockey board of directors for 5 years, and instrumental in rolling out the then new 'Junior Gold' program in the Twin Cities between 1991-1993.
Steve Longren- Business Manager
Steve is an avid hockey fan and volunteers his time and talents from a business perspective. His goals are to assure that the Lakers are fiscally responsible as well as providing and attending to the day-to-day requirements of the players, coaches and parents.
Darrel Bimberg-- Director of Broadcasting
Darrel is entering his 2nd year as the Play by Play voice of the Lakers. His goal is to provide a relatively unbiased call of the game and enjoys interacting with the audience. Darrel is responsible for setting up the broadcast from the technical side, as well as coordinating the personnel involved in the broadcast. Outside of the Lakers, Darrel also broadcasts with MSBN(www.mnsportsnetwork.com <http://www.mnsportsnetwork.com/> ) during the High School football season, as well as during the winter with High School hockey. Aside from broadcasting, Darrel is married with 3 children and works in the private sector as an Electrical Engineer.
Darrel welcomes feedback throughout the broadcast. Email the booth: edinalakershockey@gmail.com
Tom Haataja -- Color Analyst
Tom has played and coached hockey, and is excited to be involved in another aspect of the sport with broadcasting.
Jimmy Lilledahl -- Scout/Director
This will be Jimmy’s third season with the Edina Lakers Organization. Jimmy got his start with the Edina Lakers as a Color Analyst in 2009. This past season Jimmy has taken on the scouting responsibilities as well as serving on the Board of Directors. Jimmy is a recent graduate of Brown College School of Radio Broadcasting. Jimmy is the voice of the Austin Bruins in the North American Hockey League.
Beth Neitzel--Billet Supervisor and EMT
Beth became our team EMT in 2008. The following year, 2009, she accepted the position of Billet Supervisor, as well. Her entire family got interested and they all work our home games, working the ticket table and running the on-line realtime scoring software that connects our game to the league website.
Beth's passion for the team is exhibited regularly, as she not only works at our home games, but also attends most away games, providing the same care for our players.
Beth's responsibilities as the Billet Supervisor is to locate billet families, place the players where the family matches the players' personal profile and then follow-up periodically with both the players and the billet parents to be sure things are going well and to solve any issues quickly that may surface.
Layne Johnson - Player Education Coordinator
Layne joined our staff in the summer 2011 just after completing college at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, where he majored in Psychology and minored in Sports and Excercise Science. Layne played hockey through high school helping his teams secure many
Layne will be working with our players to assist them reach their college goals during this hoskey season. He believes his recent college experiences will allow him to help them make decisions and provide guidance during enrollment. He will also be monitoring the progress of all players enrolled in any schools.If there are issues, he will help solve them. If it appears that the player needs a tutor to get over the hump, he can help arrange that.
Layne believes that the players' education must get as much attention as their hockey skills.
