It would be hard to say that the Anchorage Armada was a nice place for Red Kirkby, His father Rex played here for two seasons before beginning his long career in the SHL and his longtime family friend and agent Max Brannigan was the General Manager for thirteen seasons. The players were new however so it was nice for the team to organise an orientation day where he got to meet everyone before they had their first formal practice on the ice. There was a general excitement around the new players Lord Zomp and Red because this team had managed to get to five finals in the last six seasons but had only managed to win one of them. With two of the premier forwards in the draft going to the Armada there was a definite feeling that perhaps these two would be able to push them over that hump so that they could get their hands on another piece of silverware.