MAD Global Strategy, a public affairs firm, announced Friday that CEO Mike DuHaime has joined Slap Shot Sports Group, a limited investment group involved in the New Mexico Pro Hockey Club expansion franchise.
The club is a new professional hockey league team in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. The New Mexico Pro Hockey Club is the 31st team to join the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL), an official minor league of the National Hockey League. The league is scheduled to launch in 2026.
The ownership group is led by REV Entertainment and also includes local investors. REV Entertainment oversees various sports franchises and venues. It is the official sports and entertainment partner of the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball.
“Hockey has been an integral part of my life for decades, but only as an amateur player and volunteer coach,” said Mike DuHaime, who founded MAD Global. “I am excited to play a small role to expand professional hockey and bring a team back to this growing market in New Mexico.”
DuHaime is deeply involved in youth hockey in New Jersey, where he serves as the president of and is a long-time coach for the Cranford Hockey Club, one of the oldest youth travel hockey clubs in New Jersey. He was a two-year captain and four-year skater on the Rutgers University American Collegiate Hockey Association men’s ice hockey team where he later spent two years as an assistant coach.
The New Mexico club’s home games will be played at the Rio Rancho Events Center, which previously hosted the New Mexico Mustangs of the North American Hockey League from 2010-2012 and the New Mexico Scorpions of the Central Hockey League from 2006-2009. Fans will have an opportunity to name the team.
Interest in hockey in the Sunbelt region of the U.S. has been surging for more than 20 years. The first Sunbelt professional hockey team to win the NHL Stanley Cup was the Dallas Stars in 1999. Ten NHL teams from Sunbelt states have won the league’s trophy.
