San Jose Barracuda Announce New Play-By-Play Broadcaster and Additions to the Team's Hockey Operations Staff

Sep 13, 2016

SAN JOSE, CA - The San Jose Barracuda (@SJBarracuda) presented by Barracuda Networks (@barracuda) and the American Hockey League (@TheAHL) affiliate of the San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) today announced the team's new play-by-play broadcaster and several new additions to the team's hockey operations staff.

Nick Nollenberger will join the Barracuda as Media Relations and Broadcasting Manager, serving as the voice of the Barracuda for all of the AHL team's regular season and playoff games. Nollenberger, 25, grew up a Sharks fan as a native of Santa Cruz, CA and spent ten seasons playing in the Jr. Sharks Youth Hockey Program at Sharks Ice at San Jose.

Most recently, he served as the director of broadcasting and media relations for the Odessa Jackalopes of the North American Hockey League. A graduate of the University of Arizona, he spent three years as the Wildcats play-by-play announcer.

"This opportunity is a dream come true for me, said Nollenberger. "Growing up in Santa Cruz and being immersed in the Jr. Sharks for most of my youth, I always pictured myself working for this organization. I've attended Sharks games since their inaugural season and have looked up to the likes of Dan Rusanowsky and Randy Hahn since I can remember. My goal when I get to San Jose is to continue to grow the Barracuda brand and the AHL in the Bay Area while providing a fun, energetic and informative broadcast for fans."

Nick Gialdini has joined the club as video coach and hockey operations coordinator. Gialdini, a native of San Jose, is a recent graduate of San Jose State University and has assisted the San Jose Sharks and Barracuda hockey operations staffs with player personnel over the last several seasons. He also is a product of the San Jose Jr. Sharks Youth Hockey program, spending six seasons playing at Sharks Ice at San Jose.

Quentin Higgins joins the Barracuda as Head Athletic Trainer. Higgins spent the last two seasons as athletic trainer and strength and conditioning coach with the Atlanta Gladiators of the ECHL. Previously, he worked as head athletic trainer of the Norfolk Admirals in the AHL for the 2013-2014 season and athletic trainer and strength coach for the Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL from 2011-2013.

Higgins also served as strength and conditioning coach for Colgate University and strength and conditioning intern at the University of Iowa. In 2011, he received his Master's degree in Athletic Training from Weber State University.

Adam Dexter joins the Barracuda as Head Equipment Manager. Dexter recently completed his fourth season as head equipment manager with the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL, where he was named ECHL Equipment Manager of the Year in a vote of team equipment managers and athletic trainers in 2012-13.

A veteran of over 800 professional hockey games, he also previosuly worked on the equipment staff for the Adirondack Phantoms (AHL), Mississippi RiverKings (CHL), Youngstown SteelHounds (CHL) and the Charlotte Checkers (ECHL). A native of Anchorage, Alaska, Dexter began his career as an equipment manager working for the University of Alaska-Anchorage.

Marcello Martinelli joins the Barracuda as the team's strength and conditioning coordinator.  Martinelli, a native of Merced, CA spent the 2010-11 season working as a part-time assistant under San Jose Sharks Strength and Conditioning Coordinator Mike Potenza.  In 2011 he worked as an intern for the Stanford Sports Performance department. He also worked as a sports performance coach for Velocity Sports Performance, San Diego from 2012-2013. Most recently he worked as the coordinator of strength and conditioning at Golden Valley High School in Merced, CA (2013-2016) and graduated from Fresno State with a degree in Kinesiology (Exercise Science).

John Peters joins the club as assistant equipment manager. Peters recently served as the assistant equipment manager with Arizona State University of the NCAA. He also served as head equipment manager for three seasons with ASU when the team played in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA).

"We're extremely proud to add all of these talented individuals to the San Jose Barracuda family," said Barracuda General Manager Joe Will. "Each individual brings his own specific talents and expertise to our club and we look forward to each of them helping us build on a successful first season in San Jose and the AHL's Pacific Division. It's also very gratifying to see some Bay Area residents and former Jr. Sharks hockey players find their way up to the American Hockey League level. It goes to show how much hockey has grown in the Bay Area over the last 25 years and is a testament to how hard they have worked in their careers to get to this level."

The Barracuda will play 34 regular season home games at SAP Center at San Jose which includes ten doubleheader games with the San Jose Sharks this season. (Please note a separate ticket is required to attend each game).

San Jose's home opener is slated for Fri., Oct. 28 against the Bakersfield Condors at SAP Center at 7:30pm. Tickets are as low as $12 by calling the Barracuda front office at 408-999-4747.

Twenty-four of the 34 Barracuda home games will be played on the weekends with 18 of the 24 occurring on either Saturdays or Sundays. In addition, the Barracuda will host two games during December school vacation week (Dec. 28, Dec. 30).

San Jose will host a season-high seven game homestand (Dec. 8-26) and embark on a seven game road trip (Jan. 20-Feb. 4) this season. The 68-game regular season schedule comes to an end with a visit to Bakersfield on April 15.

The 2016-17 San Jose Barracuda promotional schedule will be released in September

The Barracuda are entering their second season playing in San Jose, following the American Hockey League's creation of a Pacific Division of the AHL, consisting of eight teams - all of whom serve as primary development affiliations for National Hockey League teams: San Jose (Sharks), Bakersfield (Edmonton Oilers), Ontario (Los Angeles Kings), San Antonio (Colorado Avalanche), San Diego (Anaheim Ducks), Stockton (Calgary Flames), Texas (Dallas Stars) and Tucson (Arizona Coyotes).

Many of the players on the Sharks roster have made their journey to the National Hockey League by playing and developing in the AHL, including Logan Couture, Brent Burns, Justin Braun, Dylan DeMelo, Brenden Dillon, Martin Jones, Chris Tierney, Joel Ward, and Tommy Wingels.

This year's Barracuda squad is poised to build on a successful inaugural season in San Jose that saw the club make the Calder Cup playoffs, before falling to the Western Conference's top-seeded Ontario Reign in the first round.

Following the Sharks re-stocking of the organizational prospect system over the last four seasons, the Barracuda are likely to see an influx of young, talented Sharks draft selections fighting not only to make the Barracuda roster but push to join the Sharks. Some of the potential players that could hit the ice for the Barracuda are former first round selections Mirco Mueller (2013), Nikolay Goldobin (2014), Timo Meier (2015), along with fellow San Jose draftees Danny O'Regan (2012), Joakim Ryan (2012), Michael Brodzinski (2013), Kevin Labanc (2014), Rourke Chartier (2014), Alex Schoenborn (2016), Julius Bergman (2014) and Adam Helewka (2015). Three other players, signed as free agents, are also expected to make an impact in San Jose: Marcus Sorensen, Tim Heed and Mantas Armalis.

2016-17 ticket packages are on sale now! Score your ticket package by contacting the Barracuda front office at 408-977-4747 or visit www.sjbarracuda.com 

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