Doug Price, Commissioner
Named Commissioner on January 15, 2019, Doug Price brings extensive experience to the Southern Professional Hockey League. Now entering his 14th season with the SPHL, Price previously spent more than a decade with the East Coast Hockey League front office and four years with the ECHL’s Texas Wildcatters and Long Beach Ice Dogs.
Since joining the SPHL as Vice President prior to the 2009-2010 season, Price has been responsible for league discipline, player transactions, the monitoring and compliance of SPHL playing rules in relation to team rosters, player contracts, immigration and league scheduling. In his new role as Commissioner, he also worked with the Board of Governors to develop several new marketing initiatives, including league-wide jersey programs with Marvel, Nickelodeon, Peanuts and Mossy Oak for the 2019-2020 season and a new streaming deal with HockeyTV, while furthering long-standing relationships with OT Sports, Warrior, K1 Sportswear, DASH and Baron Rings.
Now entering his 29th season in professional hockey, Price began his career with the then East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) in 1991 as the league’s first Director of Information before also moving into hockey operations the following season, where he worked with Commissioner Pat Kelly in the day-to-day administration of the league. Price remained in hockey operations for the next 10 seasons, including the last four as Vice President of Hockey Administration under President Rick Adams.
In 2002, he joined Adams in starting the expansion (Beaumont) Texas Wildcatters. During his four seasons with the Wildcatters, Price oversaw the hockey operations, ticket and public relations departments and served as acting general manager for the 2004-2005 season. On September 9, 2005, he was officially named the team’s new General Manager. Unfortunately, Hurricane Rita struck the Beaumont area just 15 days later, forcing a one-year suspension of play. Price relocated to California for the 2005-06 season, where he oversaw the Long Beach Ice Dogs ticket department and all Ticketmaster operations, assisted in game-night merchandise sales and directed on-ice promotions for Ice Dogs home games.
Allan Westerholt, Director of Communications
The 2022-23 season will mark the first for Westerholt as he begins his role as the Director of Communications for the Southern Professional Hockey League. Hired in October of 2022, Westerholt comes from a long sports background that has included stops in the NBA, MiLB, and Collegiate Athletics.
As a member of the league office, Westerholt handles weekly press releases, previews, and recaps. Westerholt also oversees the league’s social media pages as well as the content for the league website. Throughout the course of each season, Westerholt works directly with each team’s media relations department for all team-related news and updates.
Westerholt, 24, spent his last eight months working in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Charlotte Hornets where he served as an assistant on the Public Relations staff. During his time with the Hornets, Westerholt was responsible for the completion and delivery of media packets and credentials as well as the pre-game set up of the arena. Westerholt’s duties also included transcribing the post-game press conferences and the daily completion of the team’s game notes. Prior to that, Westerholt spent two seasons (2019-2021) as a Communications Assistant for the Charlotte Knights, the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, where he oversaw the daily completion of game notes, social media, and team interviews. The Kannapolis, NC native also handled press conferences, liaised with media and wrote post-game recaps.
A 2020 graduate of The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Westerholt received his start in sports in 2013 as a game day volunteer with the Wake Forest University athletic department where he would run stats during media timeouts for both football and basketball.
Jim Doyle, Director of Hockey Operations
Jim Doyle enters his first season with the SPHL as Director of Hockey Operations, where he is responsible for player discipline and assists in the oversight of the league’s officiating staff. Doyle has worked for the AHL for the past 17 years, and the ECHL for 15 years, as an officiating coach and supervisor. In addition, he has worked at the NCAA Division I level with Atlantic Hockey and the ECAC as an observer of on-ice officials for the past 15 years.
Doyle worked as an on-ice official from 1976-2005 at the professional and international levels. He worked the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, NY and the 1982 IIHF World Ice Hockey Championship in Helsinki, Finland. Doyle also worked as a trainee for the National Hockey League for four years as a referee, before returning to the AHL & ECHL as a linesman. Doyle worked over 1,300 professional games in the AHL, ECHL. IHL, CHL, and EHL before retiring from the ice in 2005.
In addition, Doyle has worked 30 years for the NHL as a video replay official in Philadelphia, PA and serves as the Atlantic District Referee-In-Chief for USA Hockey.