John is entering his seventh season with the Steel; sixth as Director of Business Operations. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa with Business Marketing and Communications degrees.

John is responsible all of the marketing and promotional efforts of the Steel as well as for obtaining and renewing sponsorships and corporate partnerships.  Montalbano is also responsible for most of the aspects of public relations.

John also assists in all ticket sales efforts and game day operations. Montalbano is also in charge of  all of the graphical design along with updating and maintaining the Steel website.

johnm@chicagosteelhockeyteam.com
Office Phone: (630) 594-1162

Katie Sack -- Assistant to the GM/Director of Community Relations

The longest-tenured member of the Steel staff, Katie Sack enters her eighth season with the team. For the first three, she served as a marketing intern. This season, she continues the overseeing of  Gameday Operations, including -- but not limited to -- birthday party management, gameday staff coordination, and referee hospitality. Katie is a native of Plainfield and is the co-owner of TI Cheerleading.

 
ksack@chicagosteelhockeyteam.com
Office: (630) 594-1159

 

 RJ Bosworth - Director of Ticket Sales

R.J. enters his fifth season with the Steel after spending the 2007/2008 season as an intern.  He will spend the season focusing on ticket sales while also working on game day operations, sponsorships, stats, and community relations.  R.J. is a graduate of Columbia College with a degree in Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management with a concentration in Sports Management. 

rbosworth@chicagosteelhockeyteam.com
Office: (630) 594-1161

Steve Newton - Sponsorship Sales and Account Executive

Steve enters his second season with the Chicago Steel, after previously serving as a Communications/Game Day Operations Intern in 2010-11.   

Newton will focus on establishing new corporate partnerships, while assisting with ticket sales and public relations.  Before joining the Steel, he spent three years as a Staffing Consultant with Omni One Inc. in Oakbrook Terrace, IL. 

Steve is no stranger to working in the sports industry.  He spent just under two years as a High School Sports Reporter at the Northwest Herald in Crystal Lake, IL and freelanced for Scout.com as a College Football Recruiting Reporter covering recruiting in the Washington D.C. metro area. 

He is a 2006 graduate of The Ohio State University with a degree in Economics.

Snewton@chicagosteelhockeyteam.com
Office: (630) 594-1163

Mike Romano - B2/Radio Broadcaster

Mike Romano is beginning his eleventh season as the Chicago Steel play-by-play announcer and has been calling the Steel games since their inaugural season.

Mike is not only a veteran USHL broadcaster but is a lifetime hockey player. At first a forward, he switched to playing goalie in high school. Among his accomplishments, Mike earned the starting goalie position at Bradley University in his sophomore year, and started all but three games over the next three seasons, until he graduated in 1973. Mike led the Bradley Braves to their first league title in the '70-71 season and sported a 2.43 GAA and a 13-3-3 record, which is still the best single season winning percentage ever by a BU goalie.

The "behind the mic" Mike, did some baseball play-by-play at Bradley, but put his announcing career on hold to join his family's fourth generation distribution business which he ran until he sold it in 2002.

Mike resumed the pursuit of is childhood dream of being a hockey broadcaster by auditioning for the vacant Steel job in 2001 and has been the "Voice of the Steel" ever since.

Mike will always be grateful to Steel principals, Bruce Liimatainen and Mike Greenberg for giving him the opportunity to fulfill his fondest wish of calling the action of the world's greatest game.

Mike resides in the western suburbs of the Chicago area with his wife of 28 years and their four children.

You can contact mike here.

Jesse Matisi - B2/Radio Broadcaster
 

Entering his fourth season as a Steel broadcaster, "Jesse Randall" Matisi has called the vast majority of the team's home games online through the FastHockey network since 2008- working both solo and alongside veteran Steel broadcaster Mike Romano.

Jesse came to the Steel as an intern through the Illinois Center for Broadcasting in Lombard as a prerequisite for graduation. His goal while attending the school from '07 - '08 was to work in the field of sports, so when the Steel were looking for a broadcast intern, Jesse leapt at the opportunity to become a broadcaster for a sport he's loved his entire life. He currently calls all of the home games for the Steel on FastHockey, occasionally in tandem with Mike Romano.. He can be reached at: chicagosteelradio@gmail.com

Vito Abbinante - Public Address Announcer

A true artist, Vito has been the real "Voice of the Steel" for the past 8+ years. In addition to announcing, Vito also runs the game day music, light show, occasionally performs the national anthem, is often spotted as the mascot for off ice appearances, and is a self proclaimed "Technological Genius".  

Vito's favorite show is "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia", and after a long day of being awesome, he likes to curl up with thought provoking books like "The Stinky Cheese Man", and "Calvin & Hobbes".

He currently resides in Itasca, IL. Feel free to stalk him via email here.

Leigh Lehmann - Housing Coordinator