Staff

Andreas Johansson has won four FPHL championships in five seasons as an owner. Nobody else in the league has won two. 

Johansson bought the Watertown Wolves in 2020 and closed out his time there with a title. He brought the Black Bears to Binghamton, NY, in 2021 and built the first franchise in league history to win three straight Commissioner’s Cups. The league named him Executive of the Year for 2023-24. 

His teams have also led the FPHL in attendance every season he’s owned them — winning and filling the building at the same time, a feat almost nobody in minor league sports achieves. 

Off the ice, Johansson is the CEO of Berkovitz Development Group and co-founded Dennis Rodman’s Bad Ass Vodka, a national consumer brand built around a global athlete. He also advises professional athletes on endorsement deals.

Johansson and his wife, Victoria, reside in Glenwood, Maryland, with their children, Eli, 7, and Talia, 3.

Matthew Pace leads the ownership group that brought professional hockey back to Baton Rouge, and structuring deals in sports is what he does for a living.

 A partner at Rimon Law in New York, he’s spent his career on the business side of sports: team acquisitions and sales, sponsorships, licensing, media and digital rights. 

 His clients have included the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the New York Cosmos, the ownership group behind the Omaha Storm Chasers and Richmond Flying Squirrels, and the company that holds Pelé’s intellectual property.

 He previously served as executive director of Major League Lacrosse and as general counsel of GM EventWorks, overseeing General Motors’ sports and entertainment alliances.  

 In 2025 he was named one of the Top 25 Media and Entertainment Attorneys of the year by Attorney Intel.

Pace, his wife, Caryn, and their two children, Myles, 22, and Lily, 19, live in Manhattan, New York.

Born and raised in Baton Rouge, Jacob Hector grew up watching the original Kingfish and is now part of the ownership group that brought the name back to Raising Cane’s River Center. 

Hector also owns and operates four local businesses — Tiger Nutrition, Happy Scoops Ice Cream Parlor, Bayou Tech Solutions and Badgers Mechanical. Before becoming part-owner of a professional hockey team, he was a sponsor of two teams in the league. 

His belief in why the Kingfish can succeed is the same philosophy he has built his businesses around: “I think people from Louisiana trust people from Louisiana.”

Hector lives in Baton Rouge with his wife, Kenah, and two-year-old son, Joah.

Ted Goldthorpe is part of the group that brought professional hockey back to Baton Rouge, and he spends his working life deciding which businesses are built to last. 

A partner at BC Partners, he founded and leads the firm’s credit platform. Before that, he served as president of Apollo Investment Corporation and chief investment officer of Apollo Investment Management. He also spent more than a decade at Goldman Sachs, where he was a managing director in the Special Situations Group and oversaw the firm’s bank loan and distressed investing desk. 

He lectures at Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford and serves on the boards of Riddell, The New School and South Street Securities. Goldthorpe also serves on the board of directors of the Canadian Olympic Foundation, which supports Team Canada’s athletes and coaches. 

A native of Canada, he graduated from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. 

M.J. Graham was named President & General Manager of the Baton Rouge Kingfish in July 2026.

Graham oversees corporate partnerships, sponsorship activation and revenue strategy for the Kingfish. His approach focuses on developing partnerships that deliver measurable results for sponsors, tailoring each agreement to the specific needs and goals of the business.

Before joining the Kingfish, Graham spent 11 seasons as a professional hockey player, winning an Ignite Cup championship. He later transitioned into hockey operations, serving as interim head coach, overseeing corporate sponsorships and working as assistant general manager of the Baton Rouge Zydeco in 2025.

The Baton Rouge Kingfish welcomed Eddie McCarthy as Director of Broadcasting and Media Relations on Aug. 5, 2026.

As the voice of the Kingfish, McCarthy broadcasts play-by-play for all Kingfish home and away games on the Kingfish Broadcast Network and hosts the Coaches' Show. In addition to his broadcasting responsibilities, McCarthy also serves as the team's primary media contact, coordinates community engagements and assists with managing social media.

McCarthy joins the Kingfish after spending last season with the AHL's Syracuse Crunch, where he served as a fill-in play-by-play broadcaster and pregame, intermission and postgame host. While in Syracuse, McCarthy provided play-by-play commentary for hockey, volleyball, soccer, lacrosse and softball telecasts on ACC Network Extra, ESPN+ and FloSports. He has also called high school and college hockey for the last five years. 

Originally from Basking Ridge, New Jersey, McCarthy earned his master's degree in broadcast and digital journalism from Syracuse University in 2026. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Chicago in 2025, where he was a catcher for the school's NCAA Division III baseball team. McCarthy is also a lifelong hockey fan who learned to skate at six and played through high school.

Elayna Diaz del Valle serves as the business operations and legal affairs associate for the Baton Rouge Kingfish. She earned her Juris Doctor from Louisiana State University's Paul M. Hebert Law Center and holds a bachelor's degree in English with a minor in political science from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Prior to joining the Kingfish, Diaz del Valle gained legal experience with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana and the Legal Aid Society of Hawaiʻi. Her professional background also includes business operations, event coordination and entrepreneurship.

In her role with the Kingfish, Diaz del Valle supports the organization's business operations, corporate partnerships, group sales and legal affairs, helping contribute to the team's growth and presence in the Baton Rouge community.

On July 16, 2026, Jimmy Soper, 31, was named the head coach of the Baton Rouge Kingfish. He is the first head coach in the organization’s history.

“My coaching philosophy is built on accountability, preparation and creating an environment where athletes can compete at their highest level while continuing to grow both on and off the ice,” Soper said. “I am especially excited to begin this journey in Baton Rouge and look forward to becoming part of the community while building a team that fans can be proud to support.” 

The Waterloo, Ontario, native enjoyed a nine-year pro career in the ECHL, SPHL and FHL, beginning in 2017. In 469 career games, Soper amassed 137 goals, 325 points and 551 penalty minutes. He appeared in 228 games ECHL games for Newfoundland, Greenville, Tulsa, Rapid City, Florida and Cincinnati; 217 SPHL contests with Macon and Knoxville; and 24 FHL matches for Danville. 

“We are thrilled to welcome Jimmy Soper to Baton Rouge,” Kingfish owner Andreas Johansson said. “Jimmy embodies exactly what we envisioned when building this franchise from the ground up: a competitor, a leader and someone who will represent this community with pride. Baton Rouge deserves a team built the right way, and Jimmy is the right person to build it.”

A proven leader on and off the ice, Soper served as captain of the SPHL’s Knoxville Ice Bears for the final two years of his playing career, leading the organization to back-to-back playoff berths and a trip to the President’s Cup Finals in 2024-25. Soper notched eight goals and 19 points across the 2024 and 2025 SPHL playoffs — the most in the league in that time frame.

“I’ve often said Jimmy is the straw that stirs the drink when it comes to our team,” Ice Bears Head Coach John Gurskis said. “He led the room well, battled, fought, produced in the playoffs and did a lot of things to help our team. I wish him nothing but the best as he opens a new chapter to begin his coaching career.”

Soper and his wife, Jill, welcomed their first child, Blake, in January of 2026. 

The Baton Rouge Kingfish welcomed Boyd “Shooter” Soper to the coaching staff on Oct. 2, 2026. Shooter is the father of Kingfish head coach Jimmy Soper and defenseman Kyle Soper. 

“I believe the best coaches help players grow both on and off the ice by creating a positive, respectful environment where effort and character matter as much as the scoreboard,” Soper said. “My goal is to build confident players who enjoy the game, support their teammates and continue developing their skills.”

It’s his first coaching position at the professional level.

“I am excited for the opportunity to contribute my experience and enthusiasm to the team and to help every player reach their potential while keeping the game fun and rewarding.” 

Tommy MacDonald was hired as equipment manager for the Baton Rouge Kingfish in July 2026. The 2026-27 campaign is his seventh in professional hockey.

Last season, MacDonald served as equipment manager for the Baton Rouge Zydeco.

The Plymouth, Massachusetts, native spent his first five professional seasons on the equipment staffs of the ECHL's South Carolina Stingrays (2020-24) and the FPHL's Athens Rock Lobsters (2024-25).

MacDonald will work his 100th FPHL game on Nov. 14, 2026, when the Kingfish travel to Binghamton to face the Black Bears.