2013…Off and Rolling with Learn to Play Players and Tournament Players!!

Well it’s getting to be that time of year again in the roller hockey world…..Tournament Time!!! …. but this year may be a little different for me and many of our youth players at the Fieldhouse.

First, while tournament hockey is always exciting to be a part of I have to say that I am even more excited  to see our start up programs at the Fieldhouse such as our Learn to Play program and our Mini Mites doing so well.  After a few down seasons, new players to our sport are back on the rise! These little guys and girls are coming out in full force on Saturday mornings and when I am lucky enough to catch a glimpse of their face through their cages I am seeing nothing but smiles.  After all, they represent our sports’ future and soon one day will be looking to play in their first NARCh or TORHS2Hot event right here at the Fieldhouse; or maybe they will be looking to tryout for a chance to represent Team Michigan at the annual State Wars National event.

Participation in our youth house divisions is also up this season.  The youth house kids are playing in competitive games week in and week out and many of these kids will be looking to take their game to the next level this Spring.  Every Saturday I get to see some great hockey right here in our own house leagues; this is a nice added bonus to my Saturdays for sure!

This year we are hoping to do things differently as far as forming our tournament teams.  Some of the coaches that have been heading up teams to play in regional and National tournaments are working together to give as many kids a chance to play as possible. In recent years it has been mainly just the Tour Bordercats coming out of the Fieldhouse.  Myself and a couple other guys handled almost 15 teams this past season as they played National tourneys both in Taylor, Michigan and SanJose, California.  While it was once again a great experience the work involved with that many teams was never ending, although very rewarding.

In 2013 we are looking to start up similar organizations as the Bordercats with the help of Tour Hockey and the new guys at Alkali Hockey.  Our goal is that within 2-3 years we will be at a point where we have two more organizations, Tour and Alkali, that field teams from 8U on up to 18U to join the long running Bordercats program who are now with Mission Bauer.  These new teams in many cases may be single A (Silver) while some will be able to hang in AA (Gold) right away. With time and more experience many of these teams will eventually be able to play at the AAA (Platinum) level.

I love the fact that our youth players have role models to look up to such as our Junior Mission Bauer Bordercats team and of course, are Mission Bauer Bordercats Professional team that all can claim the Fieldhouse as their home rink.

We have already had our initial tryout skate for these youth teams and will be adding another one soon. For more information on the opportunity to get involved with any of our youth tournament team organizations please e-mail me at mattk@LCRH.info.

Just like the U.S Olympic team in London…Michigan takes home plenty of Gold at State Wars 8!!

State Wars 8 was held in St.Louis, Missouri from August 1st through the 12th and several Michigan teams came home with the Gold in some very tough divisions. In all, the Michigan contingency came home with 13 medals including 8 Gold, 3 Silver, and 2 Bronze. Here are some brief recaps of some of our Gold medal achievements.
In the 2002 division once the divisions were broken down into AAA and AA it would be Max Savel, Bryce Livesy, and Noah Woods that would lead the way in the playoffs as they cruised to lopsided wins over both Missouri in the semi and Kansas in the final.
The ever competitive 2001 AAA division saw our Michigan team go up against a strong Colorado team for the championship. Team MI would take the game by a 7-4 score led by goalie Joey Henson who helped his team overcome five penalties. It was a balanced attack and while Brendan Walk chipped in 2 goals along with Garrett Rutt and the silent leader Evan Gietzen, had a goal and three assists and was awarded MVP of the contest.
The 2000 A/AA team from Michigan had their way in the single A round robin so they were moved up to AA for the playoffs to face off against the lower level AAA teams. It would not make a difference however, as the youngsters would roll through the playoffs in convincing fashion led by the trio of Calen Kiefiuk, Grant Burkhardt, and Bryce Kallen who amassed 36 points combined in those three wins. The last win was a 5-3 win over Team Illinois.
The next Gold for Michigan would come in the 1997 AAA division where Michigan would down the heavily favored Colorado team who won it all last year in the semi final and then would hold on to beat the local favorites from Missouri in the championship in a 6-5 thriller. Team MI was led all week by Joey Savel and Garrett Hall who were both named to Team North America. In the final Savel would pitch in another goal while Hall chipped in with two helpers. Alec Badour and Lewis Stockwell each netted two goals apiece in the final. Stockwell would be named MVP. Jacob Lawson was stellar in net for Team MI.
The 1996 AAA division saw Michigan head to State Wars with perhaps its’ strongest chance at a Gold medal. These guys did not disappoint either as they held off Florida in the quarterfinals and Missouri in the semi’s both by scores of just 3-2. Jacob Turowski would notch the hat trick in the final helping his team down Ontario 5-2. Michael Houle, who led the division in scoring would record two assists in the final as well. Aaron Mizgalski, Michigan goaltender, would give up just six goals in three playoff games.
Yet another Gold medal fell on to Michigans’ lap in the Junior AA division. With Daivid Bayer between the pipes and the likes of Brandon Hawkins, Corey Hodge, Sam Nixdorf, and Robert Berman the team would rarely be tested.until the final; as they ousted Missouri by a 4-3 score. The above four each recorded a goal in the final with Berman getting the game winner. Adam Swims, Tyler True, Andrew Kattula, and Mark Albo rounded out the squad.
Senior A pitted two Michigan teams in the final as team captains Tyler True of the MI Mighty Ducks and Mike Farinelli of the MI Little Caesars’ matched wits in the “Who can do the best impression of Kenny Holland contest.” In the end, it was Farinelli’s Little Caesars’ team led by Brian Pawlicki in net and Ryan Fantene and Nick Smolinski up front that came out on top by a 7-5 margin. Danny Edwards and Philip Dipascale had 2 goals apiece while Fantene had a goal and 4 assists in the ‘ship.
As with the US Womens’ team in the Olympic games in London the Michigan Women would not be denied Gold either. Michigan was led by Geena Prough throughout the tournament who amassed 9 points during the round robin. Team MI would get sweet revenge by beating Missouri I in their semi final 3-1. They had beat Michigan in the round robin earlier. Then they would face Colorado in the final and hold on for a 3-2 victory. Juli Bradford, Brittany Zeches, and Allison Malty scored for Team MI. Goaltender Maria Barlow played spectacular in net all weekend.
Michigan also won Silver medals in the 1999 AAA, 1995 A, and Senior A divisions. The two Bronze medals were won by the depleted Junior AAA team who had a tough semi final loss at the hands of Colorado and our 1996 A/AA team. They took Bronze in the 1996 AA division.
All in all it was a great event this year at State Wars held at a facility that is second to none. The Rec Plex in St.Peters was a great venue and rumor has it that State Wars may be returning there again but you never know. I would highly recommend for any avid roller hockey player to make sure to get in shape for their tryouts next year so that they don’t miss out on this event again. Whether it is back in St.Louis or ends up somewhere else I know I for one will not miss State Wars 9.
All the stats, rosters, and blogs for State Wars can be found at http://www.statewarshockey.com.
Don’t forget that the LCRH at the Fieldhouse is getting ready to start up its’ Fall leagues. Go to http://www.LCRH.info for more information.

Practice May not Make Perfect but it does Make Sense!!

In any sport, practice is the key to not only the development of the individual player but it is also a necessity for a team to become just that, a “team”.  It doesn’t matter what age you are, what division you are in, or what your experience level is; practice just makes sense.

            I can remember when I first started helping out to manage our roller hockey leagues here at the Fieldhouse.  Since I was coming from ice hockey myself and having played it and coached it for 25 years , I was amazed that back then (about 7-10 years ago)  our youth house divisions would have three practices and ten to twelve games in a season.  I thought to myself, “This is not enough time to spend on even the fundamentals let alone team concepts.”   You would think parents and kids would love the opportunity to work on their skills and have fun with their own teammates without the pressures of a game, especially since we were talking about beginners for the most part.  Season after season we would have our practice weeks and have teams show up with 2-3 kids in most cases.  Knowing the importance of practices, we finally tried to not post which weeks were practice weeks so that more kids would be in attendance. You would not believe how many parents got to the rink but found out it was practice week and stormed out the door without even skating in disgust. They would actually say right in front of their child “We could still be sleeping” or “I could have stayed at work”  I couldn’t believe it.

            Now in our youth house leagues, for the most part we have two practices and 12 games with playoffs. (Fall and Winter). We actually gave up on scheduling more practices and cut them back to two. We offer the teams a chance to schedule as many additional practices as they want throughout a season on their own but rarely do any teams take us up on that.   Our newer coaches have come in with enthusiasm and excitement and we always get a few that inquire prior to the season about booking extra floor time. These feelings soon diminish when they see half their team show up for the first practice and even see many players skipping some games without notifying them.

            I remember back when we had an abundance of youth open teams. Only a small percentage of them even scheduled a couple of practices in a season and these were teams playing competitive league play and wanting to be competitive in tournaments. One organization back then practiced weekly and of course we would receive weekly complaints because these teams were too strong for certain divisions. I would explain that it wasn’t that way to begin with and that those kids just plain spend more time on the floor working on their skills and going over team play. It’s truly amazing what a roller hockey team can do when the entire team is on the same page and thinking the same way.

            Nowadays we offer Skills and Drills sessions almost weekly. While sometimes we do have pretty good numbers at those during the Fall and Winter seasons; compared to the overall number of youth players that are playing, these should be sold out each and every week.  We want to add more skills sessions but it just doesn’t make sense based on the numbers.  Over the past five years of running these skills and drills sessions I can count on one hand the number of customers that have been unhappy with a session.  We put some of our best people on these and take care of them very well because we value this program.  I can think of numerous cases where players were just beginners and were behind the rest of their team in a youth house division.  These same players that made a commitment to go to the skills and drills sessions regularly, skated youth drop-ins when they could, and attended camps in the Summer would soon become, within a year or so it seemed, the top players in the whole division let alone their own team.  We (LCRH) offer Summer Camps both in June and in August and these camps are very affordable yet it is only a handful of players that seem to enroll.

               It is truly amazing that a parent would allow their child to go into a sport they clearly love but then not afford them the opportunities to improve their game by taking them to these extra programs.  I know that a child does not head out to the ball field without ever taking batting practice, fielding grounders, or shagging flyballs. I don’t believe you just send out your daughter on to the soccer field without them even knowing how to handle the ball or having a general idea of positioning.  How about a 4^th grader hitting the court for his first basketball league game with out ever practicing a lay up, shooting a free throw, or working on a play with his teammates.

            Practice may not make the player perfect but it will make them more confident in their game over time which will no doubt lead them to having a far better experience at the rink.  They will be able to do the simple things on the rink without having to think about them which will allow them to grow as a player and to become an invalueable teammate.

            What is it with Roller Hockey???

             While we are on the subject – I should add that many times when I am speaking with kids I will ask what other activities or things are they into or playing. I will usually get the regular answers of ice hockey, football, soccer, lacrosse, or baseball. I always ask what they enjoy most and I would bet nine out of ten say roller hockey.  And, yes, I even ask a lot of our ice kids what they prefer and almost all, without hesitation say roller hockey is way more fun. Some do say that they love both and they are just different.  Usually the next thing out of their mouth is something to the affect that “well my parents say they pay a lot of money for ice or baseball so that has to come first” or “ my parents say….it’s just roller you don’t have to practice and its’ ok to miss your game”.   Why is that I wonder?  How is it right that in a  team sport where you usually have just 8 players, which means two lines basically, that it is ok for one or more of the players to simply miss their practice or game. How is that fair to their teammates or the coach? I know other commitments need to be filled and that sometimes missing is unavoidable but should a player just skip roller without even notifying his coach or letting a league manager know?  I don’t know that there is another sport where missing one of the teams’ stronger offensive players or smarter defensive players, or hardest working player will affect the outcome of a game as much as it does in roller hockey.

            Your child loves to play roller hockey!!!! Why not look for ways to support these kids and allow them to do something they enjoy doing without making them feel like you don’t enjoy it as well.  You may not understand the sport of hockey or get why they love the roller game but does it really matter? Shouldn’t it be enough that they are having fun and are making new friends and learning what it means to be part of a team.  A team that needs YOU at practice.