President’s Welcome Letter – 2018-2019 CCYHA Season
Hello, and I hope everyone is enjoying the summer. This will be my tenth year as President of Central CT Youth Hockey and I am so proud to see the growth and success at all levels of our program. I know this is quite long, but it has some very important information in it, so please read.
In one week we will start our conditioning ice prior to the official start of the season. Please check the master schedule as it has been updated with conditioning ice and practices.
To our returning CCYHA families, welcome back. To our new CCYHA families, welcome to the program. I hope that you find Central to be your home organization for a long time to come. We are always excited to welcome new families and to watch our program grow as much as it has.
Central Connecticut Youth Hockey (CCYHA) is looking forward to another strong year at all levels. Our program is the largest travel organization in Connecticut and our success is built on the hard work and dedication from our Board Members, coaches, and parents who are dedicated and willing to provide their children an opportunity to play this great sport of hockey. Every year our players prove to have a strong work ethic and a desire to improve every time they step on the ice. It is our hope that this is the most successful year for all of our members on and off the ice. The sport is a great release from the everyday grind and the friendships developed through hockey are second to none.
Newington Arena:
We have worked very hard to get the best possible ice slots for all of our teams while also continuing with our goal of keeping consistent nights and times which has been very well received by the membership. With the number of teams we have at Central, this is no easy task. Newington Arena has partnered with us to ensure that the rink will remain a clean and safe environment for our members.
Hockey 1 Pro Shop from South Windsor Arena will once again run the pro shop at Newington Arena. We recommend you use them for your hockey purchases. Steve, at the Arena Grill, will once again be open for us. He has been a very strong supporter of our program so please support him.
Scheduling:
Our division directors will be working with team coaches/managers/schedulers on scheduling games for our teams for the upcoming season. Each team will be challenged appropriately and our goal of seeing development throughout the organization should be reached through challenging practices and a competitive game schedule.
Season Opening Faceoff Party – Saturday September 8th from 9:00am to 1:00pm:
CCYHA will be hosting our eigth annual Season Opening Faceoff Party on Saturday September 8th at Newington Arena. In addition to all the fun events that we will have planned, we will also have a second warm up suit fitting for any players looking to order a warm up suit as well as a second uniform fitting for any players who may need new uniforms. We are putting together various activities to make this day fun for everyone. We will be having an open skate, equipment swap, a shooting contest (with prizes), bounce houses in the parking lot, a barbecue,.....plus more…….
ALL UNIFORMS AND WINDSUITS PREVIOUSLY ORDERED WILL BE GIVEN OUT DURING THIS EVENT
In season events:
Other events that we have planned throughout the season are our Annual Dinner Dance and Auction (date TBD) and our annual 3v3 Turkey Shootout, the night before Thanksgiving. CCYHA (all of our travel teams) will once again be participating in the Jingle Bell Tournament in Marlboro, MA from December 29 to January 1. This is a great opportunity to keep all of our families together over the holidays. The Jingle Bell Tournament is the only one, that I know of, that could accommodate our entire program. It is always a fun couple of days when we take over the Embassy Suites. I will be setting up the room blocks and you will be receiving an email in October to reserve your rooms.
CCYHA Helmet Program:
In continuing with our previous sponsorship through CT Childrens Medical Center’s Injury Prevention Center and Kohl’s Tween Safe Program, Central CT Youth Hockey will once again be outfitting our travel players with the Bauer Reakt helmet for the upcoming season. Any new player to CCYHA or new travel player will be receiving their helmet in early September.
Partnership with Future Fitness:
CCYHA has partnered with Future Fitness at Newington Arena and they will be providing weekly off ice training for our bantam aged players throughout the season.
Partnership with ProCrease:
CCYHA has also partnered with ProCrease goaltender training for the upcoming season. ProCrease will be on the ice at two practices per month for each team to work with our goaltenders. ProCrease works with many youth goaltenders as well as high school, junior and college goalies.
Partnership with Hartford Wolfpack:
Keep an eye on the CCYHA website throughout the season as many of our teams (travel, house and learn to play) participate in events before, during and after Hartford Wolfpack games at the XL Center in Hartford. The Hartford Wolfpack are strong supporters of youth programs in the community.
Skill Development Sessions with IPH:
CCYHA will have IPH (I Play Harder) running skills sessions during the season. These are small area station based session focusing on individual skills.
CCYHA Online Store:
The CCYHA online store will be run by Hamden Sports. They will have several order dates and emails will go out with that information and will have merchandise available at the season opening party and during the 3v3 turkey shootout.
CCYHA Midget Tier 1 Teams:
For the seventh year, CCYHA has partnered with South Kent Prep School – Selects Hockey Academy to host their split season midget teams. We will be fielding 15, U16 and U18 Tier 1 teams. These teams are comprised of some of the best players from all over the US, Canada and Europe. Please check our master schedule on our website for the games that these teams are playing in Newington Arena as you will have a chance to see a very high level of hockey. All three teams were nationally ranked in the top 10 in the country and the U18 team won the National Championship last year.
EJEPL
Our Squirt AA, PeeWee AA, and Bantam A teams will be competing in the EJEPL, in addition to CHC. The EJEPL is made up of teams from all down the east coast spanning Maine to Florida. This league will provide an added challenge for our teams.
Capital Wolves Girls Program:
We partnered with West Hartford Youth Hockey to form a girls program that will compete in CHC and the CGHL. We feel that this will provide girls in our program a local home throughout their youth hockey years.
CCYHA House League:
With the continued growth of our House League, last season CCYHA purchased a set of cross ice boards from Becker Arena Products. These boards go across the red line and form two curved rinks on each side of the red line. This will give the players the feel of a real game environment in a cross ice setting and was received quite well by our house league players last year. The house league continues to be a strong asset for our program.
CCYHA Learn To Play:
Each year our Learn to Play program grows and develops the future of our program. Over the past several years, the program has grown to new heights providing a mix of teaching and fun with the goal to provide these young players with the fundamentals of skating and playing hockey. This program kicks off in October.
CCYHA Board of Directors:
If you have any questions throughout the season, the appropriate members of the Board can be found under the contacts section of our website www.centralcthockey.org. Our board is made up of a great cast of volunteers, and as always, I would like to thank them for their commitment. Our Board is comprised of the following individuals:
Anthony Giusto (President)
Doug Partridge (VP of Development & Coaching)
Aaron Odell (Registrar)
Bryan Ruck (VP Admin & Ice)
Matt Peary (Treasurer)
Rich Faber (VP of Fundraising)
Traci Lynn Fox (Secretary)
Paul Cholewa (Tournament Director)
Brian Smith (Learn to Play Director
Matt Allatin (House League Director)
Rob DeFilio (Mite Director)
Val Calciano (Squirt Director)
Tim Poulin (PeeWee Director)
Bob Patz (Bantam Director)
Bill Ralph (Midget Director)
Marc Labrie (Girls Director)
If you have questions throughout the season, please contact the appropriate board member.
When you see a title next to a board member’s name, know that a lot of hours are contributed from that member to make our program what it is.
Please make sure your kids are continually thanking their coaches as all are volunteers and give a lot of their time to help develop your kids. Finally, thank you to the parents who sacrifice so much during the hockey season so that your children can play this wonderful sport of hockey.
Best wishes for a great rest of the summer and a very successful 2018- 2019 hockey season. LET’S GO CAPS!
Anthony Giusto (Juice)
CCYHA President
anthony@LLGResearch.com
Rink Rater