Dear IYHL Families,
The Irish Youth Hockey League has some exciting news to announce. USA Hockey has awarded the IYHL the 2019 14U Tier ll National Championship. We submitted a bid in September in conjunction with the Compton Family Ice Arena, and the Ice Box. This is the first time in the history of the IYHL that our organization has hosted a National Championship. The tournament will take place April 4-8, 2019. In addition, as a host site our 2018-2019 14U Irish Rover AA team will automatically qualify to play in the championship. There will be around 40 total teams seeded into 3 different divisions. This is a tremendous opportunity for our players and organization. There will be more information in the coming months, and we will need a lot of volunteers to help put on a successful tournament.
The league had a successful goalie clinic over the holidays run by Notre Dame goalie coach Zach Cizek. We had over 20 goalies come out for the two days to learn and improve their skills. The IYHL is putting an emphasis on goalie development to follow the lead of USA Hockey.
The league also had a fun 3 vs 3 day in December at the Ice Box. The players enjoyed some great hockey, fellowship and pizza during the event. If your player missed out on the fun this year you can encourage your player to sign up for it next year as we plan on doing it again.
Our house league playoffs will begin in February and conclude with our 2nd Annual Championship Sunday on March 11th. This year the games for 10u white, 10U green, 12U and 14U will be at the Compton Family Ice Arena. We want to improve on last year so we will have some exciting prizes and giveaways for players and fans. So even if your team doesn’t make the finals come out to the rink to watch some exciting hockey.
This year we will again partner with Mike McNeill and the Compton staff for spring hockey. Information will be coming on the Compton classroom hockey sessions. Classes will be held Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays depending on your age group at Compton with scrimmages held on Sundays at the Ice Box. The classroom will run from Monday March 19th to Sunday May 20th with time off for spring break and Easter.
A few reminders for our league, coaches please make sure you post your game scores in sports engine so the standings are up to date. Also, Planet Hockey Camp is coming to South Bend June 18-22. Information is on the IYHL website.
We have some more exciting news to announce as former IYHL player and Irish Rover, Scott Pooley, is up for college hockey’s most prestigious award, The Hobey Baker. I encourage everybody to go to http://www.voteforhobey.com and cast your vote for Scott.
Voting runs through March 4, 2018. Let’s get behind a former IYHL player and support him for the Hobey!
See you at the rink and go USA Hockey at the Olympics in South Korea.
Brian Troester
President
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