Youth teams from the country’s more prominent hockey hotbeds might not expect much from an Idaho squad.

Idaho Falls Youth Hockey Association President John Rifelj understands that. It’s why he thoroughly enjoys it when his teams give their out-of-state opponents all they can handle.

“We do surprise a lot of teams,” Rifelj said. “A lot of people will say, ‘we didn’t expect you to play that good of hockey.’ There is a lot of pride in that. We do enjoy coming in as the underdog and playing competitive hockey in some major markets.”

Hockey might not yet be the most popular sport in the state, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the IFYHA. With $3 million recently invested into remodeling a rink, 355 registered players across all of its age groups, and the successful implementation of USA Hockey’s American Development Model, the association is succeeding in a variety of ways in the Gem State.

“Idaho Falls is one of the biggest associations,” said Rifelj, who is originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and got involved with the association to coach his own children. “It’s the only association that has any players in eastern Idaho. The nearest association, which is in central Idaho, has only 100 kids. There’s another one further away from that, and they have 40 kids. Idaho is not a hockey hotbed.”

Idaho Falls has been the outlier for a variety of reasons. The association is able to keep hockey affordable with inexpensive ice time. It’s also home to a national laboratory drawing employees from across the United States.

Another reason for the association’s success is it makes an effort to promote itself and encourage newcomers to try hockey. Nearly 200 kids came out for a try-hockey-for-free day earlier this year.

Rifelj has been with the association for six years and has been its president for nearly six months. During his time there, the association has adopted USA Hockey’s ADM. It was first implemented in some of the younger age groups and is now being used at nearly every level.

The ADM’s philosophies of playing in small spaces and maximizing players’ touches are among the reasons why Rifelj believes the model is effective. He has already seen the payoff from it and expects to see more as the association’s players continue to move up levels.

“Puck touches are sometimes tripling, depending on the practice plans,” Rifelj said. “USA Hockey obviously researched that and has done their job.

“Our peewees this year, those kids started with the ADM when they were mites, and they’re going to be some of the best skilled players through the association. As far as pure skating, puck handling and reading and reacting, those kids are going to be great hockey players.”

The association has already produced some individual success stories. Trevor Hott, who was born in 1997, is playing for the Islanders Hockey Club in the USP3HL, and there are two players currently on the roster at Boise State University, where the Broncos have a club hockey team.

Rifelj thinks the association is getting close to bursting at the seams and could probably only sustain another 40-50 additional kids. He believes the association will require a second sheet of ice in the near future. That’s a good problem to have. Rifelj is hopeful that could happen sometime in the next three years.

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.