Come Play Youth Hockey Campaign

The Membership Development department unveiled a first draft of the "Come Play Youth Hockey" marketing campaign at Annual Congress. With the goal of creating a consistent, positive image of youth hockey to increase interest of parents with 4 to 8 year old kids, the ads demonstrate the unique qualities youth hockey brings out of kids. As the start of the season approaches, these will be made available for all to use to promote growth initiatives.

“This campaign helps create a consistent branding of what youth hockey is,” said Assistant Executive Director of Membership Development Pat Kelleher. “It speaks to the qualities that youth hockey brings out in kids and invites parents to bring their kids to the rink.”

Total Hockey Award Winner

There’s no better time to share your love of the game than Valentine’s Day, according to Springfield Youth Hockey Association whose Valentine’s Day Card Program was recognized as the winner of the Total Hockey “Growing the Game” award. The winner was selected on creativity, media/marketing potential, transferability to other interested programs and overall impact on the local association. In recognition of their efforts, the Springfield Youth Hockey Association of Missouri was rewarded with a $2,500 gift card from Total Hockey.

“Growing the game is the responsibility of all of us who are passionate about the sport and who care about the future, not just the responsibility of USA Hockey,” said Michael LaBroad, vice president of the Springfield Youth Hockey Association, who said they were working on a Halloween version of the Valentine’s Day card.

SYHA distributed over 1,000 cards (30 per player), which included a “Free Skate” at a public skating session and classmate’s youth hockey schedule. Several hundred cards were redeemed in the first 30 days and the rink still receives several cards during every public session. They will use the information to personally contact each skater and offer them an opportunity to join the program. This program could also be used to promote the opportunity for a free hockey trial.

Hockey Weekend Across America 2010 | January 29-31

At the root of growing hockey, the largest barriers are making your product cost-effective and convenient. To demonstrate how to overcome these barriers, Saturday, January 30th, of the 2010 Hockey Weekend Across America, USA Hockey will host a nationwide free trial of hockey. This is a countrywide effort to have local rinks and associations offer a free sample of hockey at a consistent time with the maximum amount of ease.

The goal is to have at least 200 rinks offer the program from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm in their local time zone. Every facility participating will be promoted through the Hockey Weekend Across America website and their national campaign publicizing the event.

To join, please email growthegame@usahockey.org.

So Much To Celebrate With Responsible Sports
Spring 2009 Responsible Sports Community Grants Winner Announced

Sports are about so much more than winning. And sustaining youth sports programs takes more than just your valuable time and effort. That's why Liberty Mutual created the Responsible Sports Community Grants.

The 20 youth sports organizations that demonstrated their commitment to responsibility in youth sports and earned a $2,500 grant this spring are now posted at ResponsibleSports.com. See the winners including the new youth hockey organizations in the Community Grant Hall of Fame!

2009 Responsible Coaching Award Winners Announced!
Ten ice hockey coaches have won the 2009 Responsible Coaching Awards across the country. We recognize that these coaches are an integral part of the fabric of our communities, instilling in our children the lessons learned from sports both on and off the ice.

We are pleased to announce these unsung local heroes as the recipients of the 2009 Responsible Coaching Awards for hockey! Please join us in congratulating these positive role models in our communities! Check out coaching philosophies, photos and more at ResponsibleSports.com/Award.

OneGoal Equipment Update

Thank you to all of the associations that ordered OneGoal equipment this year. More than 3,500 sets have been ordered and will be shipped to programs around the country this summer.

There are still sets available. To place an order, please contact Kevin Erlenbach.

American Development Model

USA Hockey has named Roger Grillo, former head men’s ice hockey coach at Brown University, and Joe Doyle, former assistant men’s ice hockey coach at the U.S. Air Force Academy, the first two regional managers of the American Development Model. For more information, visit usahockey.com.

Registration Update

The 2009-10 season officially began on May 1, 2009. Online registration became available starting May 1. For additional information about the change in the USA Hockey registration season, please click here.

Final registration totals for the 2008-09 season are 465,975 players, 55,448 coaches and 26,866 officials. Over 80% of all registrations have been processed online. Adult player registration has reached an all-time high with over 126,695 participants and age 6 and under reached its highest number in five years with 43,315 kids hitting the ice. For a complete overview of the 2008-09 registration totals, click here.

Links of Interest

• Bruins to Host Four G.O.A.L! Clinics in June
• Buffalo Shamrocks' founder wins Messier Youth Leadership Award
• Atlanta Thrashers Become First NHL Club to Implement USA Hockey’s American Development Model into Local Youth Hockey Programming
• First Skate Hockey Camp offers ice time to kids usually frozen out of the rink
• Schedule set for Minnesota Wild Road Tour - Leg One
• Kessel's a big hit at Franklin school

Rule Changes

To read the rule changes that came out of the 2009 Annual Congress in Colorado Springs, please visit usahockey.com.

Make a TAPE to TAPE Pass

We encourage you to distribute this newsletter to as many people in your association as possible. Board members, hockey directors, coaches, parents and players can all benefit from information in TAPE to TAPE. We thank you for your commitment to hockey and your help in sharing best practices with others in your association.

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