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Omaha Hockey Club Informer September 2014

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E

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HECC labels – Fundraising Coordinator needed

Lancer & Mavs Information

House grading /HS Evaluation skate

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IP/Mite News

Coaching Clinics, OJL help needed

7+ IP/Mite Free Skate, Peewee-Squirt Select Teams

Board Meetings We need your input

September Board Meeting will be held on September 16th at 6 pm at Moylan IcePlex.

Missed the Board Meeting? Minutes are available on

line for each meeting once approved by the Board.

Enjoy getting this newsletter; join the OHC Mailing List on our website, www.omahahockey.com.

Check out our sponsors.

Letter from the President: Michael Dudzinski Dear OHC Family,  The 90 degree weather doesn’t give anyone the hint that hockey is just around the corner, but were only a month away from the start of the 2014/2015 season. The Travel team try‐outs for all age divisions are already completed, and we are well on our way to ‘Hockey Time in Omaha’.  If you have not registered your son or daughter yet, there’s still time to get that done. We opened registration a month earlier this year to help extend the payment plan for those families using that service. You can register your children with USA Hockey and sign up for your appropriate age division by going to our web page at: www.omahahockey.com. Schedules for the season are being completed, jerseys are ‘in hand’ and waiting to be distributed and your Board of Directors is hoping for another great season of youth hockey.  If you haven’t heard of the ‘Safe Sports’ program, developed by USA Hockey you might want to check it out on their web page at: www.usahockey.com . Click on the ‘Safety’ tab and drop down to Safe Sports. Your Board of    Continued page 3

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Home Opener

Friday, September 26th vs. SC Musketeers

Puck drops at 7:35 pm.

Monday, Oct. 6th vs. NAIT (exhibition) at 7:07 pm

Home openers vs. Minnesota State: Friday, Oct 10th at 7:37 pm

Saturday, Oct 11th at 7:07 pm

Each of our age division Directors has a full slate of plans for the season that hopes to make your child’s hockey experience a memorable one. Please keep an eye on the web site and don’t let our monthly newsletter go unread. There will be monthly posts for events and schedules you won’t want to miss.   With a registration last year of 1242 players, OHC is the largest youth hockey organization in the Midwest. Within our USA Hockey affiliate, only Des Moines youth hockey comes ‘close’ with registration of just a little over 590. With those great numbers also come the great responsibility of accommodating (trying at least) everyone’s needs; a task that’s somewhat daunting at times. Please consider sharing ‘your’ time and talent into making our organization a success. We are always in need of Coaches, assistants, Team managers, locker monitors; a place for everyone wishing to volunteer. Octobers just around the corner;  See you at the rink,  Michael Dudzinski President, OHC∞ 

Travel Teams Get New Names

In an effort to be more consistently aligned with the majority of teams across the Midwest, Omaha Hockey Club has decided to move to A, B and C team designations starting with 2014-2015 season. Our teams formerly designated as AA will now be our A teams. Our A teams will now be B teams and our Select teams will now be called C teams. If you have any questions about the new classifications…please feel free to contact our Travel Director, Susan Decker at ohctraveldirector@gmail.com

Letter from the President continued… 

Directors made the Safe Sports tutorial & exam a requirement of all coaches last year; a requirement that USA Hockey made nationally this season. I ‘strongly’ encourage you to take the on‐line course of Safe Sports for the benefit of your children. Although the full course takes @ 90 minutes, I assure you that your time will not be wasted as the material covered is very eye‐opening and critical to the safety and well being of your children.   

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H&H Chevrolet

IP/Mite Report by Kyle Salem

I know we are still six weeks out from the season, but I wanted to start to put out some information out about what will be happening over the next few weeks.  There’s a lot to tell – so I will likely be sending weekly emails for the next few weeks to keep everyone informed.  

First of all, registration is open!  I would strongly encourage you to register as soon as possible.  We finished all of our IP/Mite grading two weeks ago and should have notified every one of his or her appropriate level.  If we have not, please let me know and we can guide you.  I cannot guarantee what the ice times will be, but I hope to have that soon.  It is a process that divides up time among all of the OHC programs, so there isn’t much I can do to speed the process up.  I could guess based on drafts that I’ve seen, but that would undoubtedly cause confusion, so I will wait.  For the sake of planning, I would ask that you sign up as soon as you are comfortable.  While it may not seem like it, it really does matter if we have just one or two more or less kids than our prediction.  

We will be having two “Welcome Back” skates coming up next month.  On September 21st from 6‐7 PM at   

High School Club Evaluation Skate The 2014 High School Club evaluation skate is right around the corner. If you are a first time High School player you will need to attend the OHC High School Club Evaluation Skate. The skate will be held on Sunday, September 28th from 6pm to 7 pm at Moylan IcePlex. All High School coaches will be there to evaluate new High School players. If you are unable to attend, please contact Mike Arnold at mickfireman@cox.net or Kevin Neuman at major1@cox.net

2014-15 OHC House Grading

Location: Moylan Ice Plex Date/Times: Saturday, 9/20 from 9 am to 1:30 pm Sunday, 9/21 from 7 am to 11:45 am As we get closer to the start of the season, check the website for more information on when you age group will hit the ice.

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USA Hockey Coaching Education Level 4 Clinic

Schaumburg, IL

Dates: Saturday, 9/27/14, 9 am to 6 pm Sunday, 9/28/14, 8:30 am to 2 pm

Location: Renaissance Hotel 1551 N Thoreau Dr Schaumburg, IL 800-468-3571 Prerequisite: Level 3 completion

All registration is done at www.usahockey.com under the coaches section. Search for Level 4 clinics.

Any questions please contact USA Hockey Central District Coach in Chief Doug Dietz.

Upcoming Local Coaching Clinics

Level 1 – September 21st Level 2 – September 27th Level 3 – September 28th

These clinics will be held at the Sidner Ice Arena (Fremont YMCA): 1558 E Military Ave, Fremont NE, 68025. 402-753-0200. www.fremonticearena.com

Clinics will begin promptly at 9 am with check in at 8:30 am. Lunch is NOT provided. There will be an on ice session in the morning so please bring your skates, helmet, stick and gloves. For questions, please contact CEP Coordinator Rick Murcek at rick.murcek@yahoo.com or 402-740-9200.

These clinics have been posted on USA Hockey National Home.

There are plan to have another Level 1 in Lincoln, as well as, Kearney. Then likely another Level 2 in Lincoln.

OJL High School needs you! If you are a parent of an OJL High School player and would like to help with the 2014-2015 Steering Committee, we would like to hear from you. Please contact Michael Hughes if you are interested. We have plenty that needs to be done and could use all the help we can get.

Perform the National Anthem At a Jr Lancer’s High School Game Have you always dreamed of performing the National Anthem in from of hundreds of roaring fans before a hockey game? Then the Omaha Junior Lancers want to hear you sing! The Junior Lancers are currently searching for National Anthem singers for the 2014-2015 season that starts November 1, 2014. To be a part of the Junior Lancers action, email the following items to Liz Alexander, the Junior Lancers National Anthem/High School Coordinator.

1) A headshot for filing purposes, 2) A resume outlining your singing or 

performance history, 3) An audio or video file that can be attached 

to an email or an internet link to a previous performance; if you don’t have an audio file an audition may be necessary. 

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IP/Mite Report continued…  Moylan, we will host all IP players and their families for an open skate.  Members of the OHC Board, coaches, and others will be available to answer any questions you may have about the program.  We will also be distributing rental equipment and are pulling together plans for other families to sell used equipment to those who are interested.  We will repeat the process on September 28th for Mite families.  Again, this will be from 6‐7 PM at Moylan.  We look forward to seeing you there!  

Second, let me make some comments about IP.  This year we will again be following the ADM model and developing our kids through the USA Hockey Red, White, and Blue practice structure.  With each of the kids on the ice for about 2 hours a week, our number one goal is skill development.  We want all of our players to progress appropriately through the skills portion of IP so that they can quickly join their age‐appropriate playing level.  That said, I hope that we will have enough coaches to split all of the kids into a team structure and implement some regular game play.  We want kids to be comfortable skating, handling a puck, and figuring out the game.  While it’s not our number one goal, we hope to introduce 3‐on‐3, no goalie game play by the end of the year.  

Next, I want to make some comment about the Mite program.  We will pull all of our Mite players into a single league this year, eliminating the Major/Minor split.  We will have kids graded during the first two weeks of the season and then put together teams that allow kids to play against similarly skilled players.  All of our gameplay will be 4‐on‐4 with a goalie.  We encourage all of our players to try the goalie position and hopefully we will find some players who fall in love with the position.  Right now, I’m working to try to put together the best possible schedule to balance team time, skill development, and game play.  As the ice schedule gets set, I will let you know how this develops.  

Our Mite Select program will be modified slightly this year.  In keeping with USA Hockey policy, we will only play cross‐ice games at the Select level.  The number of teams will be determined based on the interest we have from players and the evaluation of our coaches to determine the numbers of interested players capable of performing at a Select level.  We will hold these evaluations – “tryouts” if you prefer – as part of our overall evaluation process the first two weeks of the season.   If you are interested in playing Select, please keep in mind that this is a special commitment, above and beyond the House program. You will be required to pay an additional fee on the order of $350 to $400, attend additional Select practices, and commit to playing with the team in special events (this includes “friendlies” and four to five tournaments that are up to 3 or 3 and a half hours away.  Please let me know at OHCIPMiteDirector@gmail.com if you’d like to be considered for the Mite Select program.  We will be sending more info on the program shortly.  

Finally, we are still looking for more volunteers.  We need help organizing and running our two tournaments, coordinating our conferences this year, and managing our select teams.  We will also need team managers for all of our levels.  Please know, we will train you on any position you agree to take.  Our program cannot run without volunteers and, even if you’re new to hockey, if you’re willing to donate some time, we can use you!  Again, please email me at OHCIPMiteDirector@gmail.com if you can help.  

As always, if there are any questions I can answer, please let me know.   

Kyle Salem OHC IP/Mite Director∞ 

Zero Tolerance Reminder:

As the Midwest Hockey League strives to achieve a safe and fun environment for our athletes, USA Hockey helps us understand the effect of our behavior. We request that all coaches, parents, and players please take a moment to review USA Hockey's power point presentation regarding their Zero Tolerance Policy.

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Peewee & Squirt Select C Tryouts We have received our ice time for tryouts and they are as follows:

Squirt Tryout: Sept. 16, 2014 at 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm at Moylan Iceplex.

Peewee Tryout: Sept. 18, 2014 at 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm at Moylan Iceplex. (Bantam Select C Tryouts will be announced at a later date)

A team comprised of Peewee players and a team of Squirt players will be play in the Midwest as a Select team. In an effort to improve player development and retention, the Omaha Hockey Club has decided to implement a one-year pilot program where, contrary to past years, players on these team will not disband and play on several different Peewee or Squirt house teams, but rather stay together as a team for the entire season. The hope is that this will improve both the development of both Select and Non-Select players. Select players should benefit from a higher level of competition and consistent coaching (instead of going back and forth between their Select and House coaches). Non-Select players should benefit by getting more “touches” in House games and coaching more tailored to their skill level and development. At the end of this season, the Club will review the results of this pilot program and decide the future of the pilot program from there. To increase the level of competition for the Select teams, the Squirts Select will “play-up” and participate in the Peewee House League as a House Team and the Peewee Select will participate in the Bantam House League as a House team. They will practice together as a team just as all other Peewee and Bantam House teams practice and additionally once a week as a Select team. This will roughly equal the same amount of practices and games as last year’s select team/house schedule. In other words, players would expect one night a week of full ice practice (select funded) and two practices/games on weekends (OHC House funded) when not competing in tournaments. At minimum these teams will play the 3 Midwest League weekends and the Spring Joust. The teams could possibly play in one or two additional tournaments as long as the tournaments to not interfere with the OHC House schedule. This is the way Select teams have competed in the past years, so no change here. There will be a NO CHECKING rule in games between the Peewee Select and the Bantam House teams. As for the Bantam Select C team, they will play the traditional model of Select. They will play Select but return to their respective house teams in Bantam House as Select player/teams have done previously in the past.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Chad Wilson

OHC Squirt-Bantam House Director

IP & MITE WELCOME SKATESAll IP and Mite Families are invited to attend a family skate and learn more about our programs. The OHC Board, coaches, and other volunteers will be present to answer questions and welcome you to the program. Bring your family, we’ll supply the ice, learn about the program and enjoy a wonderful hour of free skating.

IP FAMILIES – 9/21 (6-7 PM)@ Moylan Iceplex – Tranquility Park

MITE FAMILIES – 9/28 (6-7 PM)@ Moylan Iceplex – Tranquility Park

*Any families with used equipment to sell are invited to come and offer their equipment on either weekend. As you grow out of it, this is a great way to recycle your gear and help someone else get a great deal.