Hockey News

September 2006

Coaching:

Our new head coach for the varsity hockey team is Matt Smith, father to Jake and long time coach of just about every age group. We welcome him to this position and pray that he has a great year leading our team to a winning year. Tom Ahlberg is once again the girls' varsity coach and we look forward to another year of challenging play for the girls. Tom will be assisted once again this year by Mark Raboin and Matt is currently in the process of looking for an assistant coach.

Registration

Registration and information night will be this coming Monday and Tuesday, September 18 & 19 at 7:00. Every player and family needs to be at this meeting. Helmet and Jersey distribution night will be announced at this meeting.

For those who did not register at the early registration day in August, the cost of registering is as follows:

Mini-mites and Mites $160

Squirts $275

Pee Wee $300

Bantam $325

Varsity $385

The usual equipment sale will also be going on for those who need bigger and better equipment. Anyone who can volunteer to help with this, please call Kim Jensen. Remember, helping set these things up count towards your volunteer hours.

Due to concerns with volunteer hours and jersey care, the board has decided to ask for a check, post dated to March 9, 2007, for $300 at registration.

Once your hours are done and you hand in your jersey, you will get the check back. If the hours are not done, the check will be cashed on March 9. You will not get your check back until you return your jersey(s). Portions of these checks will also be withheld if equipment is returned in bad condition. In other words, take care of your jersey and helmet. Jerseys can be worn for game days by the varsity girls and boys, but NOT for Bantam on down. Jerseys are to be worn ONLY in games for these younger players.

Goalie Camp Discount

For those who took advantage of the Goalie camp discount, please bring receipts to registration night. Remember that this was for goalies only, and the camp should at least have a section specifically for goalies that the child attended.

Volunteer Hours

Some early volunteer hours for this next year are available. Helping set up and clean up for registration night is one way of getting some volunteer hours. Also, boards will need to be set up and anyone who wants to help can do so. We have a spot in the Turkey Day parade as well. Our number is 45 and it is asked that we meet at number 45 fifteen minutes before the parade starts. Also, parents are especially being asked to help out with this. We are not sure if Kim Jensen and Jim Kremer can participate this year, so any parents who can would be very appreciated. Kids, bring your roller blades and tournament shirts and lets show Worthington how much fun hockey is.

Finally, Friday, September 22 the WHA will host the tailgater at the WHS football game. Contact Kim Jensen if you can help with any of these items at 376-5670.

Mini-camps

There is an opportunity to attend a hockey mini-camp at the Luverne arena on September 23. Coaches have a time all their own starting at 2:30, then Squirts and Pee Wees are asked to go 3:30-7:30 p.m. and the Bantam and High School players are asked to go from 5:00-9:00 p.m. This is a chance to get our hockey skills moving in the right direction.

Board Notes

Four new members have been added to the WHA Board of Directors. We would like to welcome them to the board and look forward to another great year for the association. Previous board members are Dr. Greg Clark, Kim Jensen, Becky Meester, Deb Olsen, Jim Kremer, Andy Johnson, Dayna Vonholdt, Jeff Berger, Scott Oberloh, and the new board members are Jodi Schroeder, Kris Hohensee, Doug Jensen, and Trisha Heidebrink. Welcome new board members.

Fundraising

The extra amount needed to meet our goals has dropped from roughly $19,500 to $12,500 thanks to the coaches for the varsity teams and some funds being provided by the city of Worthington. These are funds needed besides the calendars to meet our responsibilities. To get us thinking about fundraising, remember that the Hy-Vee cards give us a percentage back from shopping at Hy-Vee. The current plan is to take orders on Mondays when the whole organization will be in the arena and then pick them up on Thursdays.

If every family spent $100 a week with these cards to get the groceries they need anyway, we could make $8,000 over the course of the year.

Last year we had two Schwann's fundraisers in which 13 families helped raise almost $1300. We will be having another one of these fundraisers in January, and once again, if every family helped we could raise a lot of money in a little time.

We are also looking for some new helpers this year. Michelle Anderson has informed the board that this will be her last year heading up the Hy-Vee cards. We need someone who will be at the arena on Mondays and Thursdays to organize the ordering and distributing of these cards.

The fundraising committee is currently looking at having a golf tournament

next summer and a pancake feed sometime this year. Volunteers will be

needed for both. Let's all pull together and do the best we can to raise those needed funds. There are also ideas for having a Gopher game trip and a casino trip sometime this year.