Seasons end, Protect the Net and Maryland Tournament

From the desk of Susie Miller …

Protect the Net for Youth Hockey

Tonight MN Special Hockey is the American Family “Protect the Net for Youth Hockey” beneficiary. For every save the Wild goalie makes $10 will be put aside for our program. While I hope the Wild win, I hope the Oilers get a lot of shots and I hope that Josh Harding steps up and makes the saves for MN Special Hockey.

Maryland

We are close to having enough players attend. Bus would be about $175 per person. Hotel $119 per night (3 nights).

We would provide $250 per player towards the trip (between special hockey and mn hockey).

The bus would transport us while we there, we could do a Cherry Blossom Tour, or other exciting events throughout Maryland. We are planning to host the tournament in Blaine in 2011, it would be great if we could send a team out there before! Please contact Susie at susiemiller35@gmail.com with any questions.

Additional thoughts form Susie Miller

We are entering the final months of our season, I have a few thoughts for those newer players who have not been with us the whole time. The 2009-2010 season is only our 4th Season as an association. In the past 4 years we have come a long way.

Administrative: Created teams including logos/jerseys, schedules, secured ice (which was one of our biggest challenges in the beginning).

Marketing: We are on the radar of most News stations (local cable and statewide). We have received publicity in the Star Tribune, many articles in Lets Play Hockey, and also a few local newspapers. We have been receiving more and more referrals from Special Education teachers and departments.

Fundraising: MN Special Hockey has developed amazing partnerships with a few incredible organizations that have helped us raise enough money to provide some security to the future of our program. As well as allow us to continue to offer our program without raising fees since our start up.

Relationships: We now have a relationship with MN Hockey and USA Hockey. MN Hockey has helped us create a relationship with the MN Wild, which in turn has helped us in fundraising and more fame as a program.

We are headed in the right direction, but still have a long way to go. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we experience growing pains and develop the program we know will be successful.