Alexandria Tournament: Dec 28 and 29 2013

Coach Joe Kelly invites all MN Special Hockey teams to the 2nd Annual Alexandria Tournament taking place Saturday, December 28th and Sunday December 29th.

I highly recommend coming as I can personally say this event was the highlight for me last season. If you decide to come here’s what you need to know: 

• Location is Runestone Community Center and Ice Arena located at 802 3rd Ave W, Alexandria, MN 56308. Phone: 320-763-4466.
• We have two hours of ice reserved both days from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM.
• The play will be “Jamboree” style which means players will be grouped by ability level and not by their home teams.
• For those who want to spend the night we have reserved a block of 20 rooms at the Holiday Inn in Alexandria. Call the hotel at 320-763-6577 and ask for the “MN Special Hockey” block. You will then receive the discounted rate. Very important... the reservation deadline is Friday, December 6th. Any unclaimed rooms will go back to general inventory after that date. Rates are 109.99 standard rooms with poolside costing an addition $20.00.
• We will not be providing transportation (a bus) to this event.
• Please let Joe Kelly know if you will be attending this event at jkelly@schererbros.com. Joe will also be able to answer any questions you might have.

Update 12/27/2013

• Please be dressed and ready to go at least 15 minutes before the 12:00 PM game time so we can assign players to the teams and put on the penny jerseys.
• We are expecting to have two levels (so four teams) playing, rotating every 20 minutes for three games at each level over 2 hours -- so six games Saturday and six Sunday. We may mix things up as needed depending on who shows up.

Shock Doctor to donate mouth guards (first practice)

Message from Tom Schuneman (dad/board member/volunteer):

... Shock Doctor, the leading company in protection products for athletes and the manufacture of the #1 mouthguard in the world, has come forward with a generous offer of sponsorship to MN Special Hockey. They will be providing each of our athletes a Shock Doctor String Backpack gift bag! Each gift bag will include a Shock Doctor Mouthguard and an Anti-Microbial Mouthguard carrying case! I have seen the string backpacks and they are very cool. This is a very generous gift that I am sure our athletes will be excited to get. All thanks to the Shock Doctor company!

We have a limited number of gift bags, but expect that all of our registered players will be able to receive one at their first practice. Because these bags need to be organized and distributed, all players must be registered by Sunday, Nov. 4th to receive one. MN Special Hockey registrations received after Nov. 4th will not likely receive this cool and generous gift from Shock Doctor.

Eagles: First Practice is with Polars (Blaine) Nov 10

Our first practice is with Polars on Nov 10, Blaine Super Rink 7 from 4:50pm CST - 5:50pm. [1]

We are doing pretty well on registration but if you haven't registered yet and are interested please let me know (jfaughnan@gmail.com). This year Nick U will be coaching!

Our calendar is up to date [2] with our games and practices. We will be playing and practicing out of Bielenberg arena. We've had problems in the past with that arena canceling our practices, John F will call ahead to confirm for each event there.

The Alexandria tournament is Dec 28/29. Jan 4 is a special event with Minnehaha Boys High School hockey. Our season ends March 2nd. March 15/16 is the Madison Tournament and the USA Disabled Hockey Festival is April 10-13. This year it will be in Marlborough Massachusetts.

Volunteers: Please complete the USA Hockey portion of the registration and the MN Background Check Form before the season begins. (thanks!)

See you all soon!

[1] http://www.mnspecialhockey.org/event/show/57891781

[2] http://www.mnspecialhockey.org/page/show/990919-eagles-2013-2014-

The 2013-2014 Calendars are online

Our team calendars are online -- for example, this is the Eagles calendar. The first practices are Nov 10 (all day event, more details soon I expect).

The first Eagles game is Dec 8.

For all calendars: http://www.mnspecialhockey.org/page/show/196809-calendar

Gopher hockey skate drills - Nov 2, Mariucci RSVP by 10/25.

The Men's Gopher Hockey Team and the Hendrickson Foundation have invited us back! We will again skate drills, skate around, and the Gophers will sign autographs.

The event is Saturday, November 2 from 11-12:30pm at Mariucci.

Please RSVP your interest by Friday, October 25 to jocashin@comcast.net. We will then contact everyone by Sunday October 27 with who is able to participate. 

As usual priority will be given to those who volunteer to help out with other events throughout the year and to those who were not a part of this event last year. However we are able to accommodate many skaters, so please express your interest if you are interested!

You must be registered for the MN Special Hockey 2013-2014 season to participate.