February 1, 2006 Mission Statement The Association Board of directors recently discussed the importance of a league mission statement to convey a clear message of our intents and values. Krista Burkel authored and submitted the Mission Statement to the board. After input from the board a Mission Statement was agreed upon by the board The RWAHA Mission Statement is as follows, The mission of the RWAHA is to develop skilled hockey players. While developing these skills, we emphasize fun, team work, participation to the best of each player s ability while learning to stay humble and learn good sportsmanship with each victory and defeat. In the process, we strive to foster healthy, competitive attitudes while mentoring our youth to be good athletes as well as good citizens. WWW.RWAHA.COM The RWAHA website has been a great resource for players, parents and coaches to keep up to date with important dates and information. Because things are always evolving it is a good idea to check the site regularly for updates. Suggestions for the website are always welcome. If you have an idea for it please email it to rwaha@pressenter.com Spring and Summer Leagues There are a few metro area Spring and Summer leagues offered for those skaters who just can t get enough ice time. If you are interested in participating individually or putting a team together please contact Jack Trittin at 388-1783 or your team coach. Showcase teams are already being put together for spring 2006. Letter from the President I hope everyone had a nice holiday season. We are now well into the hockey season with practices, games and scrimmages going on at both arenas. It has been fun to see all of the activity at the arena. Please thank your team managers for helping to organize all of the paperwork that is needed in order to register your team for play and to keep the teams organized with the many changes that occur over the year. They are a very important part of the success of the team. Thank you to all the coaches as well with a special thank you to those who do not have a child playing in the association. We have not heard anything more about the potential redistricting proposal that is being proposed at Minnesota Hockey. We have not heard anything about a time frame for this to get out of committee. We have formed a small committee to look at creating a Mission statement for the hockey association. Krista Burkel, chairperson, Al Schmidt, Teri Johnson and Sarah Edstrom brought forward a proposals at the last board meeting. We will be discussing this at the next board meeting on February 6 and voting on it. Please give your comments or ideas to one of these members or any other board member and they will forward them to the committee. We are very interested in your ideas about what we want the hockey association to be promoting. Jack Trittin and the other board members have been working hard on team sponsorships and fund-raising in order to keep the association strong. We have raised about $4000 more then last year so far. If you have any ideas or contacts please notify Jack Trittin. Jack Trittin has been voted in as Vice President effective immediately for Mike Partington who resigned from that position. Mike will remain on the board as an active member, but did not feel he could continue the time commitment to be President for next year. The next few months will again be busy as the teams get into their league schedules and scrimmages. Have a great year and I will see you at the rink!! Mike Giorgi President, Red Wing Amateur Hockey Association
TEAM UPDATES Mini-Mites We had an overwhelming turnout for the Mini-Mite program this year. Head Coach Jason Swanson has done a fantastic job coaching over thirty players on the ice during any given practice. The players have come a long way developing skating, stick handling, passing and shooting skills. The Mini s are looking forward to playing a few organized scrimmages with other community teams later this season. Thanks to all of the parents and coaches who have helped with the program this year. We are confident we will represent Red Wing well in our upcoming games. 10 and Under Girls The Girls 10U season has been terrific so far. The team is young with a few mite move-ups and 7 players new to hockey. The girls are working very hard and improving every time they hit the ice. They have lost a few and won a few, but are learning a lot about the game of hockey and are having a great time. The team took home a consolation championship at its first tournament in Waseca over the weekend of December 3 and 4. They are also playing in a home tournament in February. The 10U girls team includes: Ashley Alford, Madeline Flack, Katelyn Hadler, Alexis Howard, Hannah Walch, Michaela Ward, Claire Zenzen, Hailee Johnson, Carly Morada, Kayla Oberding, Madary Staley, Emily Stegora, Lexi Stewart, and Regan McGough. The team is coached by Mike Ward, Steve Stegora, and Bob Oberding. 12 and Under Girls Mites The Mites have traveled down a new road by hosting and traveling to several scrimmages this year. The Mites have competed very well against teams that have played many organized games together over the past couple of years. Head Coach Steve Hanson has done an outstanding job developing the fundamental skills of the game while also teaching the kids to play all of the positions on a hockey team. The skaters were measured and timed in many drills set by state standards allowing us to compare our Mites with others around the state. The tests will also be done toward the end of the season to objectively measure the players skill improvement. We are very proud of our skaters who have worked very hard this year. Thanks to the Wingers We would like to extend a special thanks to George Nemanich and the Winger team members for helping with Association teams at all levels. The Wingers have had several players help out at all levels to enhance our practices. The players were not compensated for their time and their assistance was greatly appreciated. Thank you for not only helping teach skillful hockey but for displaying sportsmanship and the importance of community service. Hopefully what comes around goes around for the players that helped out. It has been a tremendous year of success for the U12 girls. Despite being younger and smaller than most of their opponents the Girls are in First place within District 8. Additionally, they have won a tournament and placed second in another. Red Wing will be hosting the Girls U12 District 8, playoffs in February. With continued hard work the team has put themselves in an excellent position to go deep into the playoffs. A special note of recognition needs to go to the phenomenal goaltending of Quinn McGough and Lisa Nibbe. Excellent leadership has specifically been provided by second year players, Annie Gorman and Brianna Sigler. Moving out of the program and into varsity next year will be: Taylor Burke, Deanna Schmitz, Quinn McGough, Annie Gorman and Brianna Sigler. We are confident that they will bring a strong work ethic to the next level, and are thankful for their contribution to Red Wing Girls Hockey. Equipment Issues Those players who need or have extra equipment may contact Jamie Ramsted to address any equipment issues. You may call Jamie at 388-5718 or email him at jamieramstad@msn.com.
B Bantams The Red Wing B Bantams won their home tournament the weekend of Dec. 17-18 at Prairie Island Arena. The B Bantams are coached by Greg Simon, Jay Ryan, Dan Anderson and Mike Burkel. On Saturday morning Red Wing defeated Waconia by a scored of 4-2, later that day, they beat a team from Holy Family Academy by a score of 5-2. On Sunday, the championship game put Red Wing against a very large (18 player) squad from St. Louis Park. Red Wing won the championship with a score of 6-1. 2 weeks prior to this, Red Wing traveled to Buffalo for a tournament where they took second place losing the championship in overtime to a team from Orono. In this tournament they faced teams from Moose Lake and Little Falls. They are traveling the weekend of Jan 14 th & 15 th to Proctor, MN for their final tournament of the year. The team consists of 11 players. The forwards are Dan Horvat, David Rehder, Nic Swanson, Austin Anderson, Kas Mapel and Jared Nelson. Defensemen consist of Henry Jaeger, Jon Barry, Alex Hardyman and Evan Burkel. Abe Rohan is the goalie. Red Wing is 5-4-2 in League play and 10-5-2 overall. This team has a lot of heart as it looks forward to the remainder of the season, likely with only 9 skaters as Jared Nelson may have suffered a season ending injury during a league game on January 7 th. We wish Jared a speedy recovery. B Squirts The B Squirts are having a fun season while improving with every game and every practice. The highlights of our season so far have been starting out the year defeating Dakota County. We battled a good Woodbury team on Friday, January 6, 2006 losing 4-1. On Saturday, January 7, 2006, we played our best all-around game defeating Northfield 4-1. Our first tournament will be in Benson, MN on January 7-8, 2006. The 13 members of the 2006 Red Wing B Squirt Hockey team are Forwards: Tucker Christenson, Mitchel Ramstad, Evan Morem, Jamie Nevitt, Aiden Winn, Tyler Rea, Zach Richards Aaron Wildenborg. Defensivemen: Dixon Irwin, Nate Fitzsimmons, Miles Edstrom and Kyle LaPorte. In goal is Jack Burkel. Our Head Coach is Jason Hart, Assisted by Jamie Ramstad and Mike Burkel. A Squirts Passionate, respectful, fun-loving, kids who love to play hockey! That s our A-Squirt hockey team for this season! Our team has three returning players, Taylor Hanson, Tom Schmidt, and Jake Exner. They ve provided leadership and strength to battle our competitive schedule. Alex Rezansoff, Michael Friedrich, Lou Mensing, and Joe Partington combine for offensive play, while Nick Sammon, Jack Gorman, Michael Bigelbach and Anthony Kimmes put forth a strong defense. Preston Blaney helps Jake hold down the net. The team placed first at the New Ulm Tournament in December and second during the Jesse James tournament in Northfield. The teams overall record is 9 wins, 5 losses, and 2 ties. Hats off to Grant Rezansoff and Dave Bigelbach who demonstrate exceptional coaching ethics and provide a great experience for our kids! A PeeWees The A PeeWees have found it tough going in the very competitive District 8. Although we don t have many wins, the team continues to keep a positive attitude and works hard every game. Much credit goes to the coaches Nate Anderson and Steve O Borsky. The team is learning to play at the highest speed of this level of youth hockey. We competed in the First Test of The Best tournament in Eden Prairie over the Thanksgiving weekend. We played the # 1 team in the state, Eden Prairie, # 9 ranked Centennial, and #10 ranked Maple Grove in our three games. It was an honor to see the skill and speed of these teams and to be able to say we have skated against the best. Team members include: Sam Amendolar, Mike Stegora, Tyler Grove, Kyle Pavlak, Tyler LaPorte, Ryan Rehder, Jake O Borsky, Jack Strusz, Brian Hovland, Parker Riegelman, Marcus Dodge, Justin Lunde, Tanner Borgen, Spencer Sullivan, Hunter Kuyath, Dakota Taylor, Marcus Noesen, James Giorgi and Dayton Johnson. Email Database During the season we sometimes have information we need to get to parents as well as coaches in a timely manner. To be able to send information quickly and efficiently we have started using emailing as an efficient way to send updated information fast. We will actually begin emailing our newsletter from this issue forward. There were many parents who chose not to include email addresses as a way to be contacted regarding Association and team information. If you do not believe we have your email address and would like to be informed about upcoming issues via email, please email your address with player information including the team they play for to Jack Trittin at the following email address. jackmtrittin@aol.com. If you are in our email database we ask that you please check your email often for upcoming information. You will not be contacted for solicitation purposes and our database will not be sold or given to other organizations.