SRIYHA players and parents,
Thanksgiving marks the close of the first half of the season. November was a very busy month for SRI and there are quite a few things of note. Of the 8 half season teams we had 6 of them qualified for playoffs. U16 Sirens, U18 C, U18 B, U18 A, U14B and U14 A all made it to the playoffs with U18 A and U14 A Jr. Rams teams taking home SCHL championships! U16 Sirens also participated in the first national bound playdown game in RI for girls’ hockey at that level marking a big step in our program’s development. U12 A traveled to Pennsylvania and won the OneHockey Hershey tournament title! In addition to travel teams The Boston Bruins Learn to Play program wrapped up successfully and our Learn to Skate, Learn to Play, and SRI House League kicked off their season. It’s great watching the future of SRI hockey take their first strides on the ice.
This time of year is also very special as many of our SRI players join for the first time or return to playing high school hockey. This step is a major milestone in our players’ hockey lives as the journey to representing their school. Many players started in our House League and they have grown over the years with hard work and dedication through our program to get to this point. SRI prides itself on providing the tools and the availability for all players to take this great step. We are thrilled to see a large representation of SRI players on the rosters for Tollgate/Pilgrim/Chariho Girls Co-Op, NK/SK/Narragansett Girls Co-Op, LaSalle Academy, The Prout School, SK/Westerly Boys Co-Op, Narragansett/Chariho Boys Co-Op, West Warwick/EWG Boys Co-Op, and North Kingstown. Also, a very special congratulations to our SRI Sirens Director Tom McCarthy for being named the new Head Coach of the NK/SK/Narragansett Girls Co-Op!
Best of luck to all our SRIYHA players in the second half of the season!
SRIYHA President
In our October update, the Rams had started off the season strong, with 8 teams in first or second of 14 divisions! We've kept it going through November and have 7 teams in first or second and two or three others within a few points of second! Keep on going, Rams!
SRIYHA and The Boston Bruins Foundation were very excited to grow the Bruins Academy Learn to Play presented by Pure Hockey in helping aspiring youth hockey players develop their skills. The 4 week program wrapped up in October and is expected to feed our own house program in developing many new Rams!
Look for upcoming information regarding SRI's 20th Anniversary Celebration - It promises to be a great time for the entire program! As more information trickles in, we'll be sure to share it, but for now, we can tell you to SAVE THE DATE of April 1st, 2023 for our 20th Anniversary Celebration! The event will be held at Quidnessett Country Club in North Kingstown.
In one of the early tournaments attended this year, the u12A Rams travelled down to Hersey, PA to take part in a OneHockey tournament. By all accounts, it was a very well run tournament and a good time was had by all, especially our Rams, who walked away with champions! WAY TO GO U12A!!!
For this month, I would like to highlight a simple drill that can help the goalie in your life with movement and positional awareness. As I've made the rounds at practice, I see a lot of goalies standing around as coaches explain drills, or while they are waiting for a shooting opportunity to develop.
Positional awareness is critical to successful goaltending, and good positional awareness requires excellent muscle memory and spatial awareness. This can be particularly challenging for young goalies who are growing rapidly both in size, strength and skill, so mastering these movements requires extensive repetition.
Much like experts say that it takes 10,000 shots to become a proficient shooter, it takes thousands of repetitions to develop muscle memory when moving around the crease. Unlike shooting, however, these repetitions are difficult to get at home, and so our goalies must make the most of their ice time by practicing this footwork during their downtime in practice. This also has the side benefit of improving conditioning and focus, and helping their muscles stay warm, reducing injuries.
Here is a simple drill that works the three basic movements (T-push, shuffle, C-cut), as well as movement around the crease, butterfly, and recovery on BOTH legs. I added some notes to stress key points of the drill. Review it with your goalie(s) and help them remember to run it once or twice from each side whenever they have a minute or two of downtime.
The goalie clinics are off to a fantastic start! Drills and skills for goalies monthly! If you know of anyone who wants to try some time in the crease, please reach out to me - they can try it at one of the SRI clinics and possibly play in one of our house league games to see if they like it.
The October Saves goalie challenge was a great success, with SRI Goalies Autumn Ogram, Meredith Mason, Veronica Sabatino and Cassie Smith raising over $1800 to fight cancer! Way to go girls and nice saves!! SRI is very proud of you!
Thanks so much to the parent volunteers and student coaches who have made our first few weeks so successful.
By the numbers: 149 kids, 35 parent volunteer coaches, 4 levels, 3 hours per day, 2 league divisions.
Scheduling Reminders: NO practice 12/24, 12/25 or 1/1. YES practice 12/31. Sunday games for L3-4 and L5-6 will start January 8th. Look for more details coming soon.
To vary competition this year, the L5-6 Division is looking to expand. Last year we had 3 teams and this year we are hoping to fill all 4 rosters. We are inviting travel players from Rams u10c, u10b, u12c and Sirens u12 white to register for L5-6 with discount code HOUSEOPP2022. We will also be looking to schedule scrimmages with Newport and Westerly house leagues if possible.
I’m looking forward to unveiling new jerseys for our teams. L5-6 will be the Mythical Division and L3-4 will be the Coastal Division...
Any questions? Contact Emily at manzem@gmail.com.
SCHL Selects is back for its 2nd season. The Selects tryouts have been completed and SRI is heavily represented in many of the Selects rosters - Congrats to all player and alternates from SRI! The 2010 Selects teams participated in their first 2022 tournament over Thanksgiving weekend, playing in the North American Fall Championships and acquitting themselves quite well against stiff AAA and AA competition.
Check out the new Rams colors CCM gloves! Get yours at Sandy Lane Sports!
The 2023 Golf Tournament is in the planning stages and we are scouting for locations and dates right now. More news to come!
The new SRI Goaltender Development program continues to work it's magic. Coach Jason is now attending group practices to work with the goalies on a more individual basis. As an organization, we are intent on providing all of SRI's goaltenders the goalie-specific training, drills and skills that they need to develop. Keep it up Coach Jason!
Be a better hockey parent with the American Hockey Parent Handbook from USA Hockey.
The Lake Placid International Youth Hockey Tournament will take place February 23rd - 26th, 2023. This is always a kid AND parent favorite and will fill up quickly, so make sure your head coaches are aware of the signups, which happen VERY soon! Last year, both the u12A and u10A teams won their divisions
The Hockey Academy runs tournaments at Waterville Valley all season long. They might not be the best (read: even) tournaments, but it's a great way to combine hockey with a family ski weekend!
Newport Christmas Classic returns this year from Dec 27th - 29th. Held at Portsmouth Abbey and St. Georges, this is a nice local option for teams from Mites to Bantams (u8-u14)
Connecticut Winter Classic - The NEW Winter Classic will be hosted by the gorgeous twin-rink facility at the Danbury Ice Arena in Danbury, CT, home to the Professional Federal Hockey League's Danbury Hat Tricks! The Winter Classic will play host to 60 teams from all over the country!
While we're discussing tournaments, sponsorships are a great way to offset some of the costs of playing travel hockey. Sponsorship funds can be used for tournament registration fees, tournament hotel costs, and other travel related costs including team meals. 100% of the money collected goes back to the team that collected it.
Now is the time to begin asking your employer or other local businesses for their support. We had several teams collect enough money last year to pay 100% of their tournament registration fees!
All sponsors receive recognition on our website and on social media. This is a great way for local businesses to help our young hockey players and, in return, get some great exposure to all our hockey families.
Please see our Sponsorships page for additional information.
Upcoming Goalie Clinics / Power Skating
SRI Newsletter - November 2022 - Issue 3
