Arizona Hockey Union
Six Players Recognized for Program Loyalty S
AHU sets itself apart by rewarding families for their commitment to the Knights By Shane Dale
ix outstanding Arizona Hockey Union (AHU) players
were recognized last month for their terrific play in an AHU uniform and their loyalty to the organization. Ryan Hedgecoke,Marshall
Jones, Jr., Auston Palumbo,
Colin Quinn, Alexander Shupe andRyan Story - all 1996-born players - were the first six to be so honored by AHU. “We felt that a loyalty club would further dif-
ferentiate the Union from other associations by re- warding those families that continue playing for the club - beginning in Mites through Midgets - with an added contract incentive,” said AHU board member Stacy Shupe. “In addition, we induct winners into the yearly class and profile them on our Web site. “We’re excited about implementing the first loy-
alty club in the Valley, and look forward to induct- ing many more in the coming years.” All six inductees also received a 5-percent credit
to their player contract as a reward for their loyalty to the program, Shupe said.
Here is a rundown of the winners: . Hedgecoke began his travel hockey career with
AHU in the 2004-05 season. He won a state cham- pionship with his Squirt B squad, where he was
named his team’s top defender. . Jones became a Mite in 2004-05, and is spend-
ing this season as a member of AHU’s 16U travel team. He also plays hockey for Gilbert Highland High School, and he plays on the high school foot-
ball team, too. . Palumbo began his hockey career as a Mite in
a house league at Polar Ice-Chandler. He received his Bantam A club’s Sportsmanship Award for the
2010-11 season. . In his second year with his Pee Wee AA team,
Quinn’s team won the state and regional champion- ships, and earned a bronze medal at nationals. He went on to earn another state championship and nationals berth with his Bantam AA squad, where
he was named team MVP. . In the 2010-11 season, Shupe played for AHU’s
Bantam A squad, where he won the coveted Coach Award, earned by players who display terrific on- and off-ice behavior.
win - in the championship contest. The Bantam AAs won a Desert Youth Hockey
Association-hosted Labor Day Weekend showcase to open their season. AHU’s 16 AAA, Pee Wee AA and Bantam AA
teams made impressive runs of their own at the Ice Breaker. The 16 AAA team suffered a narrow 5-3 defeat at the hands of Mission in its division’s cham- pionship game, while the Pee Wee and Bantam squads advanced to the semifinals of their respec- tive divisions. The Pee Wee team lost a heartbreak- ing 4-3 game against the Jr. Coyotes in the semis. In other AHU action in the Ice Breaker Invita- tional, the 16 AA team finished the weekend 2-2 in
. Last season, Story was named assistant captain
of his Bantam AA team, and he received the Sports- manship Award for his club en route to a state championship. His team went on to represent the state at nationals.
Bantam AA Majors start season strong AHU’s Bantam AA Major squad opened its 2011-
12 campaign in flawless fashion, earning back-to- back tournament sweeps. The team swept through its second straight tour-
nament at the Ice Breaker Invitational, played Sept. 23-25 at various Valley locations, with a 5-0 record, outscoring its opponents 34-5. It posted round-robin wins over the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes, Arizona Runners and Mission Arizona Red before earning a 7-1 semi- final win over the Runners and notching another victory over Mission Red - a decisive 3-0 shutout
2011 Ice Breaker Invitational Champions
Midget 18 AA: California Wave Midget 16 AAA: Mission Arizona Red Midget 16 AA: San Diego Gulls
Bantam AA: Arizona Hockey Union Knights Major Pee Wee AA: Mission Arizona Red
its division, while the Midget 16 AAA squad went 1-3.
New Southwest league takes shape The announcement that the long-standing
Sonoran Youth Hockey League (SYHL) wouldn’t operate for the 2011-12 season “sent shockwaves” through the AHU squads that had planned on play- ing a 20-game season within the league, along with the El Paso Youth Hockey Association that had left its Dallas-based league to join the SYHL, said AHU presidentGina Quinn. But instead of giving up, Quinn and the El Paso
squad combined its efforts to create a new associa- tion: the Southwest Independent Hockey Coopera- tive (SIHC). “Tom Herman of El Paso contacted AHU, and
together we started a grassroots effort to put togeth- er a cooperative approach to organize a league for the Pee Wee A and B, Bantam A and B and Midget Minor teams for the 2011-12 season,” she said. The new AA/AAA landscape didn’t leave enough
squads in the Phoenix area for viable A and B divi- sions at the Pee Wee, Bantam and Midget Minor levels, but by reaching out to the Las Vegas Wran- glers and New Mexico youth hockey associations, along with the Arizona Runners and Mission pro- grams in the West Valley, Quinn and Herman were able to recruit nine Pee Wee teams, seven Bantam teams and five Midget Minor teams to give the kids enough competition. All of these teams will enjoy a 20-game season,
along with a Southwest Championship in March, Quinn said. The Pee Wee and Bantam squads will travel once - and the Midgets twice - to Las Vegas, New Mexico or El Paso for a four-game weekend series, and the Las Vegas and El Paso teams will makes 3-4 trips to the Valley for a four-game series on each trip. “The Polar Ice facilities have offered the group
ice slots that were initially set aside for the Sonoran League and these, along with other association ice, has been pooled together to host the local week- ends,” Quinn said. “The cooperative approach will help keep costs down and still provide the partici- pating teams with a full league schedule.” The new season will be in full swing this month,
with Bantam and Midget weekends in El Paso and Pee Wee and Bantam weekends in Phoenix.
Junior A team’s new era brings excitement By Rich Curuso
the team was ready to go. With all the prep complete, Phase 1 was
I
n tough times, we need things to lift our spirits and give us a sense of purpose. As we
entered into the 2011-12 hockey season, the ex- citement was building as we carefully prepared for the first practices and games for the newly- named Junior A team, the Phoenix Knights, of the Arizona Hockey Clubs. Just planning out the many details of this
newly formed Western States Hockey League Junior A team really started to create a buzz around the organization. The excitement con- tinued to build and, after weeks of preparation,
about to launch in the form of the team’s first games and road trip to Ogden, Utah, to take on the Mustangs. Arriving early on a Friday morn- ing, the team was preparing for its first game that evening, and the buzz back home was filled with anticipation of that first puck drop as Junior A Knights. This group of guys seemed to have a desire
to come together and get the season started on a strong note. As the weekend progressed, it was clear our Knights have talent, and winning could be a common occurrence. After winning
the series, 2-games-to-1, the Knights completed their first successful season games and headed home to Arizona. The Arizona Hockey Clubs is extremely
proud to support this high-level hockey pro- gram, and hopes to build a strong foundation for the future of many talented, high-level hockey players right here in the Valley. For more information on the team, visit
ArizonaHockeyUnion.com and come on out to home games to support the Knights. Rich Caruso is a board member for the
Arizona Hockey Clubs and the assistant general manager of the Phoenix Knights Junior A team.
ArizonaHockeyUnion.com 8 magazine
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