Happy Hockey Weekend Across America!! - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

nickerjones · 02-18-2011, 06:28 AM

USA hockey is sponsoring Hockey Weekend Across America. Today is wear your favorite jersey day. I am wearing my Iggy jersey. I know its a little odd to be wearing a Canadian Jersey for the HWAA but hey, it is my favorite. I know tomorrow in Oklahoma I am volunteering at the rink as USA hockey is having a free hockey clinic w/ bring your friend to the rink day for the little guys. My understanding is I will be setting up drills so the little guys can practice. This is quite funny since I probably need more practice than they do.

Yes, It might be a little cheesy and we might have stolen the idea from Canada ( like you guys stole Thanksgiving

) but I am glad they are trying to promote the sport more !

Happy Hockey Weekend across America !

WilsonFourTwo · 02-18-2011, 08:11 AM

That's pretty cool - I hadn't heard about that before.

Wear the jersey with pride, and a round of applause for volunteering at the rink. No joke, it's guys like you that are going to grow this sport - THANKS!

transplant99 · 02-18-2011, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickerjones

USA hockey is sponsoring Hockey Weekend Across America. Today is wear your favorite jersey day. I am wearing my Iggy jersey. I know its a little odd to be wearing a Canadian Jersey for the HWAA but hey, it is my favorite. I know tomorrow in Oklahoma I am volunteering at the rink as USA hockey is having a free hockey clinic w/ bring your friend to the rink day for the little guys. My understanding is I will be setting up drills so the little guys can practice. This is quite funny since I probably need more practice than they do.

Yes, It might be a little cheesy and we might have stolen the idea from Canada ( like you guys stole Thanksgiving

) but I am glad they are trying to promote the sport more !

Happy Hockey Weekend across America !

From Wiki...

Quote:

In the year 1578, Frobisher held a formal ceremony in Newfoundland to give thanks for surviving the long journey.[5] Years later, the tradition of a feast would continue as more settlers began to arrive to the Canadian colonies.[6]

Quote:

The initial thanksgiving observance at Virginia in 1619 was prompted by the colonists' leaders to give thanks to God on the anniversary of the settlement

But yeah...good wekend for hockey in the US.

On Sunday NBC is showing a double-header then Versus picks up the Classic that night.

nickerjones · 02-18-2011, 09:50 AM

Wiki Lies !

btw I might be the only person in Oklahoma wearing a jersey today. The good ole Flaming C , I just got told " I didnt know Chicago had a jersey that looked like that."

:::Le Sigh:::

shermanator · 02-18-2011, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by transplant99

pwnage

Also, we kicked your ass in 1812!

But glad to see something like this happening. Here's hoping it catches on.

valo403 · 02-18-2011, 09:56 AM

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/sp...r=1&ref=sports

An interesting read about the growth of the game in the US.

Quote:

In the Southeast, there were 4,462 registered players in 1990-91; in 2009-10, there were 39,807. There was similar growth in the Pacific and Rocky Mountain regions.

Quote:

Since USA Hockey began keeping registration statistics in 1998-99, North Carolina has had the highest per capita rate of hockey growth at 112 percent, followed by Georgia (86 percent), Tennessee (80), Florida (58), Kentucky (57), Virginia (55) and Texas (49).

CofR · 02-18-2011, 10:04 AM

This is a really cool idea to grow the game in America... Hope all our American friends here have a great weekend!

Thanks a lot nickerjones for volunteering tomorrow and doing your part to help the sport grow!!!!

nickerjones · 02-18-2011, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shermanator

Also, we kicked your ass in 1812!

But glad to see something like this happening. Here's hoping it catches on.

Who kicked our Ass? Kinda like France saying they won WW2 !

If your American or Canadian for that matter and you want to help grow the game you should check out RBC's grant. https://grants.rbcplayhockey.com/guidelines_EN.php . I am working on application for the Sept deadline and would love to get the grant to further implement hockey into Oklahoma. Hockey is expensive and I believe thats what is holding a lot of people back here in OK. For my teams winter season , I am working on an idea to get someone who has never played but loves the game ( and wants to try it out) outfitted in gear and put on our teams roster ( free of charge) . I am trying to get our league to implement this leaguewide by having a player like this on every team. I have old gear I have collected from CP donations, that I got back when my players upgraded their set up that could outfit a couple new players.

transplant99 · 02-18-2011, 10:45 AM

Yeah myself and very good friend (former pro player) have been fighting with the city here, fruitlessly I may add, to allow ice in the arena for a a lot longer than they currently do. As it stands there is not enough time to implement a proper season and grow the game from grassroots. Nothing here will change until a new arena is built however.

But when you get into the Raleigh area, its really apparent that the game has taken hold. Obviously hockey is an "elitist" sport in terms of cost in comparison to other sports which really hampers getting the best athletes to turn to it at times.

The same can be seen in many other areas as well. Nashville has really done well growing the game as an example. Dallas as well. And most certainly the California teams although hockey has a long history there in regards to the Kings.

It will never ever be the number 1 sport in the USA overall, but that is irrelevant. It's OK to just grow the game and see players from all over the US making it to the big time. Thats how you keep the NHL fresh as well. Lots of games this weekend all over the place, and hopefully this thing just keeps getting bigger and better every year.

nickerjones · 02-20-2011, 09:58 AM

Bring your friend to the rink day was a huge success. All the kids brought their friends , sometimes 2 or 3. Most of the kids they brought had never experienced hockey. They loved it . New hockey fans for sure , possibly new hockey players. I heard a lot of kids telling their parents they wanted to play . The best part is our local rinks have a program called "Kids First" . It lets a kid try hockey , via practices and camps, for 60 days for free. They give them all the gear for free as well. If the kid likes it and wants to stick with it after 60 days his parents have to pay 200 bucks for all the gear and they are put on a team. Its awesome to see hockey growing in Oklahoma!

nickerjones · 02-23-2011, 11:46 AM

Just had this emailed to me from the Rink

"This past Saturday, 182 rinks in the United States held Try Hockey for Free events and a total of 6,064 new kids were introduced to the game as part of Hockey Weekend Across America!"

Thats pretty good numbers, I think anyway!