April 2014 Newsletter

Homer Hockey Association Newsletter
Spring 2014
April 3, 2014
Kevin Bell Arena
President’s Corner
As another season draws to a close, we can reflect on
the many positive things that occurred for HHA this
past year. We were recipients of the 2012 Alaska
Recreation & Parks Association (ARPA) Outstanding
Organization Award - a testament to all the hard
work and dedication by our membership to keep our
rink going.
There were several successful fundraisers like the
annual raffle, seafood dinner, golf tournament, garage
sale and pie auction that contributed greatly to our
budget.
We hosted the high school Region Tournament as
well as the Bantam State Tournament. Not to mention
the other tournaments hosted by both adult and youth
teams.
A new WeSkate skating venue and Adult Hockey 101
program were launched and were hugely successful.
Two of Homer Hockey's youth teams won their state
tournaments this year - this speaks to the importance
of a rink in Homer and proves that having consistent
ice for practices has positively impacted the abilities
of all our skaters.
HHA received a grant from the Rasmuson Foundation for a new condenser - this will be a project for
installation over the summer and will allow us to
have a backup for our refrigeration system.
However, even with all of our successes, we still
have financial challenges to contend with. A
task force has been formed and they are working diligently towards a solution. We appreciate
all of their efforts on behalf of our association.
I would like to give a big thank you to all the
coaches, managers, scorekeepers, timekeepers,
concession stand workers, cleaners and the parents and players who have given tirelessly of
their time and talents in order for our rink to
remain open.
We hope to see everyone at the award banquet
and the annual meeting. There are board seats
open - please consider running for a seat on the
board and having a voice in HHA's future.
Come out to the rink for the last skate of the
season on Kevin Bell Day, Sunday, April 13th.
See you there!
Tim
Dates to Remember:
April 13, 2014—1pm
Kevin Bell Day @ Kevin Bell Arena
April 15, 2014—6pm
Annual Awards Ceremony @ HHS
April 23, 2014—6pm
HHA Annual Meeting @ Lands End
Spring 2014
Can We Just Say, This Team Was On FIRE!!
Homer Squirt C State Champs!!!!
Won the Tournament for Squirt Tier III in Wasilla! Competing against 10 teams from around the state
Homer went undefeated the whole tournament.
The championship game was against Kenai with a final
score of 3-1. The single Kenai goal was scored in the final
10 seconds and only after Kenai had pulled their goalie to
play a man up. An exciting game and fantastic end to an
amazing season!
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Homer Hockey Association Newsletter
Bantam News
We had a great season thanks to our coaches
Rick and Travis. We took home 3rd at State,
hosting it as well. Huge kudos to Lisa Pitta
for being our illustrious Tournament Director!! It went off without a hitch and turned
out AMAZING! Smooth sailing do to our
great volunteers, sponsors and donations given. With too many names of volunteers to
count I want to thank all of you for this sea-
MicroBells—Little Skaters, Big Results!
The MicroBells met their Olympic Skate A Thon Challenge by skating 87 laps around the Kevin
Bell Arena in one hour. Thanks to their efforts, the rink now has a second pair of mini goals for
small ice games! It’s been a wonderfully successful season thanks to volunteer coaches, great families and excited skaters.
Spring 2014
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Spring 2014
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WeSkate!
We are sending three skaters to Soldotna Riverskate Competition on April 4 and 5. Rosie Kauffman, Kaiah Stineff, and Ireland Styvar will represent Homer on the Soldotna team. Coaches Megan Magee and Sydney Armstrong will be up there with
them. They have been practicing their performances during
public skate throughout the week. Wishing the girls the best of
luck!
Financial Task Force Update
The HHA Financial Task Force is moving forward with the campaign to secure our financial future.
Last week the City Council of Homer passed a Resolution of Support for our efforts. We will be trying to
get the support of the Kenai Peninsula Borough next. We hope that the support from both of these
governing bodies will help us when approaching potential funding sources. Over the March 15th weekend we kicked off our “Signatures of Support” petition drive to get as many signatures as we can and to
spread the word about our financial situation. The petition was signed by locals and out of town Bantam parents/coaches visiting for the State Tournament. We will continue to collect signatures until the
rink closes for the season. Please let Jan Rumble know if you would like a copy of the petition to pass
around work or to friends. The more signatures, the more it shows how important our rink is.
We need all of our members to spread the word about our situation and to let our community know
how important the rink is to the health of our Homer community.
THANK YOU SPONSORS!
Thank you to the businesses that support HHA through pulltab sales! If you have a yearnin’ for some Rippies stop by:
 Down East Saloon
 Beluga Lake Lodge
 Best Western Bidarka Inn—Otter Room
Pull tab sales contribute more than $15,000 to the annual
HHA budget and help keep costs lower for our membership!
Spring 2014
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A Picture Says 1000 Words and
This Picture Says Everything!
The PeeWees have accomplished an UNDEFEATED season finishing 46-0 as PeeWee C State Champions.
An especially “big state, little world” fact is that the coach Steve
Nevak’s PeeWee team is on that same trophy!
That’s a whole lot of bling for our rink—Thank you PeeWee’s!