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Hockey associaton ready for year one
  
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By Ryan Boldrey
Woodland Park continues to crank out the hockey talent. And from Air Force junior Sean Bertsch down to Colorado Springs Christian School at Woodland Park seventh-grader Jeremy Hamerquist there seems to be no shortage of it.
Hamerquist, who plays in goal for the Jr. Tigers’ pee-wee team in Colorado Springs is one of many players that got his start in the parks and recreation league in Woodland Park.
Hamerquist, 12, whose favorite team is the St. Louis Blues, first started playing at age 5 at the outdoor rink in Woodland, before he headed down to Colorado Springs a year later to play club hockey and then began playing travel hockey the following year.
Hamerquist’s peewee team was one of two Jr. Tigers’ teams to win the recent Rocky Mountain Silver Sticks tournament in Westminster. After going a perfect 6-0 in the tourney and outscoring opponents by a combined 41-9 over the weekend, Hamerquist and his teammates learned they will be heading to Port Huron, Mich., in January to compete for a national title.
“To be a part of something like that was really cool,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to going to Michigan.”
Also looking forward to the January trip are Bantam AA players, Max McInnis of Chipita Park and Tyler Elwell of Woodland Park.
Their team used a 7-2 win over Arapahoe in the same tourney to power themselves to a championship, while McInnis, who is the second leading scorer on the team, tallied a hat trick.
“It’s pretty exciting,” McInnis said. “Our team wasn’t very good last year and this year we are kicking butt.”
Currently, they are 14-2-2 with two tournament titles in the bag, and they hope they can add another one when they get to Port Huron.
For the 14-year-old McInnis, who idolizes former Avalanche superstar Joe Sakic as well as the speedy Colorado College Tiger forward, Billy Sweatt, his hockey career also began in Woodland Park.
McInnis played three years in the parks and recreation league before he headed to Colorado Springs to play club and travel hockey at age 8.
For years that has been the only option for players who wanted to get serious about hockey and enjoy more than just a couple months of outdoor hockey in a season.
The Woodland Park Hockey Association, which is getting ready to embark on its first full season is hoping to change all of that.
Association president Dan Rupp knows it is going to take some time, however, and that things are not going to happen overnight.
Things are happening very quickly for the non-profit organization, though, and they already have been able to raise enough money to put in warming huts at the rink this winter, making life easier for officials, players and spectators alike.
Long term goals include putting in a refrigeration unit underneath the ice, covering the rink or putting up shade screens to help maintain the quality of ice, and putting in bathroom and locker room facilities, but for now Rupp couldn’t be happier.
“We are very pleased,” he said. “We think this is going to be a successful first year and that we can demonstrate the enthusiasm for hockey in Woodland Park.”
The WPHA has already accomplished partnering with USA Hockey and the Colorado Amateur Hockey Association and is looking forward to a winter in which— aside from the in-house developmental league it will be running— the teams will have the opportunity to play other clubs from places such as Steamboat Springs, Denver, Pueblo and Colorado Springs in non-league affairs, both home and away.
“This association was formed to give more opportunities to the players,” Rupp said. “The city parks and rec program is our legacy, and we are very proud of what the city has managed to accomplish up here in Woodland Park, with their facility and with the history of the program. This hockey association was formed to take that to the next level.”
That next level, according to Rupp, includes having club hockey and joining one of the mountain leagues.
The WPHA is already offering space on in-house teams from mini-mites (6 and under) all the way up to midget (18 and under).
Walk-in registration for the WPHA has an early deadline of Nov. 21, but late registration will be available through the city’s parks and recreation department, which the WPHA is working in close cooperation with.
For more information on registration or the association in general, please visit www.woodlandparkhockey.com.
Hamerquist, who plays in goal for the Jr. Tigers’ pee-wee team in Colorado Springs is one of many players that got his start in the parks and recreation league in Woodland Park.
Hamerquist, 12, whose favorite team is the St. Louis Blues, first started playing at age 5 at the outdoor rink in Woodland, before he headed down to Colorado Springs a year later to play club hockey and then began playing travel hockey the following year.
Hamerquist’s peewee team was one of two Jr. Tigers’ teams to win the recent Rocky Mountain Silver Sticks tournament in Westminster. After going a perfect 6-0 in the tourney and outscoring opponents by a combined 41-9 over the weekend, Hamerquist and his teammates learned they will be heading to Port Huron, Mich., in January to compete for a national title.
“To be a part of something like that was really cool,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to going to Michigan.”
Also looking forward to the January trip are Bantam AA players, Max McInnis of Chipita Park and Tyler Elwell of Woodland Park.
Their team used a 7-2 win over Arapahoe in the same tourney to power themselves to a championship, while McInnis, who is the second leading scorer on the team, tallied a hat trick.
“It’s pretty exciting,” McInnis said. “Our team wasn’t very good last year and this year we are kicking butt.”
Currently, they are 14-2-2 with two tournament titles in the bag, and they hope they can add another one when they get to Port Huron.
For the 14-year-old McInnis, who idolizes former Avalanche superstar Joe Sakic as well as the speedy Colorado College Tiger forward, Billy Sweatt, his hockey career also began in Woodland Park.
McInnis played three years in the parks and recreation league before he headed to Colorado Springs to play club and travel hockey at age 8.
For years that has been the only option for players who wanted to get serious about hockey and enjoy more than just a couple months of outdoor hockey in a season.
The Woodland Park Hockey Association, which is getting ready to embark on its first full season is hoping to change all of that.
Association president Dan Rupp knows it is going to take some time, however, and that things are not going to happen overnight.
Things are happening very quickly for the non-profit organization, though, and they already have been able to raise enough money to put in warming huts at the rink this winter, making life easier for officials, players and spectators alike.
Long term goals include putting in a refrigeration unit underneath the ice, covering the rink or putting up shade screens to help maintain the quality of ice, and putting in bathroom and locker room facilities, but for now Rupp couldn’t be happier.
“We are very pleased,” he said. “We think this is going to be a successful first year and that we can demonstrate the enthusiasm for hockey in Woodland Park.”
The WPHA has already accomplished partnering with USA Hockey and the Colorado Amateur Hockey Association and is looking forward to a winter in which— aside from the in-house developmental league it will be running— the teams will have the opportunity to play other clubs from places such as Steamboat Springs, Denver, Pueblo and Colorado Springs in non-league affairs, both home and away.
“This association was formed to give more opportunities to the players,” Rupp said. “The city parks and rec program is our legacy, and we are very proud of what the city has managed to accomplish up here in Woodland Park, with their facility and with the history of the program. This hockey association was formed to take that to the next level.”
That next level, according to Rupp, includes having club hockey and joining one of the mountain leagues.
The WPHA is already offering space on in-house teams from mini-mites (6 and under) all the way up to midget (18 and under).
Walk-in registration for the WPHA has an early deadline of Nov. 21, but late registration will be available through the city’s parks and recreation department, which the WPHA is working in close cooperation with.
For more information on registration or the association in general, please visit www.woodlandparkhockey.com.
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