OUR PROGRAM (2009-2010)

Hockey at Saint David’s is an elective athletic program offered to students from Kindergarten through Bantam age (grade 7 or 8).

Our program begins  with optional pre-season practices in October for Mites, Squirts, Peewees and Bantams. Full practices for all teams begin in early November and ends each year in mid March, just prior to spring break. The program is mindful of family commitments and does not hold practice or play games over the Thanksgiving holiday, during the Christmas and New Year break, or over the President’s Day weekend.

Our program is open to all Saint David’s students and siblings. All players are registered with USA Hockey and we play games in the New York City area according to USA Hockey rules. Age classifications for the 2009–2010 season are as follows:

Kindergarten: All participating Kindergarteners
Grade 1:        All participating First graders
Mites:            Players born in  2001 & 2002
Squirts:          Players born in 1999 & 2000
PeeWees:      Players born in 1997 & 1998
Bantams:       Players born in 1995 & 1996

We practice and play at a number of outdoor rinks in the area. Lasker rink is an open rink at the north end of Central Park (Lasker League games and Sunday afternoon skate for Kindergarteners and First Graders), Riverbank State Park is a covered rink at 145th Street and Riverside Drive (Kindergarten & 1st grade practice on Tuesdays, Mites practice on Fridays), Mackay Park, a full sized enclosed rink in Engelwood, New Jersey (Squirts practice on Fridays) and Ice House, a facility with four full sized indoor rinks in Hackensack, New Jersey (PeeWees and Bantams practice on Fridays) and City Ice Pavillion in Long Island City.

Bus transportation is provided to and from practice. The bus picks up the players after school dismissal and returns them to 89th Street & Madison. Pick up and drop off times vary for each team and specific details for each team practice are outlined in Practice Schedules. Games are generally played on Saturdays and Sundays; players must find their own transportation to games and other weekend skates.

The School's Athletic Department may also arrange 5 & 6th and 7 & 8th grade games with local area schools during the schools' athletic period.

A brief outline of each team is as follows:

Kindergarten
The Kindergarten team practices on Tuesday’s at Riverbank immediately following school dismissal. The K program is primarily a learn-to-skate program but the coaches may introduce some elements of stick work towards the end of the season. It focuses on skating skills and they do not play any games.
Head Coach: Rock Dudeck

Grade 1 (Minimites)
The basic elements of ice hockey are introduced in first grade. The team practices at Riverbank on Tuesday’s with Coach Rock and his team. The season will culminate with a series intramural cross ice games and final tournament. The minimites also have an optional Sunday afternoon skate with thier coach from 4:45 - 6:15 at Lasker                                              
Head Coach: Rock Dudeck

Mites
The Mites will practice at Riverbank on Friday afternoons. They will play between 12 and 14 games (depending on the size of the team) in both the Club and Lasker Leagues. The season culminates with the Governor’s Cup at Riverbank and/or the Lasker Cup during the last week of the season.
Head Coaches: Brian Kealy & Bret Puchir

Squirts
The Squirt team will practice on Fridays at Mackay. They will play between 12 and 14 games and participate in the Governor’s Cup at Riverbank and/or Lasker Cup. In seasons where we have enough players for two teams, we will form teams based on either grade or player ages.
Head Coach: Chris Murphy, Tom Hathaway & Jonathan Salter

PeeWees
There will be only one PeeWee team this year. They will practice at the Ice House Rink on Friday afternoons with the Bantams. They will play games and participate in the Club League.
Head Coach: Danny Klein & James Hughes

Bantams
New this year, the Bantam team will practice on Friday afternoons at the Ice House. They will play around 20 games, participate in the Club League and xxxx
Head Coach: Greg Meredith & Julia Ryan, Scott Pietruszka (practice coach)