Welcome Skaters to The opening of our 2008-2009 hockey season. I hope everyone is as excited as I am about this.

Here are a few quick notes about the Skills Sessions.

Remember to bring your full gear and stick including a practice jersey as well as a pair of hockey socks. Full gear is required whenever you are on the ice. (Safety First, People) This includes helmets with full face cages, shoulder pads, etc.

I need to mention again. You must be USA Hockey registered to participate. http://www.usahockeyregistration.com If you have not yet paid for and registered with USA Hockey PLEASE, do it now. You will not be permitted onto the ice until we have confirmation of your registration. You may bring your printout to the Skills Session or forward it in an e-mail to the Recruiting team. recruiting@madisongayhockey.org

The evenings of skills sessions will be divided into three sessions Session 1 will be at 6:20 Session 2 will be at 7:30 Session 3 will be at 8:40. Please show up early enough to be completely in your gear an on the ice by the start of you Skills Session. This will be immensely helpful. If you are new to putting on the gear, you may need to give yourself some extra time to get ready. You will likely be excited/nervous to begin with and giving yourself enough time to prepare will alleviate undue stress upon yourself.

Also keep in mind that we are at a different ice rink this year. If you haven't been to Capitol Ice Arena yet here are some directions.

Directions to Capitol Ice Arena

From Interstate Highway 90/39, take U.S. Highway 12 west. As you circle around Madison, U.S. Highway 12 west will become U.S. Highway 12 & 14 west. Take U.S. Highway 14 west to Pleasant View Road (3rd stoplight). Turn right onto Pleasant View Road for 1/2 block. Turn left onto University Green, which turns into Evergreen Road as it turns toward the north. Proceed north on Evergreen Road to it's intersection with Pleasant View Road. Continue north on Pleasant View Road 1 block to Capitol Ice Arena on your left.

Everyone from our roster (excluding goalies) has been assigned a Skills session. I know that there are some people who are involved in the organization of the clinics. I was unaware of whom they were so if you are evaluating or organizing and not a participant, my apologies, I didn't have that information upon compiling the assignments. Feel free to disregard your "assigned spot".

Hockey ops will be in contact with the Goalie Captain who will inform our AMAZING Goalies what is going on for them regarding Skills Sessions.

Please, if you have any questions regarding the skills session which I haven't covered in the information in this newsletter contact the Hockey Ops Committee. They will be happy to assist you. hockey-ops@madisongayhockey.org

Here is the long awaited time slot assignments for our Skills Sessions this which start this Sunday September 21st;

Session 1 @ 6:20

Session 2 @ 7:30

Session 3 @ 8:40

Thank-you and GOOD LUCK!

Timothy S. Foster
Director of Communications
Social Coordinator
MGHA
communications@madisongayhockey.org