NYH Family and Friends,
 
It seems very fitting, on the eve of Veterans Day, to announce that Navy Youth Hockey will host our 6th Hockey for Heroes Friday, March 13 - Saturday, March 14, 2020.

For those new to Navy Youth Hockey, Hockey for Heroes is a 24-hour, round-the-clock, exhibition hockey tournament featuring all of our teams, local high schools, USNA alumni, adult leagues, and our guests of honor, the USA Warriors Ice Hockey teams. The purpose of the event is to fundraise for multiple disabled veterans service organizations. Since 2014, we have raised over $450,000 for very deserving groups, including USA Warriors Ice Hockey, DAV (Disabled American Veterans), Wounded Warrior Project, Paws4Pets, Truckin4Troops, Valhalla Sailing Project, Warfighter Advance and Fisher House.  

At 6:00 pm on Friday, March 13th, our Mite Whites will kick-off the hockey marathon with a cross-ice Jamboree. We'll take a break for an Opening Ceremony at 7:00 pm, then start back up with 22 one-hour, back-to-back games. The rink lights will be on all night, and the Zamboni will not get any rest! The marathon ends on Saturday evening with the not-to-be-missed Blue & Gold game, where our U18s take on the NYH coaches in their annual and much anticipated contest.

The wheels are already in motion. The West Point Junior Black Knights have been invited to join us for Army/Navy match-ups. They have until December 15 to commit. High school teams have been contacted, and adult league teams are signing up. We could have a waiting list very soon for this popular end-of-season event.

How does it work? All participating teams pay $400, and starting February 1, every team is challenged to raise $1,000 through their team fundraising page on www.nyhhockeyforheroes.org. You’ll have six weeks to meet your team goal, and we'll be making announcements along the way. All proceeds from the event – sponsorships, donations, game-day helmet collections, t-shirt sales and silent auction items – will be shared with our beneficiaries. 

How can you help?  

1. Start talking about the event with your players. Use Veterans Day as an opportunity to talk how important it is for all of us to honor and thank our veterans. Hockey for Heroes is about celebrating those heroes on and off the ice, throughout the entire year.

2. Volunteer. It takes hundreds of parents and players to run the event. Every team will be asked to have at least one volunteer on the organizing committee. We'll meet once on Wednesday, November 20, then kick-in full gear after January 1. Our club-wide volunteer sign-up will be available in January. It's a great opportunity for high school students to earn service hours.

3. Spread the word through your own social media channels or hang a poster at school, in your office or at the grocery store. There will be a flyer PDF available on the NYH website. Keep an eye on the NYH Facebook and Twitter pages for event updates.

4. Solicit silent auction donations and event sponsorships. Many of you have relationships with local businesses. Please reach out and ask them to support our event. The sponsorship and donation forms will be available on our website.

5. Coaches and Managers:  Start looking for a local team to play with you. The schedule is still being developed and will be confirmed when we hear back from Army.

As always, thank you in advance for your support and commitment to honoring disabled veterans. And a very special thanks to all the service men and women who are part of our large and extended Navy Youth Hockey family.

We’ll be in touch from now until March 13 with news and updates.

Go Navy!
Amy Hitt, Event Chair