Bantam

Bantam Update

I hope everyone had a good thanksgiving. A couple of quick updates:

1) High School season started this week and as a result, the Monday night practice slot is now gone. Weekday practice will rotate between Norfolk and Hopedale on Wednesdays. The skills schedule will remain the same.

2) Speaking of High School, congrats to Ryan, Treydon, Will, Mac and Gavin on making the High School JV team. The JV games are on Sunday nights, I will send a note to the Valley league asking them to avoid Sunday evening games. Lord knows how that will go.

3) As a result, we really need everyone to be diligent about marking attendance on Crossbar. This will give us time to find any additional players if necessary.

See you at the rink!

- Kevin and Dave

Hi,

Great win on Saturday, thanks Jerry for stepping in.

No practice tonight, we will have a full sheet of ice on Wednesday in Hopedale. Please let us know if you can make the game on Sunday.

Thanks,

Kevin

Good morning, as you saw in the cross bar app, the 10/6 game against Natick is cancelled. Thanks

Welcome to the MYH ’24 - ’25 Bantam Team! The team will be coached by myself and Dave McKinnon, but you will certainly see Paul O’Leary and others on the ice and behind the bench. Bantam hockey is certainly an adjustment for some players, we hope to have a fun and developmental season.

Schedule

The MYH scheduler has not been shy about giving us ice. Our first game is this Sunday at 5:40 in Natick. Overall the schedule will look like this:

• Until Thanksgiving, our standard weekday practice time will be at 7:30 in Franklin. We lose this ice after Thanksgiving and the practice will move to Wednesday in either Hopedale or Norfolk.

• Skills will be every other week in Hopedale at 6pm, followed by an optional scrimmage/ practice, like we have done in years past. Skills will be run by Bill Link of HPS.

• The parity schedule is up and loaded in Crossbar. We have very good rink locations for the first two months!

• Weekend practices will be added in Norfolk based on our game schedule.

• We know most of the Team play other sports, please mark attendance in the Crossbar app.

Checking

This will be a tough transition for new players, parents and us coaches. We’ve had a few checking clinics and might have a few more. The rules have changed a lot over the past several years.

The golden rule: You have to be attempting to play the puck in order to check an opponent. Your stick has to be on the ice or close to it. The most important thing we tell the players is to protect yourself. In the beginning, we don’t care about “winning the puck”, if you don’t feel comfortable, don’t put yourself in a position to get hurt.

We will ask the refs every game to explain what is a legal check. The Bantam rules are very different from HS, college and the pro games.

• Only the hips to shoulders of the body should be used to deliver a check.

• The check must be delivered directly from in front or the side of the opponent.

Thank you for your cooperation and support. We are looking forward to a great season.

Thanks,

Kevin

Hope everyone is having a great summer! We have a checking clinic tonight with Coach Bill Link in Franklin at 7:30. This is optional but if you are around, definitely worth attending!