Dear ECHO Families, Where is winter? We are staring down the last two weeks of January without a snowflake in sight since October. Yes, I realize that I have just tempted fate, Mur-phy’s Law, and Mother Nature by wondering where the fluffy white stuff may be hid-ing. I like winter. No, that’s not true. I LOVE winter. I think I may have reverse sea-sonal-affect disorder. I am partial to the cold that burns the fingertips and the icy air stinging the nose and tearing up the eyes. I know where to find winter. According to the latest radar on the weather channel, there is winter in Chicago (and there will be almost every time I turn on the TV be-tween now and April) However, being Canadian, I know exactly where to go to ex-perience winter too. Every time I have moved, however, it has been in a southerly direction. First from Alberta to Vermont, and then Vermont to Connecticut. Every move has taken me fur-ther from the winter weather I’ve come to know and love. I can go back for the snow and the cold, but I have learned just recently that it truly isn’t necessary to drive to Vermont or fly to Alberta to immerse myself in a winter wonderland. At first, I thought I could just stand in the BIP without my gloves or jacket, but it didn’t give me the right feeling of wintry goodness. Leave it to technology to help me find the an-swer. I got one of those crazy new phones in October, the kind that can do every-thing except teach me how to cook. It taught me all I needed to know about where to find winter. I noticed that when I typed a message to someone, the smart little phone created a pool of words for me to choose from. A theme appeared among the choices. When I typed ‘the’, I could pick from puck, rink, goalie and team to put after it in the sentence. Often it would present ice, shot, score and practice as choices. The possibilities made me smile. So, where is the winter weather? It will be here soon enough. Those folks from Chi-cago know those winds are blowing, and in Vermont they call that icy breeze an Al-berta Clipper. Until then, the winter I crave, I found in my phone. Winter, hockey, play, and fun. Wishing you a wonderful 2012 at the rink, Joanne Holm ECHO Director Publicity and Communications publicity@echostars.com

January 2012 January 2012 January 2012 January 2012 Winter EditionWinter EditionWinter EditionWinter Edition Board of Directors Publication

IN THIS EDITION:

• Mohegan Bus Trip !

• Who’s who: The Board

of Directors

• Bantam B’s

• Squirt B’s

• Crayon Peeling Party

• Mini Mites & House hit

the Paper

• Mite B’s

• Our Sponsors

Questions? Comments? Who do you call? Not Ghostbusters!Questions? Comments? Who do you call? Not Ghostbusters!Questions? Comments? Who do you call? Not Ghostbusters!Questions? Comments? Who do you call? Not Ghostbusters! Here is your ECHO Board of Directors and what we do:Here is your ECHO Board of Directors and what we do:Here is your ECHO Board of Directors and what we do:Here is your ECHO Board of Directors and what we do: Co-Presidents VP Travel VP Administration VP Mini Mites/Instructional

Bob Pilney Ken Camello Master Scheduler Elise Segar Grow the Game Representative

Eric Levine Dean Rapoza

CHC Representative CHC Website Representative Director of Coach and Player

Tim O’Connor Director of Publicity & Communication Development Mark McGrath

Joanne Holm

Secretary Treasurer Equipment Manager Registrar

John Power Chris Tonzi Keith Lauzon Faith Murray

Past President

Brian Oatway

WE WANT YOU to wear your

ECHO Green! The next wear

your jersey to school day is

coming Thursday, February

16th.

Crayon Peeling Party and Crayons for Cancer

Our organization raised $1,640.00 for Crayons for Cancer through our 50/50 raffles. Donations of toys and games were also made to the Treasure Chest for children re-ceiving treatment in Oncology. The peeled crayons go to Crayons for Cancer; they generate revenue by then melting and selling them as newly formed crayon shapes. All the proceeds stay in CT for kids at Connecticut Children's Medical Center. Thank you all of you who made this possible: Our co-chairs Beth O’Connor and Kim Power, our team parents and siblings who helped sell the raffle tickets during our home games, as well as our membership, friends, family, and visitors who bought tickets, and a special thank you to those who quietly donated their winnings back to Crayons for Cancer. For all the peeling party photos of Bantams, Pee Wees, Squirts, Mites and more: h t t p : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / p a g e s / E C H O - E a s t e r n - C o n n e c t i c u t - H o c k e y -Organization/120521528041088

By Mark McGrath

The ECHO Bantam Bs are right at the .500 mark as we enter the new year. The boys have been working hard and I'm optimistic about the 2nd half of the season. We've been playing strong defense - rarely giving up more than four goals in a game, and our compete level has been strong all season long so far. Once again - we were runners up at the Newport Holiday tourna-ment losing a hard fought final game by a score of 3-1. A big thanks go out to my assistant coaches, Chris Tonzi, Greg Williams, and Ron Williams and also to on ice helper Josh Hoffman. Special thanks go out to team Mom Stacey Wil-liams and also to all the parents who work the clock, the music and who take care of the score sheets during our ECHO home games.

Protein Power! After a practice or a game help your muscles power back up by putting protein back into the body. Chocolate (almond, rice or soy) milk or even drinkable yoghurts are just few good tast-ing and quick ways to fill up on-the-go. For more hockey fuel tips: http://houndsicehockey.org/HockeyNutritionPerf.html Images in this newsletter found online

from bing.com and photos from our

ECHO members. Thank you!

Mohegan Bus Trip

Save The Date &

Grab Your Valentine!

And get your babysitter now! Put the evening of Friday, February 10th on your calendar for a night out! Tickets are $35,

which includes your transportation to and from the casino, driver tip, water, soda, $15 for the wheel of fortune and a $15 meal voucher. See YOU on the bus! Departs BIP at 6:30pm leaves Mohegan at Midnight . Reser-vations are first come first served. Contact Kim at: jwpowerman@yahoo.com or call 860.656.6940 for a reservation.

Regarding the Mini Mites you can note that there are 20 skat-ers currently enrolled. As of the first of the year, over the

season we have moved up 5 skaters to the next level of travel, the Mite B1's. They continue to skate every Saturday and Sunday morning, enjoying every moment on the ice. A special relationship has developed with the Falcons out of Enfield, as well as with the Ice Dogs out of UCONN, resulting in numerous games having been played thus far, both home and away. The annual Thanksgiving Festival held at BIP was a wonderful success, including teams such as Central, Whalers, Ice Dogs, Falcons and the Polar Bears. These youngsters arrive at the rink very early every weekend, taking advantage of the opportunity to get on the ice and further hone their skills. Coach Grumpy is excited about the progress our little guys are making, preparing themselves to become the ECHO STARS of the future! Regarding the In House program, no one could have anticipated how successful it has become in its inaugural season. There are currently 22 players, ages 9 and older skating every Saturday morning. These young boys and girls have completed a season as Learn to Play skaters or are testing the waters as brand new participants in the game of hockey. They are learning the game faster than anyone could have imagined. Two skaters have moved up the ranks to skate as alternates with the Squirt B Travel Team. The players are so motivated to improve their skills, learn the fundamentals and pursue positions on next years travel squads. Having a place for these youngsters to play once age nine has proven to be a win, win for all in-volved. The team has developed great camaraderie and a sense achievement shines across all of their faces following each practice or game. Both home and away games have been held against the ECHO Squirt B's, as well as with a the Ice Dogs thus far. There are several more games scheduled for the future. Just a word of ad-vice from Coach Grumpy; "all of those players currently skating on the Squirt through Bantams travel teams need to prepare themselves for the level of competi-tion next April during tryouts for the ECHO's STARS. These kids are coming pre-pared and motivated to shake things up!"

By Kevin Hayes

Copied with permission

as seen in a 2011 Sports Department

edition

G reat game write ups have

been posted about the PWB’s

and other team coaches to the

online pages at TheSports-

Dept.com Check it out! Follow

the link on the right hand side

of our homepage.

Thank you for supporting this youth hockey organization!

Our ECHO Sponsors:

The Squirt B team has really developed into a

competitive team this season. Leading the team

with goals , including a nail biting buzzer beater

with :01sec left against South Windsor, Trevor

Demers rounds out his line with the talented

Caeden Bailey and Dalton Huyler, who are al-

ways ready for a challenge. Zack Evenson and

Joe Chatterton have taken their play to a new

level and are always ready to take their talents to

the ice. First year players Tyler Millen, Edward

Lundy, Mathew Schoen, and Jacob Holston have

shown what it takes to be great hockey players

with hard work and determination. Entering the

season sans goalie, the team overcame its di-

lemma by the

quick learning of

Nick Miranda,

who never played

goal before this

season. The team has recorded 5 shut outs with

the assistance of a strong defense lead by the

rocket shot of Dillon Castro, the quintessential

defensemen toughness of Calvin Beck and Jack

Terrance, and the swift and agile skating of Matt

Fritz and Aiden Borruso. The team played well

in Newport going 2-1 with 2 shut outs and looks

forward to playing in the states.

By Jay Terrance

Photo courtesy of Cristin Millen

Who Wants the Puck? The Mighty Mite Bs! By Joanne Holm

Starting the season off with cross-ice games gave all team members a good opportunity to chase the

puck, skate, and score! We are now into full ice competition and our skills are shining. Newport was

fun and successful for one and all. With our talent shared among Green and Gold both teams posted

winning records. Putting the sparkle on the tournament gold was Sarah Rumley who scored the

overtime goal at Newport. Looking forward to more greatness on the ice at the upcoming state tour-

naments. We couldn’t do it though, without our off ice parent, Katie Nicolo and helper Lisa Pour-

maleki. On ice help thank you’s go to: Tom Fleming, Matt Fritz, Mike Nicolo, Andrey Polgun, Mike

Krassner, and Justine Monahan.

Practice those power turns. Step by step

tips for mites on tight turns.

www.youtube.com/watch?

v=YFH8VCXKUYyQ&feature=endscreen

&NR=1 Don’t want to go in circles? Ex-

amine your power stride at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFH8VCXKUYyQ&feature=endscreen&NR=1