Category Archives: Youth
RoughRiders send talented bunch to NAPHL, ECEL All-Star Games
January 21st, 2016Several Rocky Mountain RoughRiders players were recently recognized as league All-Stars in the North American Prospects Hockey League (PHL) and East Coast Elite League (ECEL). The ECEL 16U and 18U All-Star Games were played on the campus of Yale University on Dec. 19, while the PHL’s 16U game was Dec. 5 in Blaine, Minn., and…
Pikes Peak trio of NAPHL All-Stars on development fast track
January 19th, 2016Smash Mouth’s major 1999 hit “All Star” directly applies to the Pikes Peak Miners 18U AAA trio of goaltender Jeremy Swayman and forwards Brendan Doyle and Trevor Paradise. All three played at the North American Prospects Hockey League (NAPHL) All-Star Game Jan. 9 in the Detroit suburb of Troy, Mich., and represented the Miners well….
‘Special and unique’ Rampage coaches create family-like culture
December 29th, 2015Whether one is building a hockey team or developing a hockey player, it’s a process. It’s no different with building a club, but the process – particularly the teaching part – is something the Colorado Rampage embraces. “A school is good because they have a reputation for having good teachers,” said Andrew Sherman, the club’s…
‘Long shot’ Arapahoe victorious in Quebec Qualifier
December 17th, 2015Going into the 2015 Quebec Qualifier Tournament, Arapahoe Warriors AA coach Sean Leonard considered his squad an underdog to win the 13-team event and represent the Colorado Avalanche at the prestigious Quebec International Pee Wee Hockey Tournament in February. After blanking both the Colorado Springs Tigers and NCYH Jr. Eagles to open the tournament, Leonard…
Littleton again emerges as CAHA 18U AA state champions
December 16th, 2015The late Major League Baseball great Yogi Berra once said, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.” For the Littleton Hawks 18U AA team, winning the Colorado Amateur Hockey Association state championship has become somewhat routine, as the Hawks took their sixth straight title on Dec. 13 with a two-game sweep of the Evolution Elite…
Blach, Bryant ‘great ambassadors’ for Rampage program
December 1st, 2015Coaches coach and players play, but who does the rest of the things needed to operate a successful youth hockey organization? For the Colorado Rampage, a USA Hockey Model Association and a member of the Tier 1 Elite Hockey League, there are many people behind the scenes who have been crucial to the club’s successes…
T-Birds 16U Nationals enter record books, win Bauer World Invite
November 27th, 2015The Colorado Thunderbirds made state hockey history over the weekend of Nov. 6-8 at the Bauer World Hockey Invitational in Chicago. The T-Birds’ 16U AAA National team captured the top division – 16U Supreme – to become the first program from Colorado to win a AAA championship at the 430-team event, which is the largest…
Miners 18U players see valuable time at USHL, NAHL levels
November 25th, 2015A pair of first-year Pikes Peak Miners 18U AAA players recently joined Junior A teams for practices and games and now know what it takes to advance to the next level. Defenseman Preston Weeks (North American Hockey League’s Kenai River Brown Bears) and goaltender Jeremy Swayman (United States Hockey League’s Tri-City Storm), two Alaska natives,…
The Ascent Continues: Thunderbirds’ dozen playing in-state NCAA Division I
November 17th, 2015Many would consider two or three players from a youth hockey program playing NCAA Division I hockey impressive, but what about 12 spread out over three programs in the same state? That gives you a snapshot of what the Colorado Thunderbirds have going on these days. This season, a dozen young men who played at…
Rocky Mountain Challenge attracts talent, scouts
October 23rd, 2015Another year, another successful Rocky Mountain Challenge. The East Coast Elite League (ECEL) event, hosted by the Rocky Mountain RoughRiders organization Oct. 2-4 at the Ice Centre at the Promenade in Westminster, saw a wealth of talent on the ice and numerous junior and college hockey scouts and coaches in the stands to take in…