DEAFinitely  Hockey- A Unique Skating Program
Midstate Worcester Jr. IceCat Youth Hockey Association/ College of the Holy Cross
2004-05 update

DEAFinitely Hockey- 2004 Season
Another successful season with the DEAFinitely Hockey program!  The program ran during the fall semester (October through December) with practices held each Saturday morning at 9:00 AM at the Hart Ice Rink at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA.  Several youngsters who get the "hockey bug" and wanted more of the sport joined their local house team hockey leagues for more action and playing time beyond our season!
This season 16 youngsters - Jamie,  Monica, Veronica, Dalvin, Aviv, Dara, Lauren, Jose, Tyler, Nomar, Elaina, Bianca, Evan, Noah, Kody and Ryan- traveled  from locations that included Worcester, Concord, Framingham, Newton, Upton, and Leominster to join us on the ice at the Hart Center on Saturdays. Tyler, Ryan and Kody took leadership roles on the ice this year as well.  We look forward to seeing them return to assist us with the lessons next year!
The coaching was led by veteran coach, Chris Whitney with the assistance of Holy Cross student Casey McCullion.  Community volunteer coaches- Joey Wojnowski, Meghan Miknaitis, Craig Brooks and Michael Dolan provided skill development and fun drills to the skaters.  This core group was joined by more than 20 students from the Holy Cross ASL program throughout the season. Alison Hogan (our HC student coach who graduated last May) even came in to lead a skating session!  On December 11^th Men's Hockey team members Sean Nappo, Rob Goddfrey and Tanner Fogarty led the drills with enthusiasm and fun. .. in ASL!
On December 4th  ice looked quite full!  Coach Derek Rayside and his team of skaters from Cambridge, MA joined us.  This is a team of hearing girls with one player who is deaf. We invited them to join us for the DEAFinitely hockey program; skate with us and learn some sign language!  It was a wonderful day of instruction by the Holy Cross Women's' Hockey and we met many new friends during the social time that followed.  A special "thank you"  to the women's ice hockey team members - Casey McCullion,  Meghan Mahoney, Kate Remsberg, Melissa Flanagan, Kolt Bloxson, Dianna Muth, Sam Murphy, Marie Hickey, Jane Sarno, Meghan Donovan, Naunie Pires, Katie O'Connor, Casey Harvell, Parny Ormiston, Katie Falkowski and Lauren Oplinger for their time, energy and skills.
On October 29th 34 skaters and family members, plus Holy Cross and community skating volunteers headed to the Worcester Centrum to watch the Worcester IceCats take on the Providence Bruins.  A fun evening for all!
This year our group joined the Midstate Junior IceCats teams and participated in the holiday calendar raffle.   Our group sold 88 tickets and over 5000 tickets were sold in total for the raffle fundraiser!  Congratulations to Bianca Hoffmeister who sold a winning ticket… to her dad!
A hearty "Thank you" goes to the Women's Storm league for another generous donation to The Darcy Edmonds memorial Fund for this program.  With the generous donations and funding (Including the Nicholas P. Pietrunti Charitable Fund) this year we were able to:
- sponsor several of the players for the DEAFinitely Hockey program
- sponsor players for the Midstate Jr. IceCat House league
- purchase hockey equipment that new skaters can borrow for a season
- purchase hockey equipment for some of the skaters who have been in the program
-  (We also had equipment donated by the Midstate program and from some community folks)
- Provide weekly snacks for the players and the volunteers during the "sign class" that followed
   each session.
- provide the community volunteers with a special T-shirt to thank them for their generous
  commitment of time to this program.
- treated the players and volunteers to an evening at the Ice Cats game.

FLASH ALERT!!!! Another exciting piece of news is that the ice rink in Auburn will soon be more fully accessible to the deaf players in the House League by adding some visual lights signals.  When the ref blows the whistle, lights will flash so the deaf skaters on the team will be alerted to the visual signal and know that the play has stopped.  We thank Mass Hockey for their generous donation of $750 to Deafinitely Hockey program for the purchase and installation of a Visual Lighting System at the Horgan Rink in Auburn MA. 

Congratulations go out to Tyler Richards for making the high school JV hockey team and to Noah Blankenship for his new position as goalie and for stopping those goals!  Talented artist and skater- Elaina Fisher drew a beautiful picture of the Ice Cats.

Thank you to all the skaters for participating!  Hope to see you next year!
Thank you to all the coaches and volunteers- community people and Holy Cross Students.
Thank you to the Holy Cross Women's Ice Hockey team and to members of the Holy Cross Men's Ice Hockey team for providing skills and lessons.
Thank you to the College of the Holy Cross for its continued support of this program and use of the Hart Center Ice Rink.

The current budget for the DEAFinitely Hockey program has $4,647.07.


For information about the DEAFinitely Hockey program, please contact:
Judy Freedman Fask
College of the Holy Cross
One College St.  PO 172A
Worcester, MA 01610
508-793-3344

ICE HOCKEY CARRIES A HEAVY
PRICE TAG

Playing hockey can carry a heavy price tag. I am also very proud of the fact that the DEAFinitely..hockey skating program is affordable to ALL children.
Through the generosity of Holy Cross, the cost for deaf children has been very affordable. I am also proud of the fact that local organizations and  businesses have been involved to offset the costs as well. One hockey store in Worcester provides discounts for equipment to those youngsters in the program . The Massachusetts Parents Association for the Deaf has made sure that scholarships are available to youngsters so they can participate in this program. Walter Hastings has been the liaison for this organization and it truly benefited many of the skaters.

Some end of season fun included going to the Holy Cross hockey games! Deaf skaters loved the idea of attending a game and seeing their instructors on
the ice playing the game of hockey. It was a blast!

* Contributions from the newly established Darcy Edmonds Memorial Fund (specific to the DEAFinitely..Hockey skating program) will allow even more Deaf skaters to enjoy this wonderful sport. We are very sorry about the loss of this wonderful young woman. We know she would be smiling from above as she looks upon all the children playing hockey. Her kindness and spirit will continue to make the goal! We thank all those who do contribute in her memory.
Donations can be made directly to the;

Darcy Edmonds Memorial Fund ,
DEAFinitley.. Hockey program at: