NAHA Newsletter v1

Throughout the season, Kayla Haus and Tori Hickel will be authoring the NAHA Newsletters. Here’s the first in their series:

Hello everyone!  It’s that time of the year again, we have returned for another challenging and enjoyable season in the colorful mountains of Vermont.  As the authors of the Winterhawks’ newsletter, our goal is to provide coverage of our season at the North American Hockey Academy (NAHA).  This will include game and tournament reviews, lifestyle pieces, academic trials and challenges, in short, just about any and all NAHA info that might interest you, our friends and family, fans and supporters.

Tori Hickel in class on the deck this morning

A new location, a new building, a new teaching staff, and new teammates have all contributed to our erratic, transitional first week here.  Although our new location at Jay Peak is only about 45 minutes from our old home in Stowe, it seems like worlds away.  We are overwhelmed with excitement as we approach the doors, anxious to see new and old faces alike.  All of us call a different place home but here we mesh together as a family on this pathway to our futures.  Our individual experiences have molded us all differently, but as a team we are a blank canvas and we are ready to paint an entirely new picture.

The feeling of our blades carving the surface of our home rink for the first time is almost indescribable.  Practice is charged with competition, and we are helping each other everyday to keep the drive and determination we strive for.  This week we spent time being tested as individual athletes.  The goal of this solo testing is to give us an understanding of where we are at now and where we need to be by the end of the season.  Apart from physical testing, we are challenged mentally everyday and are pushing to be stronger in all aspects of our lives.

On a lighter note, this week was filled with freshman pranks and practical jokes, all in good fun.  We keep smiles and laughter incorporated in our daily activities and love what we do.  We are here not only to play hockey, but to make life-long friends and memories that will remain with us on our expedition to our futures.  “With tradition and history comes responsibility, be proud of the way work.”  This anecdote reminds us everyday to keep the character we are recognized by and continue to prevail as a team through the daily grind of our lives here at NAHA.

Thanks for reading,

Tori and Kayla

White wins Assabet, still snow on the mountain!

2010 Assabet Tournament Champions

Both NAHA teams had great weekends at the Assabet tournament. For the 3rd time since we’ve been going to this tournament, a NAHA team with a better record didn’t advance over an Assabet team due to the quirky (being politically correct…) way the tournament is run. This time it was Red with a 2-0-1 record who didn’t advance over the Assabet team with a 2-1-0 record. In all other hockey that equates to Red having 5 points and Assabet 4, but that’s not factored in this tournament, the only points tracked are period points, and the host team moved on… needless to say, the other teams and scouts in attendance, as well as the Assabet coaches, all felt it was mishandled, but like we said, isn’t the first time it’s happened at this tournament. Red had a great weekend as one of the few U16 teams playing against U19 teams, and doing beating both U19 teams they faced!

White did move on to the semis on Sunday, facing the host Assabet 19 team (what should have been a White v Red game), and put together their best game of the year beating them 5-0. The moved on to the finals v Ontario Hockey Academy, and in a battle, beat them 2-0. Both NAHA goalies, Kaitlyn Evans and Megan Miller, put up shutouts in the playoff round, with great team defense helping out! Congrats to the girls!!

Recovery Day in Stowe

Today both teams had an off day in Stowe by design, allowing time to do what the girls wanted, for some to get some skiing or boarding in, but most importantly to get back on top of school work, recover from the two holiday tournament and prepare for the stretch ahead.

Red went over to Lake Placid on Saturday for two JWHL league games with NSA. NSA moved some players around from their older team which Red looked forward to hoping the games would be more competitive, and they were. Red won 3-0 and tied 1-1, before returning around midnight…. Between games bowling was the highlight for the Red team. There were lots of techniques, haha! Suffice it to say Dayna Colang has spent a lot more time bowling than she has skiing….

Team ‘we love bowling’

Brooke Morgan photo

White headed up on Saturday to Montreal to play the top team in Quebec, winning 5-4. Video on that game can be found at: Edouard Montpetit video.

Unfortunately during the game one of the NAHA girls, Chelsea Goldberg was injured, and feedback from today was excellent- though she has a fracture, hope is she’ll be back on the ice within 4 weeks. There’s a break during the video of the game where our tapers helped out their teammate, but there’s a lot of good action to check out!

Sunday had a lot of girls getting some rest, a few off with Jill to Bolton Valley Resort to ski and snowboard and many taking advantage of the offerings on the Mountain Road here, most popular being a Sushi stop! We’ll get some photos up if we can get the girls to turn them over!!