Dear IceHawks Nation,

First and foremost, I hope that you and your family are safe in this unprecedented event that has taken hold of our country. While it has gripped many houses on unparalleled levels, the good thing is this too shall end. Fortunately for our organization, like many of our friends, we were able to complete the season in time.

I would like to officially take a moment and congratulate all teams on successful season on and off the ice. I am proud of such great play from all SIIH teams. Our club also had great success in the Blue Note Cup Championships with four SIIH teams competing: Fizer, McCune, Schilling and Schwendeman.  Coach Fizer’s team brought home another trophy for our club. Way to go Hawks!

Few housekeeping items I wanted to bring everyone up to speed on:

1.  As you are aware spring hockey was cancelled due to the Covid Crisis. Our Hockey Operations department is working diligently with the Leadership at the Metro RecPlex on a plan of action to return to the ice and they will be cleared for opening. Once we know those dates, we will begin to announce programming so we can get our players back on the ice as soon as possible.

2.  As with Spring hockey being cancelled, sadly, so will the banquet. We are working on a date for a “Drive By” event for families to swing through and still get your year-end goodies! Please pay attention to your emails for information regarding date, reimbursement information and other year-end items.

3.  Tryouts are scheduled to go on as planned with no immediate time change. We have traditionally performed these in Mid to Late AUGUST and the plan is in effect to keep it that way.

4.  Yes, the rumors are true...SIIH is now a partner in a Central States Franchise as approved by Missouri Hockey. This level is a gap between traditional Missouri Hockey programs and AAA at the 12u and 14u levels. The landscape for Central States is changing for the upcoming season and we will partner with Meramec and Affton to create a new franchise. SIIH will have a factor in coaching decisions as well as player selection. Tentatively the majority, if not all, of the games for this partnership will be played out of the Metro RecPlex! This is an incredible opportunity for our club as we traditionally have developed many players annually for this upper level of play. I am proud of this new endeavor as it is the next step in our players Ladder of Development model further strengthening the entire club.

5.  If you have not heard, we have four new board members to the club: Angie Harshbarger (Vice President), Boyd Ahlers, Heidi Clark, and Tracey Brown. Our first meeting was held online and was energetic to say the least! New fund-raising initiatives and incentive programs were hot topics of discussion. Over the past decade our board has had many different incarnations from being a nomadic survival club to being the frontal force of opening a new facility, booming growth, and now stabilization and internal focus and drive. I am thankful of the work done by the prior boards as it has positioned the new board members to really take the reins and go after a few identified key missions. As these initiatives roll out, we will make you aware of the details!

While we plan for the upcoming season, I want to ask everyone to get involved in a few items.

First, you may have seen teams posting videos of what is referred to as the “Toilet Paper Challenge”, I’m going to call on EVERY team to make one if they haven’t done so already! I would like to post these to our social media channels for the club as a way for our families to showcase themselves and get us in the hockey mood!

Second, if you have ANY ideas for the club, we want to hear from you. Please feel free to email myself, our new Vice President, Angie Harshbarger, or any member of the board your thoughts, concerns, or ideas. Our role is to serve you, the membership. Remember our core values, EDGE: Education Development, Growth, and Experience. If you have anything you feel would improve upon these four cornerstones for the betterment of our young athletes, we want to hear it. The club is yours.

In closing, please keep abreast of our social media posts and your emails for more information regarding the 2020-21 season.

I look forward to seeing everyone at the Welcome Back party later this summer!

Thank you and God Bless,
Jason D. Power
President
Southern Illinois Ice Hawks