Hello SJHA Families,

The SJHA staff has been hard at work planning the pieces of next season. The purpose of this email is to update you on all the things to look forward to as we head into tryouts and a summer of training and team building for next season.

Team Identity and Community Culture will be the two main priorities for us as we make plans for the upcoming season. All our decision making from coaching choices to additional services provided by the association to our coaching and player development plans will answer one or both of the following questions:

Identity: What does it mean to be a Seattle Junior hockey player?

Culture: What does it mean to be a Seattle Junior community member?

Just as an example, attached to this email is the bedrock document for coaching development and player development for the upcoming season. This document drills into the aspects of our training, teaching, practicing, and playing that will define SJHA’s identity in the upcoming season. The purpose of the document is to create a unified understanding of what will give us an edge on our opponents and what terms and phrases are important to internalize in order to get there over time. Notice, each of the bullet points is hyperlinked. Feel free to click through links to see clips from NHL, NTDP, and NCAA games along with articles and other expert analysis tied to each point. Just as well, this approach will transcend the game we love to teach life lessons and develop real leadership skills.

For the upcoming season, Seattle Junior has made some moves to elevate our standards for player and coaching development. Once a week during the regular season, all Rep players include Lady Admirals will be able to join an extra skills session run by Hockey Director Marty Rubin and an A-list cast of skills coaches. The focus of the sessions will vary, but power skating and stick skills will be the main themes. Just as well, we are working to transform the training space at Olympic View Arena into a safe, efficient, user-friendly off-ice training facility for our teams to use weekly. More information will come out about this as the summer begins.

As we get closer to tryouts, we will be rounding out our Head Coaching positions for all our teams. Right now, we are proud to announce a few exciting coaching choices:

Kristian Armstrong will be the Head Coach for our 12UA1 team! Kristian, assisted by his brother Kellee and Zach Wegener, grew up playing Tier I hockey in Seattle and played Junior hockey for the Totems. Coaching with us since 2012, Kristian has honed his craft as a motivator and teacher of the game. He will bring a passion for hockey like no other.

Jerry Weir will be the Head Coach for our 12UA2 team! Coach Weir has been a mainstay in Seattle youth hockey for over 25 years. A full-time trainer and skills coach, he seeks to prepare players for hockey and for life. He brings the same dedication to the rink every day whether teaching private session, introducing the game to another class of beginners, running camps and clinics, or coaching a team. For Coach Jerry, it’s all about learning, player development, team building, and life lessons.

Bil Ledoux will be the Head Coach for our 12U Lady Admirals team! Bil, along with Kevin Charette, is a student of the game and pushes his players to strive for their best. Bil and Kevin will be focusing on developing their girls so that they are ready to take on 14U Lady A’s hockey next year.

Rep Coaches will be taking their players out for team building events such as hikes, soccer games, outdoor training, and other unique experiences during the spring and summer months. We believe that team success will be predicated on trust and healthy internal competition. If we can start making bonds and building leaders early, we will be able to face the adversity of a regular season more unified than ever before.

If you have not done so already, please register for Northwest Stars, Lady Admirals, and/or Northwest Admirals tryouts today! We will be updating families closer to the tryout dates if we will be holding 14UB and/or 16UB. If you want to know, please register and we will have a better idea of who will be available.

As always, do not ever hesitate to reach out to marty.rubin@sjha.com with any questions. We are so excited to be moving in the right direction for our players and our community. Thank you for your dedication to our program and your patience as we work to make the upcoming season the best it can be.