May 25, 2020

 

To families and customers of Quincy Youth Arena:

 

Each year the arena closes down for maintenance for a period of five weeks at the conclusion of the traditional hockey season which typically ends in mid-April. We use this time to refresh paint, conduct repairs, sometimes major, sometimes minor and to take a breather after a long season. The shutdown is usually 4-5 weeks. For the first time in many years we did not have any maintenance that required closure  and as such did not plan to close the rink. We planned to continue operations and allow skating straight through the Spring and into the Summer. Then COVID happened and the end of the hockey season was placed on hold.

 

At first the guidance from local and state authorities was to stay home for two weeks until April 1, then another four weeks through May 4th. At the beginning of the experience we had hoped to close out the season in typical fashion with playoffs for our adult leagues and tryouts for our local hockey programs. As time passed we lost that hope and began to focus on plans for the Summer. We all waited in anticipation to hear the Governor’s address on May 18th expecting to have concrete guidance on what is required for us to operate safely. We listened carefully to all explanations of the four-phase approach that Massachusetts is using as their Reopening Template.  Up until May 18th, we had our ice ready for opening and our hearts ready to see all of you back at the rink.

 

After receiving the guidance by the Governor's council on the 18th, the Quincy Youth Arena Board of Directors met on May 19th. We had a lengthy meeting to discuss the possibility of remaining open and what it would require in terms of adjustments to operating procedures. We considered the guidelines that have been published and we weighed them against our questions and concerns and requirements for operating a rink.

 

Effective immediately the Quincy Youth Arena will remain closed through the summer. At this point there are too many unanswered questions about how to operate programs safely and the cost of operating the rink during the warmer months is too steep to justify remaining open. The ice will be taken down to reduce utility and maintenance costs through June/July/August. During the months of July and August our electric rates and consumption are at peak levels. With limited operations expected due to COVID and the high cost of operations, it would not be prudent to remain open during these months.

 

We expect to reopen with renewed energy and purpose on or before September 1, 2020.

 

Keep in mind that closing the rink is not unusual. As stated above we typically shutdown for maintenance each year. In light of uncertainty on how to operate safely, we take this opportunity to focus on minor cosmetic work such as painting, washing, cleaning the rink and preparing for reopening. The circumstances may be different but the act of closing for brief periods of time is not unheard of.

 

We look forward to the day we can invite all of you back to this wonderful building and a place some us call home!  We promise to work diligently on the sidelines to bring new and exciting programs for the coming year. 

 

Please be well and stay safe - we will see you in September!

 

Thank you for your continued support.

 

Best,

 

Quincy Youth Arena Board of Directors

 

CC:

Quincy Youth Hockey Board of Directors

Michelle Stenberg, General Manager Quincy Youth Arena

Jay Ronan, Director of Quincy Youth Hockey

At this time the tryouts are postponed and will not be held in April as stated below. Check back in mid-April for additional updates.

Quincy Youth Arena will host National Bound Team Tryouts for the following age groups.  All teams will play a Split Season which will run from September 1 through Thanksgiving.

 

Details are below.  Contact Doug Nolan (nolandoug32@icloud.com) or Jay Ronan (qyhdirector@gmail.com) with questions or concerns.  Please pay close attention to the days & times as some age groups fluctuate daily.

AGE GROUP	TRYOUT #1	TRYOUT #2	FINAL EVAL.	COST
Quincy 67s U14 National Bound Split Team 2006 & 2007 Birth Years PHL	April 13 - 8pm	April 14 - 6pm	April 15 - 6pm	$100
Quincy 67s U15 National Bound Split Team 2005 Birth Year PHL	April 15 - 7pm	April 16 - 6pm	April 17 - 6pm	$100
Quincy 67s U16 National Bound Split Team 2004 & 2005 Birth Years PHL	April 8 - 7pm	April 9 - 7pm	April 14 - 7pm	$100
Quincy 67s U18 National Bound Split Team 2003 & 2002 Birth Years PHL	April 8 - 8pm	April 9 - 8pm	April 14 - 8pm	$100

5,000 Puck Challenge

Some of you may have already seen this, but this is always a good one to fall back on.  Have your player shoot a total of 5,000 pucks. Practice variety: wrist shots, backhands, snap shots and slap shots.  For those players who have better command of some of the shots mentioned, have them isolate targets for every 50-100 pucks they shoot daily; top corner, low blocker etc.

Keep a running tally over the next few weeks and send me an email when your player reaches 5,000.  Some of you may already keep track and have a head start; that’s totally fine. We’ll keep a list of players who complete this challenge.  You can also post their 5,000th shot on Facebook and tag QYH. We’d love it if players were wearing their QYH jerseys in their posts.

50 Puck Challenge

Some of you may have seen this as well, but this is great for stickhandling and focus.  Line up 50 pucks (or other stationary objects that won’t move; coffee cups etc) in a straight line.  You want a distance roughly 1 foot between each puck. The goal is to stickhandle between each puck down the line without touching ANY puck.  If you touch or move a puck, you start from the beginning until you make it through without touching. Most examples of this online are being done on the ice and sadly we don’t have any ice to work with.  If you do this in the street or at a park, you can stickhandle with a street hockey ball or golf ball.

Click on these links for examples.  Oh by the way goalies, you can take part as well. 

 

https://www.nhl.com/video/sparky-does-50-puck-challenge/t-277350912/c-5339704

PODCAST LISTENS

The Hockey Think Tank

     Episode 89 - Mark Dennehy

     Episode 41 - Wendy Glover

     Episode 18 - Ryan Hardy

More Hockey Think Tanks Listens

            Episode 98 - Tommi Niemela

            Episode 5 - Kendall Coyne

            Episode 9 - Adam Nicholas