Dear LEAFS Hockey Club Family,

What an amazing year for hockey in Chicago.  If only Lord Stanley could erase the perpetual pain the northside boys of summer bring.  It's hard to believe Fall registration is once again upon us.  The LEAFS brought home an impressive 9 NIHL, 1 President, 3 State playoff and 1 State Championship banners last Fall.  The LEAFS Hockey Club is effective--and we have been hard at work to make our programs even better and stronger for the Fall 2010/11 season.

Having the right coaching staff in place is paramount to our success.  Our Club has received interest from coaches throughout the area and Midwest, and we believe we have put together a top-notch coaching slate.  Welcome to:

Mike Perillo, Midget Hockey Director / Central States Midget, Major Head Coach

Stan Stiopkin, Central States Bantam, Minor Head Coach

Dan Costanza, Central States PeeWee, Major Head Coach

These coaches bring a great wealth of coaching experience and hockey expertise which we are confident will translate to success for the Club and our players.  All of our head and assistant coaches will be part of the new Coach mentoring program which will promote new strategies, planning techniques, consistency and education to increase coach, player and team development. 

Player skill development is always of primary focus, and we look forward to enhancing and building upon our programs such as Mite/Squirt Nite, which is based on USA Hockey's American Development Model (ADM).  By equipping, training and better preparing our coaches to keep each player challenged, focused and interested--the goal of helping players recognize their full potential will be realized.  PeeWee through Midget Skills development will also incorporate many of these aspects as well as specialized coaching staff to address specific team development needs.

A new ADM Program is offered to Mite through Bantam aged players who are looking for highly focused skills training.  The emphasis of this program will be learning the fundamentals of hockey the right way--in a practice setting where the correct practice to game ratio will enhance skating, passing, stickhandling, shooting, and rule/team play skills.  These skills based groups will see great improvement in their abilities over the course of the season--providing a great foundation for years to come. 

Solid goaltending is a priority--it is our last line of defense for each of our teams.  A goaltending committee is being formed to help establish objectives and direction for the Club to improve our goalies.  In conjunction with this committee, the Garofalo Goaltending Group will implement a goalie development program to improve on- and off-ice training, provide access to online educational materials, and bring this select group of players to an elite level of playing.

I'm looking forward to the 2010/11 season and all the success it will bring to our Club.  I hope to see you all at the rink very soon.

Sincerely,


Bob Gohde
VP Hockey Operations
LEAFS HOCKEY CLUB