The Junior Team is proud to announce the advancement of the following players:
#5 Mike Little - AIC
#7 Mike Puc - AIC
#12 Brian Collins - Saint Anselm College
#21 Kyle Gendron - Hudson Valley
#91 Chris Beaudoin - Potsdam State

 
The Pics organization would like to wish these players good luck
in the next four years at their schools.

Junior Pics Bantam Major Team Wins Sherbrooke Tournament

The tournament was in Sherbrooke Quebec, Canada on December 26th - December 30th. The games were as follows:

Dec. 27th - Amiraux De Becancour 3 vs. Pics 6
Dec. 28th - Pics 3 vs. Sports Experts Drummondville 3
Dec. 29th - Pics 3 vs. Forestiers De Maniwaki 3
Dec. 29th - Optimistes De Dolbeau-Mistassini 4 vs Pics 6
Dec. 30th - Semi Finals - Pics 5 vs. Canadel De Louiseville 3
Dec. 30th - Finals - Pics 5 vs. Quebec Cartier 1

The Springfield Junior Pics Bantam Major team won in the Finals game and the MVP of the Tournament was given to Frankie Vatrano from our team.


Hockey Team Gains World Stage
As seen in the Sunday Republican on Sunday, December 23, 2007
Bill Wells at wellsb6@charter.net

It's been a fun year for the Springfield Junior Pics PeeWee Major team. In February, it's going to get even better. The Pics qualified for the Quebec International Hockey Tournament, which is the world's largest event for 12-year-olds. The 10-day event draws teams from Canada, the United States, Russia, Finland, Ukraine and Sweden, as well as other countries. "It's a great group of kids," coach Brian Foley said. "They work hard. We have great families. It's been a fun year. The best is yet to come. "It's winter carnival. It's a hockey tournament, a family vacation, and a lifetime of memory for the kids." Since the tournament is just for 12-year-olds, players have just one opportunity to qualify. This year's Pics players fully understood the situation, and made sure they put themselves in the best possible position to qualify. The Pics play in the Metropolitan Boston Hockey League. The qualifying round winner of the league receives an automatic berth to Quebec. The qualifying round includes a team's record in its first meeting against a league opponent. The Pics couldn't afford a slow start to its season. "We did some things we hadn't done in the past," Foley said. "We played in three summer tournaments, so when our season started we were more prepared, instead of starting in September and playing our first game seven days later. One loss could cost you." The Pics played in tournaments at Marlboro in May and July, and at Foxborough in August. The tournament at Foxborough was particularly tough, with a number of the top peewee major teams in the country attending. Those opponents had all-star teams, as opposed to the Pics' regular team. The Pics went 1-3. The Metropolitan schedule started soon thereafter, and the Pics were ready. "We grew a lot as a team from that tournament," said Foley, whose team has been together for four seasons. "We were certainly as prepared as we could be. They also did dry land (workouts) throughout the summer. We did that the month of August, and before practices. They did things to improve themselves." And when the regular season, and subsequent qualifying round, started, the Pics never suffered that one loss, going 7-0-1. The team clinched its trip to Quebec Nov. 10 with a 5-2 win over Edgewood, R.I. The team, which won the Metro League playoffs the last three seasons, stands 13-2-1 in the league and 19-5-1 overall. They also won the Minuteman Flames Fall Classic in Marlboro in October. "The strength of our team is our balance. We have balance throughout the offense," Foley said. "We have six very good defensemen and two very good goalies. Our goals against average is 1.5. We're tough to score against, which helps in those low-scoring games. We play very good team defense." East Longmeadow's Ryan Cloonan, Agawam's Corey and Kyle Jenks, Westfield's Nate Summers and Nate Tremblay, Longmeadow's Cormac Kennedy and Matt Stockley, Jason Lamott of Coventry, Conn., and Danny Kycia of West Hartford, Conn., play forward for the Pics. The defense includes Ludlow's Artie Potter, Hatfield's Zach Langlois, Longmeadow's Matt Foley, South Hadley's Eric Fernandes and Cullen Geary, and Kurt Weissenburger of Hebron, Conn. Springfield's Johnnie Liquori and Palmer's Eddie Sablak are the team's goalies. Ludlow's Nick Forzano and Aaron McNamara are team alternates. Serving as assistant coaches are Peter Langlois, Andrew Wright and Jim Pagliaro. Cloonan and Potter are the team captains. NHL legends such as Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Guy Lafleur have played in the 49-year-old tournament, which is held at The Colisee. The championship game typically draws 14,000-15,000 spectators.


Mite Majors Battle in Michigan!
March 8 , 2008

On October 28,2007 thirteen 8 year olds representing Western Massachusetts and the Springfield Junior Pics Mite Major hockey team won the Regional Qualifier Silver Stick Tournament in Bridgeport CT that gave the Pics an automatic bid to the 46th International Silver Sticks Finals in Saint Clair Shores Michigan on January 24th-27th 2008. The Silver Sticks tournament placed the top 16 teams in the US and Canada to play against one another. Preliminary rounds were 3 games with the top 4 teams advancing on. The first game matched the Pics vs the Grosse Ille Islanders out of Michigan. The Pics scored the first two goals and added an empty neater to seal the victory in a tough fought 3-1 victory. The second game of the tournament matched the Springfield Pics vs. the Detroit Dragons. The Pics got off to a slow start as the Dragons scored the first 3 goals. The Pics did add a late goal by with the goalie pulled to bring the score to 3-1 but it just was not enough as the Pics dropped this game 3-1 to the Dragons. The third game matched the Pics up against the Geneva Cyclones out of Illinois. The Cyclones entered the game with a 2-0 record beating both the same opponents that the Pics have played (6-3 vs the Islanders and 6-1 vs the Dragons). The Pics were ready to play from the first drop of the puck. It was an exciting game back and forth with great hustle and hard work and a never say die attitude the Pics held onto a 3-2 victory! This loss gave the Cyclones there first defeat of the tournament and there only defeat in there season! Unfortunately with a 2-1 record we were not fortunate enough to make the semi finals. The Cyclones made it on goal differential. Out of 16 teams the Springfield Jr Pics were tied for 4th place and that is a tremendous weekend for this group of 8 year old boys. We should all be proud of the efforts and hard work, Congratulation Pics. This was an experience the kids,coaches and parents will never forget the caliber of hockey was tremendous and every single player worked there tails off and most importantly had a great time


Silver Sticks Tournament Championship Victory Sends Mite Majors to Michigan!
January 30 , 2008

This past weekends Silver Sticks Tournament was a huge success for the Springfield Junior Pics Mite Majors as they took home the top prize... a trip to St. Clair Shores, Michigan on 1/25/08 - 1/27/08 as one of the teams representing the Northeast!

Scores:
NJ Coloniels 0 vs. Junior Pics 2
Darien, Ct 2 vs. Junior Pics 3
Mid Fairfield, Ct 4 vs. Junior Pics 2

After the round robin, the top two teams from each division went onto the semi-finals. The Pics were seeded second and played the number one seed in the other division. The Middlesex Islanders lost to the Junior Pics 2-1 in a spectacular semi-final shoot out. In the finals, the Junior Pics were down 2 to zero with just under 7 minutes left and they came on with a flurry of 4 goals beating Top Gun 4-2. This is quite an honor for the players, coaches, and parents!!!


Mite Majors Bring Home the Top Prize at the North American Championships at NESC on Thanksgiving Weekend!
November, 2007

The first game matched the Junior Pics Mite Majors vs. the Dracut Bulldogs. The Pics were victorious 5-1. The second game matched an old MBHL rival the Worcester Crusaders. The boys skated very hard and were very aggressive with a nice 6-0 victory. The third game matched the Junior Pics Mite Majors up with the Middlesex Islanders, the same team they beat in the semi finals in Bridgeport, CT at the Silver Sticks Tournament. The first contest was a great 1-0 victory for the Pics in a shootout so we all knew this would be a great battle. When the dust settled the boys played aggressive defense and some timely goals and just fantastic goaltending and we secured ourselves the number one seed and a buy into Sundays Championship with a 3-0 victory. Championship Bridgewater Mass Bandits vs. Junior Pics. It Was a rough and tough game with end-to-end action from both teams. Again a great effort by all the boys and when the buzzer sounded it was the Pics celebrating another tournament championship with a 5-2 victory.


Springfield Junior Pics Mid-Season Wind Down Party
Thursday, November 1, 2007


The organization has decided to have a mid-season wind-down party. After a thorough look at the organizations schedules, a decision was made to have the party on January 4, 2008. The party will be held at the Moose Family Center in Chicopee, MA. Social hour is from 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m., dinner at 8:00 p.m. followed by dancing to local DJ Lazer. The donation is $20 per person and $35 per couple. Again, any money raised will be deposited into the Family Hardship Account. All tickets and money need to be returned to Sue Olson or myself by December 15, 2007.


Springfield Junior Pics and NE Junior Falcons Girls Programs Merge
Sunday, March 10, 2007


Two locally based hockey organizations have announced today that they will merge their Girls Hockey Programs for the upcoming playing season in 2007-2008. The Springfield Jr. Pics and the New England Jr. Falcons agreed to merge the programs to allow more girls wishing to play ice hockey in a competitive environment an opportunity to participate in a larger program that  will provide the potential for National bound competition and also develop them for both Prep School and College Careers.

Click here to read more...


Springfield Junior Pics Calendar Fundraiser Winners
Monday, April 23, 2007

Click on the "Calendar Fundraiser Winners" link below to see if you won or know somebody who won. Thanks to all the teams for their support and participation.

Calendar Fundraiser Winners


  #2 Matt Berg - UMass Amherst
#10 Dan Tanaki - UMass Dartmouth
#12 Ryan Lessard - Saint Anselm College
#14 Jeff Tellier - Salem State
#15 Tony Nelson - Western New England College
#19 Keith Dube - Becker
#20 Mike St. Lawrence - Assumption
#22 Everet Rauch - Wentworth
#28 Nate Towse - Becker
#34 Brandon Melikian - Becker
#88 Chris Benoit - Becker
#18 Adam Cartier (Junior B) - WPI
The Junior Team is
proud to announce the advancement of the following players:
 
 

1234

The Pics organization would like to wish these players good luck
in the next four years at their schools.

IN YOUTH HOCKEY, THE PENALTY BOX IS GETTING CROWDED
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
by Reed Albergotti, The Wall Street Journal

Bernice and Joe Collins have been among the most loyal fans of their grandson, Jerry Brock Jr., in his youth-hockey league in Brighton, Mich. But this fall, they are boycotting his games. His team spends so much time in the penalty box that his grandparents say it's pointless to attend.

When the National Hockey League revamped its rules and policies last year, the idea was to speed up play and make games more exciting for fans. But in the nation's youth leagues, enforcing the rules has actually slowed things down and landed many more kids in the penalty box. In trying to mimic the NHL, USA Hockey, the organization that oversees amateur hockey for 370,000 players from ages six to 17, has run into an epidemic of players cooling their skates for holding, hooking and other infractions.

In some leagues, games are seeing four times the number of penalties typically called last season. The result, in many places, is frustrated players, irate parents and coaches getting booted from games.

On the first day of this year's Jr. Sharks Labor Day Kickoff Tournament in San Jose, Calif., which draws elite teams from as far away as Alaska and Texas, more than a dozen coaches had to sit out a game because their teams netted too many penalties. Games were punctuated by parents yelling obscenities from the stands.

It isn't that teams have gotten more thuggish. Instead, referees are being asked to blow the whistle on tactics that have long been an accepted -- indeed, encouraged -- part of the game, from lightly grabbing players to slow them down to snagging them with the end of a hockey stick to get better positioning. The idea is to signal teams that even minor transgressions won't be tolerated -- and have players spend more time skating and shooting and less time grappling with one another.

In NHL hockey, the moves were hailed as a big success. But in youth hockey, getting referees to apply the policies consistently has been a big challenge. Before the NHL adopted its new rules, refs had to attend a weeklong minicamp, where they not only studied the changes in classrooms but practiced them repeatedly during live play.

But training the 27,000 USA Hockey referees is a much bigger challenge, and some say the one-day course to review the new policies wasn't enough. On top of that, it's taking the kids longer to get used to the new environment and adjust their game to avoid penalty calls. USA Hockey's new dictates also apply to the tens of thousands of adults who play in amateur ice-hockey leagues in the U.S. Youth-hockey leagues in Canada and Europe have adopted similar changes this season.

Ultimately, USA Hockey says, the stepped-up enforcement will improve the game. "Speed, skill and strength, which were tenets of the game, were being held up by interference, hooking, holding," says Ron DeGregorio, president of USA Hockey, which is based in Colorado Springs, Colo. The changes will also help reduce injuries, he says.

The NHL is pitching in to help resolve the confusion. Several pros, including Ryan Suter from the Nashville Predators and Brian Rolston of the Minnesota Wild, have visited with groups of youth-hockey players to review the changes.

But Ryan Frendewey, an 18-year-old player from Lake Linden, Mich., says he's worried that the chaos could affect his chances of making it to the next level. Mr. Frendewey has dreamed of playing for the University of North Dakota or for Colorado College since he was four. To better his odds, he moved two hours from home to join an elite amateur team, the Marquette Electricians. He lives with a local family and recently took a job at a fast-food place to pay his way.

But he's nervous that scouts are going to pass him by this season or will fail to get a good look at his game because of all the penalties. In one game, the Electricians wracked up 14. "This is a make-or-break season for me," he says. "It's frustrating."

Indeed, some scouts have left games this season scratching their heads. Over the summer, Gene Reilly, head hockey recruiter for Northeastern University in Boston, flew to St. Cloud, Minn., in part to see a highly touted 6-foot, 175-pound center. But for the five days that Mr. Reilly was in town, he barely got a chance to see the candidate play normal, five-on-five hockey. Half the time the center, known for his scoring abilities, was forced to play defense because his team was short-handed -- and when he did get a chance to play offense, it was usually against a team that had one or two fewer players on the ice because the others were sidelined by penalties. "Every game was just penalty after penalty," says Mr. Reilly. "You couldn't evaluate."

For Alex Griffin, a 16-year-old player in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., the changes have forced him to master squeezing himself into a penalty box built for two with four other guys. In a recent game, there were so many penalties -- refs called a total of 50 -- that the penalty box was like a revolving door. Alex was crammed into the corner, his view of the game blocked by the two players forced to stand in front of him. At one point, a player in the box declared that there were almost enough people for a party, and asked another where the chips and salsa were.

Some coaches are resorting to unusual measures to reduce their penalty counts. After coaching the Maple Leafs to three consecutive losses in a recent tournament, Todd Holmes decided that something was missing from his practices: a referee. So he asked one to come and observe the Sylvania, Ohio, team play a mock game. Every time someone got a penalty, the players gathered around the ref, who then explained the violation. "Better have them learn in practice than learn the hard way," says Mr. Holmes.

Jerry Brock Jr., the 17-year-old in Brighton, Mich., whose grandparents have stopped coming to his games, is so exasperated by the changes that he wants to quit. But his father won't let him. His mother, meanwhile, calls Jerry's grandparents before every game to let them know when it starts. But they're refusing to attend until the pace picks up again. "It just doesn't seem much like hockey -- they have to be able to hit each other," says Mrs. Collins, Jerry's 64-year-old grandmother.

Part of the issue may be confusion among refs, which has led to some unevenness in the way the rules are enforced. About 10 percent of USA Hockey refs have yet to take the one-day seminar; they have until the end of November to complete the requirement.

Last month, USA Hockey sent out an email clarifying rules that it said some referees were taking "too literally." Refs were told during their preseason training on the changes, for example, that "the use of a free hand/arm will not be allowed to grab or impede a player's progress." But in last month's follow-up email, USA Hockey said it's actually OK for puck carriers to use their free arm to fend off opposing players.

Refs at first were also told that "the use of the stick will be limited to only playing the puck." But the later email said that a player can use his stick to keep an opponent at bay if the player is fighting for position in front of the net, so long as he keeps the stick close to his body. For refs, though, that email didn't clear up all the questions. Bill Fehrman, a director of the Illinois Hockey Officials Association, which oversees refs in the state, says that within 48 hours of that email, he had already received 20 calls from refs wanting further clarification.

 
© Copyright 2005, Springfield Junior Pics | info@springfieldjrpics.com | Mission | Legal & Privacy Policy | Sponsors