Posts by Colleen Lynch
NCAA Eligibility Center Begins Texting Program
ELIGIBILITY CENTER BEGINS TEXTING PROGRAM SEPTEMBER 16
Starting the week of Sept. 16, the Eligibility Center will begin messaging prospective student-athletes via text with updates relating to their Eligibility Center accounts.
The text messaging program, which has been under development for more than a year, is designed to more effectively communicate information about the certification process to high school student-athletes seeking certification, as well as increase each student-athlete’s rate of response to certification tasks. The program is also designed to decrease the number of emails sent from the Eligibility Center and minimize inquiries to the Customer Service team.
During the certification season, which runs through summer to mid-September, an average of 250,000 prospective student-athletes come through the EC, seeking certification or information on certification. Of those, approximately 100,000 register with a certification account annually.
Each account can require a dozen or more direct contacts from the EC, usually via email, in order to assist each student in moving their certification process forward.
This can be another valuable resource for our student-athletes. See links below to NCAA Resources.
Indy CoE Partners with Styner Sports Training
Greg Austin, Director of the Indy Center of Excellence, is pleased to announce that Styner Sports Training will provide the off-ice strength and conditioning program for the CoE student-athletes for the 2019-2020 school year.
“This is a great opportunity for our student-athletes to receive the professional off-ice strength and conditioning that Styner offers,: stated Coach Austin; “Off-ice conditioning is an important component of training elite hockey players and creating the well-rounded athlete.”
Chris Clyne, owner of Styner Sports, shared the announcement on Facebook. “We are excited to build on this relationship and eager to help develop these high end players.”
Styner Sports Training has been in business for several years and trains both individual players and also many of the local high school hockey teams. Of note, Styner Sports trained local NHL player Mason Jobst, forward for the NY Islanders.
17 NJP Alumni Participated in NAHL Showcase
Last weekend was the 7th annual North American Hockey League (NAHL) Showcase at the Super Rink in Blaine, Minnesota. All 26 NAHL teams were present and we are excited to see 17 of our Nashville Jr. Predators alumni competing in the showcase. Below is the alumni who competed in the showcase:
ABOUT THE NAHL SHOWCASE
During the 2018-19 season, a record total of 351 NAHL players made NCAA commitments, with 232 (66%) of those being NCAA Division I commitments. The NAHL Showcase plays a big role in that success, with dozens of players each season earning an NCAA Division I opportunity during and following their participation in the event.
“The NAHL Showcase is the Greatest Show on Ice and truly representative of why the NAHL is the League of Opportunity. Our mission each season is to continue to set the bar higher and higher and the 2019 NAHL Showcase will be no different. There is simply no other event like this that brings together the number of scouts that we see during the five days and we look forward to seeing a new crop of players and talent showcase their skills,” said NAHL Commissioner and President Mark Frankenfeld.
The NAHL Showcase attracts over 9,000 people in overall attendance, including more than 350 professional, college and junior scouts. For scouting purposes, the NAHL Showcase is the premier event of its kind and is a yearly gathering for every NCAA program and NHL team as they get their first look at some of the best and brightest hockey talent North America has to offer. For more information on the NAHL Showcase including schedule, ticket prices, hotels, rental cars and arena information, visit nahl.com/showcase
Taso Sofikitis (’96 BSBA, Marketing) Recipient: 2019 UAH Alumni of Achievement
Hard work and faithfully practicing the Golden Rule in business has allowed Taso Sofikitis, CEO and President of Maynards Group of Companies to achieve immeasurable success.
Maynards manages auctions/liqudations, asset valuation projects valued up to half a billion dollars as well as operates a Capital business that does asset-based lending from eleven offices in the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, and China. In addition, the Maynards Group owns and operates manufacturing companies both in the paper/containerboard sector as well as the oil and gas sector.
Sofikitis will be honored in October during the UAH Alumni of Achievement ceremony for his successful international business accomplishments and philanthropic work.
“It’s an honor to accept this award, it means a lot to me because it confirms that if you work hard, treat people right you can achieve success, it is both personally and professionally satisfying to be recognized,” said Sofikitis.
Originally from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, he attended UAH on an athletic scholarship. Sofikitis was a member of the team that won the Division II Hockey National Championship in 1996.
In addition to playing hockey, Sofikitis excelled in his academic studies at UAH. He has fond memories of his College of Business professors including Dr. Brent Wren and Dr. Jim Simpson.
“My favorite UAH experience was being part of the hockey team for four years, building relationships and friendships with my teammates Sheldon Wolitski, Mario Mazzuca, Wade Tulk, Brad Dame, Lance West, and others.
“UAH had a significant impact on my life and my business career, I learned how to manage my time, I learned what it took to work hard both in the classroom and in athletics,” said Sofikitis. “UAH helped me understand the importance of building relationships, and being part of a team…all things needed to be successful in the business world.”
He began his career at Maynards, in 1998, and has been an integral part in helping the company become a global leader. Sofikitis became the majority shareholder in the Maynards Group of Companies in 2012 and has managed countless sales projects around the globe equating to over a billion dollars in sales.
In 2018, Sofikitis and Sheldon Wolitski (’96 BSBA) generously donated funds for a full renovation of the UAH Spragins Hall weight room.
The two alums earned First Team CoSIDA Academic All-America honors as seniors and played for the UAH Chargers under legendary head coach Doug Ross.
Sofikitis is a member of the Machinery Dealers Network Association, the Association of Machinery and Equipment Appraisers, and is a Certified Equipment Appraiser.
He has volunteered and generously donated funds to the Greek Evangelical Church, First United Methodist Church, Make a Wish Foundation ® America, Youth Hockey Programs (USA Hockey), and the UAH Hockey Program. Sofikitis is married to UAH alumna Carrie Hopper Sofikitis and the couple has three children, Nicholas (16), Evan (12) and Sophia (8).
View original article at: https://www.uah.edu/news/news/taso-sofikitis-ninety-six-bsba-marketing-recipient-twenty-nineteen-uah-alumni-of-achievement
TPH Operations Ninja Nichelle Simon Set to Play First Professional Game Tonight and Featured in The Hockey News
The greatest challenge in writing about Metropolitan Riveters defender Nichelle Simon is knowing where to start. Do you begin with the fact she didn’t get her on-ice start until she was a 17-year-old? Do you instead go with the fact that she rose so quickly, was so head-and-shoulders better than those she played with and against, that she transferred from her public school in Atlanta to the veritable hockey factory that is Shattuck St. Mary’s mere months later? Or how about the fact that she started her own women’s team, she hasn’t played at a major competitive level since her final college campaign in 2004-05, she competed on American Ninja Warrior or she’s a cancer survivor who tried to put off chemotherapy treatments last summer in order to tryout for the NWHL?
Maybe we should start with that last one, because it’s why Simon, 36, will be the league’s oldest newcomer this season instead of a spry 35-year-old rookie.
When the NWHL burst onto the scene in 2015, Simon had heard about the fledgling league and was urged by some of those around her to give it a shot, test her mettle, see if she could transition from standout recreational player to professional athlete in the burgeoning women’s circuit. In the years since her time at NCAA Div. III Neumann University ended, she had continued to grow her game. She was and had been practicing with a boys AAA team in Huntsville, Ala., since 2007, she continued skating in recreational men’s leagues and she played on weekends. By her estimation, she was a better player then – and she’s a better player now – than she had never been. The issue, however, was that Simon was on a different journey at the time.
In August 2015, she had committed herself and her life to training for American Ninja Warrior. Hockey was on the back burner, and that’s where it remained for the next two years while Simon lived in the gym, earned her spot on the ninth season of the program and competed with and against some of the best athletes in the world. But at the culmination of her pursuit of one dream, and with time to take stock of what she wanted to tackle next, Simon’s focus shifted.
During the 2017-18 NWHL campaign, she began flirting with the idea of playing in NWHL. And it was in the late stages of that season that she committed. In February 2018, Simon made plans to head to Nashville where she would train with Total Package Hockey – she’s the director of administrations for TPH – in preparation for an NWHL tryout.
“I was ready to go do that, had a hotel booked, was ready to move and everything,” Simon said. “I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with breast cancer on February 22nd of that year, two weeks before I was ready to go.”
And here’s the part where you come to understand something about Simon’s drive and determination: when faced with the cancer diagnosis, among her first questions was whether or not she could put off the surgery, stall the chemotherapy and continue the pursuit of her newfound NWHL dream. As Simon put it, she’s not one who does well when her plans are altered by outside forces. She didn’t want to let anything get in her way. But this? This she had to accept. Her doctors told her she could wait weeks, but not the months her training would require. She went under the knife. She went through four hard months of chemotherapy.
“And all that time, all I was thinking was, ‘Get through this so I can try out for the NWHL next year, because I’m only getting older every year. I’m healthy and I’m strong,’” she said. “And coming off of American Ninja Warrior, I was the strongest and healthiest I’ve ever been and I didn’t want to lose that.”
By the time she finished her treatment in July, however, it had taken its toll. And while it didn’t stop Simon from skating in Chicago’s “Puck Cancer” tournament four weeks after her final round of chemotherapy, which she called one of the most challenging weekends of hockey of her entire life, she felt the impact of what her body had gone through. When she got back into the gym, she was a shadow of what she had been only several months earlier. “I was weaker and tired so quickly, so I couldn’t go as long, couldn’t go as heavy, couldn’t go as hard,” Simon said. “I think it was January, probably, before I really started to feel good in the gym again and could really start pushing a little more.”
But over the next several months, with longtime boyfriend, Eric Smith, by her side, she worked tirelessly. She pushed her body to its limit. The gains were small but incremental. In June, she stepped on the ice for an open tryout in front of Metropolitan Riveters staff. The coaches were impressed, enough to give Simon another look. And that’s when Simon ramped up her workouts. For the next eight weeks, she trained “100 percent, full, all out, every day, like I had been for Ninja Warrior.” Her devotion was rewarded the next time she stepped in front of the coaches. On Sept. 13, her signing by the Riveters was made official when it was announced by the NWHL, and on Sept. 28, Simon stepped foot on the ice for the first time in her professional career.
“I was very overwhelmed,” she said. “I was trying to focus on the game but my mind kept coming back to, just, ‘My God, what am I doing here and how did I get here? This is amazing.’ I’m just in awe of everything and of myself and everything around me. I played that game with a smile on my face almost the entire time. My legs were burning, my lungs were burning and my everything hurt.”
Through it all, though, Simon said she was smiling and happy, thankful for what she’s been able to accomplish. And when she steps foot on the ice for Game No. 1, her big-league debut, she will do so as one of the league’s elder stateswomen despite the fact she is, by all measures, an NWHL rookie. She jokes about it, quips about feeling old – “I told (my teammates) the other day that I’ve been working at my job for 12 years…And one of them looked at me and said, ’12 years? How old are you?’” Simon laughed – but everything that has brought her here has given her a unique perspective on what it means to be accomplishing this dream.
“I’m older than most of them by 10 years or more, and I’ve lived a lot of things,” she said. “I’ve been through a lot of things, obviously, competed at high levels and different things. I sit there and I feel like I have a different outlook on life and on what I’m doing there. I feel very, very honored and lucky to be there.”
View original article at: https://thehockeynews.com/news/article/nwhl-preview-meet-36-year-old-rookie-nichelle-simon-the-nwhls-most-interesting-woman?sfns=mo
TPH Colorado Partner Angelo Ricci Positively Impacting the Philadelphia Flyers
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The Flyers quietly hired a skills coach, Angelo Ricci, in September, and they hope he can help the players improve in various areas – shooting, stickhandling, skating, winning more puck battles, to name a handful – and that it will lead to more victories.
Hey, when you haven’t won a playoff series since 2012, it’s worth a try.
When the Flyers are home, Ricci gives the players individual instruction before or after practices held in Voorhees. The players can ask him to work on specific areas they feel need upgrading, or he can make suggestions based on what he has seen.
When the team is on the road, Ricci does the same routine with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the Flyers’ AHL affiliate.
Ricci was hired by the Flyers after new coach Alain Vigneault suggested to general manager Chuck Fletcher that a skills coach would make the team better. Vigneault had one when he coached Vancouver and the New York Rangers. Fletcher agreed with the idea, and Ricci, who held a similar role with the Buffalo Sabres, was hired as a full-time coach.
“Players always loved it, so when I came here, I thought it was the right thing to do,” Vigneault said the other day. “Players love working on different skills you need throughout the game, not just the shooting and the passing, but sometimes the quick turns and taking pucks to the net. Shooting on the fly.”
Vigneault said he got “feedback from people who knew Angelo. I got a report from [Avalanche GM] Joe Sakic, who spoke very highly of him” from their days together with the Colorado Thunderbirds AAA team, “made the contacts, talked to him a couple times, and met him down at the draft, and we got him signed and brought him aboard.”
James van Riemsdyk had a skills coach during his years with the Maple Leafs.
“It’s a really nice resource to have,” the Flyers’ 30-year-old left winger said. “It’s nice to have it in-season, too. We had it more in the offseason in Toronto.”
MAXIMIZING PRACTICE TIME
Practices aren’t as frequent these days because, with rugged schedules, there’s a strong belief that teams should get lots of recovery time after games, keeping them fresher and more effective.
When you do have practices, “you want to maximize your time on the ice and work on your skills,” van Riemsdyk said. “You want to keep feeling comfortable with puck touches and things like that. He’s an awesome guy and he’s super receptive to work on pretty much whatever you want to work on. I work on collecting pucks off the wall and just being more comfortable carrying the puck in different situations in the offensive zone. He has different drills for that.”
The Flyers have many areas that can be improved, including getting off more shots. They were 21st out of 31 teams in shot attempts while playing five-on-five last season, though their accuracy was a solid 11th in the league (an 8.3 percent success rate).
Defenseman Ivan Provorov has worked primarily on stickhandling and shooting drills with Ricci.
“Sometimes, you want to shoot a little more, and you stay after practice and work on that, shooting through screens and stuff like that,” said Provorov, who scored the Flyers’ first goal at the Wells Fargo Center this season as Oskar Lindblom set a screen in front.
It will be interesting to see if Ricci’s stickhandling drills, along with drills that give the players quicker sticks on defense, produce results. The Flyers were 18th in the NHL in giveaways last season, and they were only 29th in takeaways.
Attention to such details can help prevent a team from falling behind early. The Flyers had just a .222 winning percentage (24th in the NHL) when trailing after the opening period last season.
Most of the Flyers talked about Ricci’s infectious enthusiasm and how they like to be around him while learning.
“You have to be an upbeat, positive guy when you’re doing skill work with the guys and making sure everyone is feeling confident, and he does a good job with that and keeping everyone smiling,” said right winger Travis Konecny, who has done extra sessions with Ricci to work on shooting off the rush. “His drills are great. They’re the type of drills that don’t tire you out, so you can get a lot of reps in. He’s been great so far.”
“He’s got high energy and what he does can only add to the toolbox for the organization,” center Scott Laughton said.
The Flyers wouldn’t make Ricci available for an interview, but his pinned tweet on his Twitter account gave a hint of his personality.
“It takes one moment to change your course of direction, one decision that makes you step up to the greatness you deserve, and only one LIFE to make it happen” go after everything you want in this life with everything you have!!!
— Angelo Ricci (@AngeloRicci16) April 11, 2018
Tweeted Ricci, who has been the director of hockey operations for the Colorado Thunderbirds AAA Hockey Association since 2005: “It takes one moment to change your course of direction, one decision that makes you step up to the greatness you deserve, and only one LIFE to make it happen. Go after everything you want in this life with everything you have!!!”
The Center of Excellence Model Heads to the Desert
Total Package Hockey is pleased to announce that its eighth Center of Excellence will be housed inside the Ice Den in North Scottsdale, AZ. TPH and Coyotes Ice LLC, have joined forces to bring its Study, Train, Play academy-style model to the desert for the 2020-2021 school year.
“The Phoenix area is a growing hockey market and we couldn’t be more excited to become a part of the Arizona hockey landscape,” TPH CEO Nathan Bowen said. “We are grateful for the opportunity to bring the Center of Excellence to a community like North Scottsdale and be housed in an immaculate, state-of-the-art hockey facility like the Ice Den Scottsdale. The area is flourishing with youth hockey players and the market itself is second to none. Being part of the fabric of North Scottsdale and its surrounding communities, as well as having a partner who is as passionate and progressive as Taylor Burke means we are positioned to continue exceeding expectations of student-athletes, their families and all members of the hockey community. This is a great day for TPH, one we have been working towards for a long time.”
Bowen references Taylor Burke, a Minnesota native with an impressive business and philanthropical resume. The Burke family was responsible for the birth of the NHL Coyotes, spearheading Winnipeg’s relocation to the desert in 1996. Shortly after the team relocated, the family built the Ice Den Scottsdale which resulted in an immediate impact and changed the youth hockey landscape in the state. In 2011, program growth demanded the addition of a third sheet of ice, followed in 2014 by the acquisition of a second two sheet facility in the southeast valley. Over 20 seasons later, the building remains the Official Practice Facility of the Arizona Coyotes and offers hockey and skating programming for all ages and abilities. Constantly evolving and adapting to the needs of its players and skaters has been a key to the facility’s success.
In addition to offering quality programming, investing in the community remains top priority for the family. Since its inception in 1996, the Burke Family Foundation has directed its philanthropic efforts to partnerships and programs committed to providing and enhancing resources in the areas of health, education and athletics.
Still considered by some as a non-traditional hockey market, keeping top hockey prospects in the State of Arizona has in some cases proved a challenge. Burke believes the addition of the Center of Excellence to the Phoenix market will help entice the area’s youth to pursue their hockey goals, but remain at home in the process.
“Our motivation for partnering with TPH is to provide driven hockey players across all youth associations opportunities to master a sport that teaches so many valuable life lessons,” Burke said. “In partnering with TPH, we are providing the next level of that and so much more. Young hockey players in our area who have dreams of playing at the highest levels of hockey now have an elite-level training and academic learning option right in our backyard. The CoE model will incentivize families to keep their young hockey players at home, maintain the quality lifestyle the Phoenix metro area offers all of us and provide their sons and daughters access to a hockey academy that is truly cutting-edge. TPH’s arrival is a great win for hockey families across the entire Arizona hockey community.”
The “cutting-edge” program Burke speaks to references TPH’s on and off-ice Hockey-Athlete training curriculum, as well as its completely individualized, customized blended academic learning experience through Edmentum. Student-athletes attend the Center of Excellence on a clock similar to traditional school and receive elite-level hockey training and mentorship, all while studying in a learning environment that blends a proven, NCAA-accredited online learning platform with on-site academic leadership.
It is important to note that from an academic perspective, the Center of Excellence is not a “home school,” nor is it a “virtual school.” The CoE is a blended learning environment that utilizes an online platform to maximize academic development and outcomes customized for each individual student-athlete.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUSqFfk6wl4[/embedyt]
It is important to note that from an academic perspective, the Center of Excellence is not a “home school,” nor is it a “virtual school.” The CoE is a blended learning environment that utilizes an online platform to maximize academic development and outcomes customized for each individual student-athlete.
“The CoE model creates a best-of-both-world’s scenario,” Nathan Bowen explained. “Student-athletes complete their coursework online and have the option to take school home or on the road with them every day, with no fear of days missed due to their travels. At the same time, when student-athletes are on-site, they study under the direction of an academic leader who is focused on fostering a positive culture, maintaining accountability and putting a learning plan in place for each individual based on where, when and how he or she works best. Our layered academic approach ensures that when it’s time for our student-athletes to focus on hockey, whether its training at the CoE, practicing with their club teams or jumping on a plane to travel to games, they are on-pace or ahead in their courses.”
The process of implementing everything Bowen referenced is well underway. From a facility standpoint, Coyotes Ice President Mike O’Hearn says preparations are being made at the Ice Den Scottsdale as we speak.
“The collective vision of Coyotes Ice and TPH, is to create a one-stop-shop on the Ice Den grounds for all CoE attendees,” O’Hearn said. “We have identified space that will house a state-of-the-art academic wing and training center, both within steps of the ice arena’s main doors. We plan to offer on-site lunch plans, athlete-friendly snacks and a space for video sessions. This vision is in line with TPH’s philosophy of creating mini-campus style setups within their CoE locations. Our hope is that the TPH-Phoenix Center of Excellence will set the standard for what a CoE should look like.”
Even though the 2020-2021 school year is roughly nine months away, TPH will be releasing a variety of informational materials and will be scheduling a handful of both virtual and on-site open house events over the next several weeks. In the meantime, CEO Bowen hopes that Phoenix area hockey families will build up a sense of intrigue and give him and his team the opportunity to “show” the hockey community how the Center of Excellence will impact the aspiring elite hockey player, athlete, student and person.
“The vision of Total Package Hockey is to become the world leader in positively impacting the lives of student-athletes through the game of hockey. From being around Taylor and his team as well as interacting with others in the market, it is evident that in North Scottsdale and the surrounding areas, there is both passion and an expectation for doing things the right way. The CoE model is by no means perfect, but we believe it has the power to change lives for the aspiring elite hockey player, on the ice, in the weight room, in the classroom and most importantly, in the ultimate game- the game of life.”
TPH invites all interested Phoenix Center of Excellence candidates to visit the links below.
Olivia Barnett Joins the TPH Family
Total Package Hockey is excited to announce the addition of Olivia Barnett to the TPH Nashville team. Barnett, native of Erie, Penn., will be the new Program Administrator for the Nashville branch.
Barnett graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, with a Sports, Arts, and Entertainment Management degree. Barnett has spent time working with the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League (PIHL) in Event Operations and Marketing during in-season events and the PA State Championships during the spring of 2018.
Over the past year and a half, Barnett spent time as an Administrative Assistant in Pittsburgh for CMMI Institute, a global leader in enabling organizations to elevate and benchmark performances across critical business practices.
Please join us in welcoming Olivia to the TPH Family!
Kirsten Simms selected for U18 USA Women’s National Team
Congratulations to Kirsten Simms for being selected to the U18 USA Women’s National Team. In addition to this opportunity, Simms is also a 2022 commit to the University of Wisconsin.
“It is an incredible honor to be selected to this program. I am very excited and humbled by the opportunity to represent USA as a member of the U18 Women’s National Team. I really appreciate the many coaches and people who continue to support and encourage me in this journey, and I look forward to keep working as hard as possible to improve as a player and teammate every day” -Kirsten Simms
Simms has always competed at the highest levels of hockey including seasons spent with Compuware, Little Caesars, and Selects Academy. Simms was awarded MVP and Rookie of the Year awards in her first season with Selects Academy.
Simms is a TPH Center of Excellence alum, attending 7th and 8th grade at the Detroit location. Simms has participated regularly in the TPH 8 Week Progressional Program since its inception as well as other TPH training programs.
We are excited for the opportunities ahead for Kirsten and we will be cheering her on as she represents our country.
GET TO KNOW KIRSTEN
Nickname: Simmsy
Who are you inspired by?: Kedall Coyne-Schofield for how incredibly hard she works and for her dedication to the growing hockey as a sport.
Favorite Professional Team: Tampa Bay Lightning, especially getting to watch how Kucherov plays
Favorite NHL Players: Nikita Kucherov and Artemi Panarin
Sunsea Williams Joins TPH Atlanta
Total Package Hockey is excited to announce the addition of Sunsea Williams to the TPH Atlanta team as Director of Academics. Williams is joining TPH Atlanta after spending the last 4 years working in Student-Athlete Academic Support Services at Georgia Tech.
“I am truly grateful for this opportunity and very excited to join the TPH family! I am really looking forward to building relationships with the students and parents and utilizing the skills that I have gained to efficiently uplift the academic program.”
“We are very excited to add Sunsea to our team here in Atlanta. She will bring leadership, structure and knowledge to the Center of Excellence classroom here,” said Brad Schell, Director of Hockey Operations, “Coming from an institution like Georgia Tech, we are excited for what Sunsea will add to the student athlete experience especially in terms of culture and tradition.”
Born and raised in South Bend, IN, Williams is a Northern Illinois University Graduate with a Bachelors in Sociology and Masters in Adult and Higher Education. In her time at Northern Illinois, Williams Ran track and field and cross country at Northern Illinois University. Prior to her previous position, Williams served as an Academic Coordinator (2015-2017) and Assistant Director of Academic Programs (2017-2019) at Georgia Tech and a year as the Athletic Academic Advisor at Jacksonville State University
Please join us in welcoming Sunsea to the TPH Family!