Letter from the President
Dear Junior Flyers Parents & Players:
As the season winds down, it’s a great time to reflect on the past year and look towards the year ahead.
The 2019-2020 season has been an exciting one! From skating at the newly renovated Loring Arena, to the many accomplishments of our teams:
- Five teams representing District 8 are playing in the Mass Hockey State Championship tournaments in the upcoming two weeks Bantam A (Stoneham), Bantam B (Framingham), Pee Wee A (Dorchester), Pee Wee C (Tyngsboro) and Squirt B (Springfield).
- This past November the Midget A lost in OT in the State Championship finals, while Midget B advanced to the State Championship semifinals.
- The Lady Flyers continue to grow in number, and it’s gratifying to see the growth of girls in our program. Next year we expect to have either six or seven girls’ teams ranging from 8U-19U – four years ago, we were only just starting our first team.
- The Mite (8U) teams have been impressive all year. The state does not host any championships at this level and in most tournaments played, our teams have won. (i.e. Mite A Fall Classic and Mite A & C winning the Waltham Tournament).
Not to mention the accomplishments of our program thanks to the hard work of our Board, coaches and many parent volunteers:
- Mass Hockey’s Spotlight Article on the success of the Framingham Junior Flyers Youth Hockey Program
- We initiated the Lady Flyer Development Program
- Set practice schedule for the year for Monday-Friday practices.
- Framingham is hosting the 2020 Mite Jamboree on March 21.
- Hosted Girls Hockey clinic with Kristen Wright, USA Hockey ADM Manager for Female Hockey
- Hosted multiple Try Hockey for Free Day events and Bruins Academy Learn To Play
- The Fundraising committee has been remarkable! Events included Springdale Meet & Greet, multiple restaurant nights, and the hugely successful Calendar Raffle that raised over $23,000
- Framingham Junior Flyers POP-UP Stores and online merchandise availability
- Boston Pride Womens Pro Hockey Partnership
- We placed a special emphasis on skill development & quality coaching with the introduction of Team Dry Land Training rolled out by Tricia Beninati, Checking Clinic & Skills with John Lounsbury and Goalie Development Program with Rob Day.
- Saturday Night 3v3 back by popular demand with the positive feedback!
- FYHP received a Cheever Grant (through Mass Hockey) to fund our 3v3 league.
- BRUINS 1 on 1 at the TD Bank Garden
- Parent Social April 3 Elks
Hockey Registration is now open! The Board of Directors urge FYHP families to register your players as soon as possible. Our program is growing; we are estimating more than 20 teams for the 2020-2021 season. If you have any friends or family that would like to play hockey, please spread the word and encourage them to sign up now.
We are pleased to inform families that for the third year in a row, FYHP will keep tuition at its current rate – a zero tuition increase! And we have been able to do this while our expenses (game and practice ice costs) have increased, and without making significant cuts in practice ice allotment, largely due to the success of our fundraising efforts.
Framingham will be offering Travel teams at 8U-18U for both boys and girls for 2020-2021 and some highlights for next season include:
- Girls 10U -19U will play in Middlesex Yankee Girls Hockey Conference,
- Boys 8U-14U & 18U will play in the Valley Hockey Conference
- Skills with John Lounsbury, Goalie Skills with Rob Day from PuckStoppers
- Learn to Play Hockey & House League
- 8U - 55 practices, 25 VHL game schedule & skills session
- 10U-60 practices, 25 VHL game schedule & skills session
- 12U-63 practices, 35 VHL game schedule & skills session
- 14U-66 practices, 35 VHL game schedule & skills session
- Midget House League half season 2 practices & game each week
- NEW Midget VHL winter session 20 games 2 practices each week
Please note, tryouts will officially start March 13 and will finish by March 26. Please keep in mind the following important points:
- We have a checking clinic March 3 & 10, mandatory for the rising 2007 players
- Mock tryouts start Thursday, March 12 for Mites (8U).
- Goalie evaluation will be on Friday, March 13. All Goalies must Attend.
- We will post team selections in the Document section of the website on April 1, 2020.
For the full tryout schedule and new tryout document schedule visit: www.framinghamyouthhockey.org. Tryout document is in the documents folder of the FYHP website.
Parents – We realize tryouts can be a time of high anxiety on the part of players, parents, and coaches. Please encourage your skater to give their full effort, listen and pay attention when on the ice and most of all, HAVE FUN! For parents, we ask you trust the tryout process. We work hard to ensure every child is placed at appropriate level to best facilitate their development and success as a player, teammate, student, and member of the Framingham Youth Hockey community.
Framingham has had a long tradition of a hockey excellence, which can be evidenced with our Framingham High School Flyer Boys. Last week Framingham played against Arlington at Loring and it was one of the top events of the hockey season - two great teams battling it out to earn a spot to play at for the Mass State High School Hockey Championship. The atmosphere in Loring that night was spectacular…the crowd of 2,800 fans routing for their hometown team was nothing short of electrifying! I must say this was a moment for all the FYHP community, watching so many former Junior Flyers play at the highest level in the state! After playing valiantly, they lost to defending champs BC high 2-1 yesterday, ending their spectacular season as 1 of only 3 public schools to make the Super 8.
I would like to thank all of our coaches, players, managers, board members, sponsors, and volunteers who help to make Framingham Junior Flyers Youth Hockey the successful organization it is and a great place for our kids to grow and develop both as hockey players and as people. The strength and the success of our organization lies within the participation of our membership. I encourage all members to find ways in which they can help to contribute to our success; we’re always looking for volunteers.
In closing, I want to convey to you how proud I am to be associated with the Framingham Junior Flyers Youth Hockey Program. Thank you to everyone for your hard work on behalf of the program. Speaking for the Board of Directors, we encourage your feedback. Please share your insights to me directly at
or call me at 508-380-4371.
Let’s Go! Good luck to our FYHP Junior Flyers, Lady Flyers and FHS Flyers teams!
Sincerely,
Carl Smith
President, Framingham Junior Flyers Youth Hockey Program
