Celebrating Our One Year Anniversary!

by Shane Bertou

Today marks the one year anniversary of Flour City Hockey Club.

Our very first event was a pick up skate at Bill Gray's Regional Iceplex on January 4, 2021. We had 20 skaters and two goalies turn out that night and everyone had a great time playing hockey just for fun with some new friends.

We could have never predicted what the next year would have in store for us!

Counting every pick up skate, skills clinic, league game and special event, we've provided local hockey players of all skill levels 180 opportunities to play hockey over the past twelve months. And quite a few of you have turned out to play.

Well... more than a few actually. Total attendance for our first year was 2,916 to be exact; 212 skaters. 27 goalies. 

The youngest player to lace up with us this year was nine years old. The oldest, 65.

We're absolutely floored by how fast things have grown in just our first year. We now have four teams representing the club in the Iceplex Adult Hockey League across different skill levels. We started our own Short Ice League, which is just starting its third season. We've hosted countless skills clinics and pick up skates and we keep making new friends along the way. 

It would appear that we've stumbled onto something. As it turns out, if you provide people a chance to play hockey for fun - and at a reasonable price - it generates a lot of excitement and people are eager to come out and play.

So what do you say we keep playing?

We've got some exciting things planned for the upcoming year, and we can't wait to have you join us. We're grateful for your enthusiastic support and can't thank you enough for your role in making this all possible!

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2021 Highlights

  • Flour City's IAHL Monday Novice/Novice+ team won the Winter 2021 and Fall 2021 championships
  • The Flour City Selects team won the Spring Paul Louis Arena Novice Tournament
  • 43 players took part in our inaugural Spring Short Ice Tournament at Evolve Hockey which gave birth to ... 
  • Our club Short Ice league is now entering its third 12-week season
  • We hosted two themed games at Paul Louis Arena; the Old Timer's Game for players over 40 and our first Ladies Night which featured nearly 20 women players
  • We hosted Rochester Special Hockey for a return to hockey event that gave a team of players with developmental disabilities their first chance to play hockey in over a year
  • 40 players took part in our Outdoor Series at DICK's Sporting Goods

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Top 20 Most Engaged

The following skaters were the most active with Flour City Hockey Club in 2021:
Shane Bertou (131), Zak Sadwick (87), Ken Klotzbach (85), Ben Lee (81), Karyn Bower (78), Kyle Jacque (62), Doug Keller (62), Gregg Sadwick (62), Adam Keymel (60), Pat Whitman (59), JP Freel (57), Pat Jenkins (55) Albert Blankley (53), Bryce Waltman (49), Katherine Arisumi (47), Dean Cutri (47), Mike Trinidad (46), Joe Jacque (45), Ken Skender (45), Jaclyn Ingrassio (44).

Top five active goalies:
Mike Bianchi (59), Frankie Golojuch (51), Gavin Streb (45), Ryan Yacono (22), Will Volkmar (18), Ron Coon (18)

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Thank You Players!

Flour City Hockey Club wouldn't exist without those of you who showed up to play, so we want to say a special thank you to all of you who skated with us in 2021!

Skaters:
David Aitken, Matt Alberts, John Altobello, Carlos Alvarado, Dave Angie, Susan Archacki, Katherine Arisumi, Jason Baird, Noreen Barrese, Sarah Bartenslager, Brenna Bauer, Tom Baumgartner, Josiah Bertou, Shane Bertou, Kyle Bill, Matthew Bissi, Sean Blaney, Albert Blankley, Chris Bondy, Karyn Bower, Kevin Brolly, Jakiem Brown, Kayla Brown, Zach Brown, Tim Brugger, Ryan Burst, Jamie Bushart, Kevin Carpenter, Jona Chartrand, Alexei Chatterton, Marissa Christensen, Mike Cinquino, Joe Climek, Justin Contestable, Emma Corbett, Ned Corbett, Tom Cottorone, Kaitlin Cowie, Ryan Crosby, Dean Cutri, Joe D'Anunzio, Damien D'Arcy, Kevin Dale, Steve Daley, Tim Daly, Gary Dambra, Allen Davis, Jerry DeRomanis, Jeff Dey, Holly DeYoung, Sami DiFilippo, Jen Dowdall, Rob Dutcher, Ryan Ellison, Dustin Fanciullo, Kevin Farnand, Sarah Farnand, Brianna Fennessey, Coz Fiore, John Freel, JP Freel, Justin Fulkerson, Nissa Fung, Jake Gagnon, Nick George, Jason Gerhard, Elizabeth Gillespie, Antonio Gray, Brady Grow, Bridget Hamlin, Kevin Harman, Drew Harris, Kai Heidenberg, Chris Higgins, David Hitchcock, Devin Hogan, Carl Holmes, Rick Horch, Jeremy Houghtaling, Tim Howland, Cameron Hubbard, Jaclyn Ingrassio, Ed Inzana, Abby IpenVanZelien, Joe Jacque, Kyle Jacque, Tyler Jarvis, Pat Jenkins, Bob Johnson, Evan Johnson, Rob Jones, Doug Keller, Adam Keymel, Patrick Kieffer, Ben Kinmond, Eric Kirby, Dan Kirkpatrick, Matt Kleckner, Ken Klotzbach, Joe Koenig, Marcel LaChance, Norah Lamendola, Alex Lander, Ben Lee, Conor Lee, Bruce Letzelter, Timothy Limner, Nick Lind, Chris Linford, Brett Little, Mike Loete, Mike Lowrey, Andrew MacKenzie, Joe Marasco, BJ Marks, Mike Marks, Dalton Martin, Erin McCarthy, John McCrone, Dustin Milhollen, Abby Miller, Charlie Minges, John Mochner, Grace Monette, Dave Morgan, Nathan Morgan, Darryl Mott, Tim Moynian, Ryan Mullhern, Ryan Murphy, Dave Nau, Adam Nemchick, Brandon Nesbitt, Daniel Nesbitt,  Matt Nielsen, Sean Nolan, Bobby Novak, Gary O'Donnell, Adriana O'Heron, Carlos O'Heron, Jason Offord, Anthony Paola, Desi Pastore, Darren Perilli, Paul Plavetzki, Lee Porterfield, Chris Potter, Adam Preston, Sean Ragan, Chris Ramsingh, Matt Rawlins, Jonathan Reid, Shaun Rhodes, Maddie Ricketts, Mike Rush, Gregg Sadwick, Timothy Sadwick, Zak Sadwick, Alison Santacroce, Bennett Savino, Cory Schmidt, Tim Schneider, Jason Schunk, Allyson Schwind, Marcus Shelly, Randy Shengulette, Ken Skender, Max Slade, Chad Slocum, Kristian Sorensen, Christian Sparacino, Dan Spetz, David Stevens, Andy Stoessel, Khalil Stokes, Gavin Streb, Jacob Streb, Rob Sulli, Zach Sullivan, Jeff Sweeting, Lian Sydorowicz, Steve Sydrorowicz, Tom Thibault, John Thorpe, Duncan Topley, Matthew Trau, Mike Trinidad, Mike Truisi, Jake Vanzile, Dave Vincent, Brandon Volkmar, Will Volkmar, Larry Wallworth, Lawson Wallworth, Bryce Waltman, Scott Ward, Branden Weaver, Justin Webb, Mitchell Webb, Pat Whitman, Jim Wilbur, Emma Williams, Brittany Wormley, Anthony Wright, Ryan Yacono, Felix Yarovinsky, Peter Yarovinsky, Travis Yerger, Sam Yurick, Jacob Zarpentine, Mike Zobel

Goalies:
Ron Coon, Greg Dicheck, Frankie Golojuch, Kojun Hatta, Chris Jakala, Wolveridge Langan, Sarah Limberger, Chloe Marshall, Matt McDermott, Anthony Paola, John Phillips, James Rigby, Brett Siebert, Chad Slocum, Gavin Streb, Dave Vincent, Will Volkmar, Dan Watson, Josh Williams, Ryan Yacono