EXTRA! NHL Anaheim Ducks Do Inline!

**zipyaj** · 02-18-2009, 02:27 AM

EXTRA... Read All About It!

I would like to pay special compliments and say Thank You to the NHL's Anaheim Ducks and their The-Rinks program (www.the-rinks.com) for helping our sport! Through their commitment to the sport of hockey in the southland (and beyond!), The Rinks' Anaheim Ice, Corona Inline and Huntington Beach Inline will be around and growing for a long time to come. And there's more to come! As a guest at their "The Rinks" program kick-off at Corona Inline yesterday, it was indeed a proud moment for roller and ice hockey in our community. If you weren't there, reading about this event will be well worth your while!

Ducks players Teemu Selanne, Chris Pronger, Rob Niedermayer and Bobby Ryan were part of the ceremony. While each touted the importance of youth roller and ice hockey programs as imperative to the continuance of our sport, it was Bobby Ryan who was touted as the Inline Hockey Poster Boy.

Ryan, who grew up playing inline hockey in Southern California, had spent some time in the Corona Rink as a youngster. "This certainly brings back memories," Ryan said. "This is awesome for me because I played here and it’s great to see more rinks being built and to be able to give back to programs like these. It's so important for us to get involved and build the game like this in Southern California."

Please read:
Ducks Launch THE RINKS: http://ducks.nhl.com/team/app?articl...e&service=page
Ducks push hockey beyond Orange County line http://www.ocregister.com/articles/h...-program-youth

From my perspective, the Anaheim Ducks are setting a model for all NHL teams to follow. If you have more, please share.

Thanks also to IHC guru Richard Graham who was present for this rock-n-roller hockey event!

Best!

Dangl* · 02-18-2009, 03:22 AM

Originally Posted by zipyaj

EXTRA... Read All About It!

I would like to pay special compliments and say Thank You to the NHL's Anaheim Ducks and their The-Rinks program (www.the-rinks.com) for helping our sport! Through their commitment to the sport of hockey in the southland (and beyond!), The Rinks' Anaheim Ice, Corona Inline and Huntington Beach Inline will be around and growing for a long time to come. And there's more to come! As a guest at their "The Rinks" program kick-off at Corona Inline yesterday, it was indeed a proud moment for roller and ice hockey in our community. If you weren't there, reading about this event will be well worth your while!

Ducks players Teemu Selanne, Chris Pronger, Rob Niedermayer and Bobby Ryan were part of the ceremony. While each touted the importance of youth roller and ice hockey programs as imperative to the continuance of our sport, it was Bobby Ryan who was touted as the Inline Hockey Poster Boy.

Ryan, who grew up playing inline hockey in Southern California, had spent some time in the Corona Rink as a youngster. "This certainly brings back memories," Ryan said. "This is awesome for me because I played here and it’s great to see more rinks being built and to be able to give back to programs like these. It's so important for us to get involved and build the game like this in Southern California."

Please read:
Ducks Launch THE RINKS: http://ducks.nhl.com/team/app?articl...e&service=page
Ducks push hockey beyond Orange County line http://www.ocregister.com/articles/h...-program-youth

From my perspective, the Anaheim Ducks are setting a model for all NHL teams to follow. If you have more, please share.

Thanks also to IHC guru Richard Graham who was present for this rock-n-roller hockey event!

Best!

Yeah this was a pretty awesome event... The Ducks are really trying to make the sport of hockey in general grow. I think it is really cool that they are motivated in opening more Roller rinks in So Cal. Something we have not seen in awhile.

**RichardGraham** · 02-18-2009, 08:06 AM

Hi Folks,

Will someone please comment (reasonably!) on the Photo Gallery submissions that I've posted lately, just so I know that the renewed section on IHC is working?

The latest gallery has shots from yesterday's Anaheim Ducks' event in Corona.

Thank you.

**STEMM** · 02-18-2009, 01:52 PM

Richard, the Pics from yesterday look Great. My favorite pics are from the NHL Breakout. I can remember winning our division at the Breakout in ST. Louis, and I still have the jersey to prove it ! Thanks for renewing the photo gallery.

**RichardGraham** · 02-18-2009, 03:22 PM

Hi Stemm,

Thank you. I also have my jersey from winning NHL Breakout in Santa Monica in 1995. I've hidden the garish Nike jersey I won in the closet and have never worn it since -- it puts the "ugh" in ugly. (I think the NHL must have gotten those jerseys for free and stamped the Breakout logo on them. Did I say how ugly they were?!)

I'll take a photo of that jersey and put it in the Grab Bag photo gallery...

**STEMM** · 02-18-2009, 03:55 PM

My Jersey is a Bauer from '97, and I like it.

It's white w/ orange shoulders. I coach youth hockey, and break it out whem a kid needs to borrow a white jersey, and they think it's cool.

**STEMM** · 02-18-2009, 04:04 PM

Richard, I just looked at your jersey. Are you sure you won ??? The jersey says "FINALIST". I thought the championship game loser got the finalist jersey ? My Jersey says "CHAMPION".

**RichardGraham** · 02-18-2009, 04:07 PM

Hi Stemm,

We won. I think they ran out of champion jerseys. Something dumb like that. But I'd remember if we'd lost.

**STEMM** · 02-18-2009, 04:25 PM

Richard, my 11 year old just came home from school, saw your jersey and said it's "Awesome". I knew he would, the Roller Hockey Jerseys of today are very flashy, I think your jersey may have been a little ahead of it's time.

Mtour71 · 02-18-2009, 04:40 PM

Classic Jersey. I remember those! That style was in back then. My school picture had that as a background!!

**RINKRAT** · 02-19-2009, 02:50 AM

This is AWESOME! I was just watching some coverage on this event on the NHL Network! They even said the word "ROLLER".....WOW!

They showed some kids at one of the inline rinks shooting a puck. They talked about the 2 inline rinks and 1 ice rink...I think. They talked about how they need to promote youth hockey ice and inline to generate more interests in hockey all together. Gave me goose bumps and everthing...LOL! Well it's about DAMN TIME! Great interview with Bobby Ryan too. This is a step in the right direction. GO DUCKS - BUT GO RED WINGS!!!

RAT

**PGHhockey** · 02-19-2009, 09:52 AM

Man, wouldn't it be nice if more NHL teams got this involved with inline hockey? Or at least publicized their efforts as much as Anaheim has?

Locally, Mark Madden ties the Penguins with off-ice hockey events. The "Penguins Power Play Tournament" has always benefitted the Penguins' Hockey In The Hood program, and Ryan Whitney even made an appearance at a recent youth dekhockey tournament.

Think about how cool that is. You're a 7-year-old that goes with your dad to Penguins games all the time, and those guys are your heroes. Next thing you know, you're playing dekhockey at a suburban rink, and there's Ryan Whitney watching YOU play hockey and giving you his autograph after the game. A kid will never forget that. A parent will never forget the look in the kid's eyes when his/her hero shows up to watch them play. That's what makes lifelong fans. That's what customer service is all about. That's what reaching out to your community means.

I've read that the Flyers have made a few appearances at off-ice hockey events over the past year, not much press coverage though. Bill, can you shed any light on that? Maybe I missed something...

There are so many strong inline markets where NHL teams could promote themselves while promoting inline...Boston, Philadelphia, Jersey, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Phoenix, Dallas, Detroit, Columbus...

And maybe someone can shed light on this as well...why does it seem that there's little to no off-ice hockey going on in Minnesota and Chicago? I understand the whole concept that ice dominates, but I never hear much about those areas.

**ACCCT2** · 02-19-2009, 10:09 AM

Why? Because even with a map and highly detailed and proven "How To" directions, the NHL couldn't find its way out of the inside of a paper bag, let alone undertake the proper marketing of the game such incredibly sound logic would demand. That's why.

**RINKRAT** · 02-19-2009, 10:47 AM

We used to have a minor league ECHL team in our town that broke all kinds of attendance records. The first 3 or 4 years, they sold out every home game (11,400 attendance). Even a wed night in the middle of a school week was sold out...and remember, this was a minor league team. But the connection with the players and the community/kids was amazing. The community fell in love with the team and youth ice & inline hockey in our town was born. This was back in '95. Then they stopped doing as much in the community, went through ownership changes and the bottom fell out of the organization. In '98, I took over the operations of an new inline program here (still here today). By about the year 2001/2002, attendacne with the local pro team dropped to about 6 or 7,000 and continued to drop drastically each season. As the league director for the local youth inline program, I spent years trying to convince the organization to do more in the community in order to get the attendance back up. I encouraged them to get involved with the kids especially with the youth programs (both ice and inline) but it fell on deaf ears. Over the years, Owner after owner, head coach after head coach, GM after GM, we attempted to get them involeved with the kids. All they were interested in was if we wanted to become a sponsor or how many tickets we wanted to purchase for youth hockey night. I totally agree with the "creating a hero for the kids goes a long way concept" when it comes to creating potential future season ticket holders but I just couldn't get the pro team to buy into the concept. They eventually lost touch with the community and folded. From an average attendance of over 10,000 for the first 5 years to about 3,000 per game or less during the last 5 years. During the 11,400 per game era, about 8,000 thousand of those were season ticket holders. All those kids that grew up watching the team during the early years ended up playing hockey themselves but were now in college and there wasn't a follow up generation to support the team during the final stretch. The college age kids grew up familiarizing themselves with the players and team and that's what made them want to go the game and eventually play themselves. But the team failed to develop that same connection with the next generation. Hence, the end of a great era! Ice, Roller, Deck Hockey...who cares? Just get those players out there and at the schools and promote youth hockey. That's why I was so excited when I heard about what the Ducks are doing in Anaheim. It's about time! We'll probably never get another chance at it in our town.

RAT : (

**zipyaj** · 02-19-2009, 02:35 PM

Originally Posted by RINKRAT

Ice, Roller, Deck Hockey...who cares? Just get those players out there and at the schools and promote youth hockey. That's why I was so excited when I heard about what the Ducks are doing in Anaheim.

Dear Rat,
You get the message loud and clear! And so does the Anaheim Ducks organization - even if the NHL doesn't see it (YET!).

Last week, before the THE RINKS program kick off event and with a focus onto inline hockey, the Ducks filled the Honda Center with more than 15,000 screeching kids from four surrounding counties for their ninth annual First Flight Field Trip. (read: http://ducks.nhl.com/team/app?articl...e&service=page ). While not every kid is going to pick up a stick, buy some gear and get playing tomorrow, it most definitely helps these kids embrace the sport of hockey. Heck, the Ducks even sponsor a street hockey tournament held in their parking lot with hundreds of elementary school kids participating.

The Anaheim Ducks organization even helps out with our High School Inline Hockey League... they are the primary sponsor of our Academic Achiever Awards program within our annual All-Star program by paying tribute to student-athletes who excel both on and off the rink.

At the end of the day, good business isn't just about putting fans in the stands, it's about putting sticks in their hands and keeping them there to build the sport.

GO DUCKS!