This time of year is awesome if you’re a hockey fan. There is an absolute bounty of top-notch tournaments and championships going on, and it’s a wonder to witness. Who will get hot? Who will cool off? Who makes the clutch shot or save? The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.
With all the excitement surrounding the high school and college playoff tournaments, it may seem as if we overlooked the youngsters. Our apologies for those who feel we’ve neglected you, but that’s not the case at all. Given the fact that there are soooo many of them and only two of us, it’s darn near impossible to keep up! Still, seeing as though we both have kids involved in youth hockey, we were able to catch plenty of action along the way.
Most travel hockey teams have just recently gone through their championship tournaments, and are gearing up for spring leagues, summer camps, and various other activities. But before too much time passes, we wanted to give some ‘props’ to the kids who play for the greatest reason of all – love of the game.
Here in a nutshell is quick overview of travel hockey in Indiana and who took home a little more than cherished memories this season.
The various travel hockey programs are essentially divided into two groups: teams from the Irish Youth Hockey League are members of the Northern Illinois Hockey League (NIHL). All the rest play in the Buckeye Travel Hockey League (BTHL). The NIHL is the larger of the two leagues, and you can probably guess where most of the teams are from. The BTHL has fewer teams but draws teams from Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia.
While youth hockey in Indiana may not be as prevalent as in state like Minnesota or Michigan, there’s still some serious competition around here. And as this season has shown, we Hoosiers can hold our own against the best of ‘em!
NIHL Playoffs
The Irish sent six teams to the Northern Illinois Hockey League playoffs. Things started off well as all six won their opener and moved on. Two teams reached the championship games in their divisions: the 12U Gold B team and the 14U Bronze squad. Unfortunately, both came up a bit short in the title game. Two others reached the consolation round in the double-elimination format, and each came out on top to bring home the bronze.
The Select teams played in a Hockey Time Tournament, with the 12U Gold and 12U Silver teams winning their respective championships. League playoffs started this week and end on March 12 with the first annual IYHL Championship Day.
BTHL Playoffs
Indiana teams managed haul home plenty of hardware in the Buckeye League playoffs. Five teams won titles in their divisions, with four more taking second place and three others finishing in third. For simplicity’s sake, here’s how things shook out:
Champions
- Evansville (12U – A Gold – Lower Division)
- South Indy (12U – A Silver – Lower Division)
- Fort Wayne (10U – AA)
- Fort Wayne (10U – A Bronze – Upper Division)
- Indy Racers (10U – A Bronze – Lower Division)
Second Place
- Jr. Fuel (12U AA)
- Columbus (12U – A Gold – Upper Division)
- Fort Wayne (12U – A Silver – Lower Division)
- Columbus (10U – A Bronze – Upper Division)
Third Place
- South Indy (14U – A Gold – Lower Division)
- Bloomington (10U – A Bronze – Upper Division)
- Evansville (10U – A Bronze – Lower Division)
I’m sure there is plenty more to talk about with respect to the youth hockey scene, and we’re not intentionally ignoring anyone. As budding sports journalists – yes, it may be a huge stretch to call ourselves that just yet but cut the rookies a little slack, will ya? – it has been a whirlwind. It’s been an incredible first season, but far more work than we could have imagined trying to keep up with it all.
We encourage anyone involved in the youth associations to reach out to us with stories, scores, and other tidbits we can share. In fact, if your team or league has something to crow about, tell us about it! We want to know! More important, though… we want to share it! We’ll add it to our site or send it out via our social media feeds.
Not too long ago, we published an in-depth look at the hockey landscape in Indiana. If by chance you didn’t catch it, we encourage you to go back and read the State Of Hockey series. Much of it pertained to the youth hockey scene, and it’ll certainly give you a good picture of what Indiana has to offer.
There is a great deal of house hockey, and those kids hold a special place in our hearts. After all, everyone has to start somewhere, and most players start off in house league. Travel hockey is a different animal all together. There is a great disparity across the programs, and even within the teams themselves. Some players are just finding their way, having recently moved up from the house team. Others demonstrate a natural aptitude for the sport that hints at higher levels of competition. Both are joys to watch. But it’s a significant challenge keeping up with all the games and tournaments going on.
Regardless of how your season ended up, we hope that everyone - from the parents, to the kids, to the coaches and officials - had a rich and rewarding experience. We look forward to seeing more throughout the summer and in the 2017-18 season!
