This Blog provides Detroit area youth hockey news. It was originally the blog of the now defunct Detroit Hockey Association, the most affordable youth ice hockey organization in Michigan based at Jack Adams Arena in Detroit. The Clark Park Coalition keeps this tradition alive in Southwest Detroit.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Hockey in the Hood 7 action photos

Columbus Ice Hockey Club player scores vs. Allen Park in HITH 7 finals game.

Detroit Dragons Midgets swarm St. Clair Shores net.

Novi Panthers goalie makes save vs. Wasilla Wild

Wasilla Wild won HITH 7 Bantams championship 2-0 over Novi

Detroit Dragons Squirts defenseman Eric Bruinsma covers Columbus Ice Hockey player.
Photos courtesy of Ed Krasinski

The Hockey in the Hood VII Champions

HITH 7 Squirt Champions - Columbus Hockey Club

HITH 7 Midget Champions - Detroit Dragons

Novi Panthers and Wasilla Wild Bantams pose for group photo prior to their HITH 7 finals game.

HITH 7 Bantam Champion Wasilla Wild players & Novi Panthers goalie with Willie O'Cup.

The Detroit Hockey Association salutes the 2011 Hockey in the Hood Champion Columbus, OH Mites, Columbus Hockey Squirts, Kensington Valley Pee Wees, Wasilla Wild Bantams & Detroit Dragons Midgets.

Congratulations, you have captured the Willie O'Cup!

Photos courtesy of Ed Krasinski

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Click this title for the full Hockey in the Hood VII games schedule, February 18 - 20, 2011




Don't miss the championship games on Sunday afternoon, February 20th beginning at 12:00 PM.

- 12:00 PM Peewee championship

- 1:00 PM Squirt championship

- 2:00 PM Mite championship

- 3:00 PM Midget championship

- 4:00 PM Bantam championship

Who will win the Willie O'Cup?

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Hockey in the Hood Mentioned in McClatchy News Article

Posted on Monday, January 31, 2011

Days of all-white hockey over, on ice and in booth
By William Douglas | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — When he broke the National Hockey League's color barrier with the Boston Bruins in 1958, Willie O'Ree heard all sorts of myths about why there were so few black hockey players.

"People were saying that blacks had weak ankles and weak knees. It's crazy when you hear things like that," said O'Ree, now 75, who's the NHL's director of youth development and ambassador for the league's "Hockey Is for Everyone" initiative. "I don't hear too much of that now."

These days, O'Ree hears about growth in the number of blacks in hockey in nearly all areas of the game, from the NHL to the broadcast booth to community rinks.

The NHL has more than 20 black players on team rosters this season, an all-time high. The Atlanta Thrashers alone boast five black players — defensemen Dustin Byfuglien and Johnny Oduya and forwards Evander Kane, Anthony Stewart and Nigel Dawes — another record. The Thrashers have four other black players in their minor league and draft systems.

"It's definitely something I've never been a part of before, and it just shows the direction hockey is going," Kane, the Thrashers' 2009 first-round draft pick, told NHL.com.
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In addition, dozens of minority-oriented youth hockey programs across the United States — from Ice Hockey in Harlem to Washington's Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club to GOALS of Anaheim, Calif. — have been exposing kids to the game for decades, supplying gear and rink time to those who can't afford it.

Another program, the Detroit Hockey Association, hosts an annual "Hockey in the Hood" tournament during Black History Month that attracts minority youth hockey teams from across the country.

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