Members of the ESYHF High School travel team were invited to spend Veterans Day at the Wachovia Center for a special on-ice practice, followed by an educational session and team meeting in the afternoon.

Students began the day by arriving at the Wachovia Center at 9:30am. Upon arrival, players made their way to the locker room at ice level where they started preparing for practice.

Everyone was excited to skate on an NHL ice surface and to sit on the same bench as the Philadelphia Flyers. Wolf Pack defenseman Mike Chism explains: “The ice here is just different. It’s something special and I’m glad to be here right now”.

After practicing hard for an intense 45 minutes, it was time for the real fun to begin as the team scrimmaged against each other for the second half of practice with half of the team wearing orange ESYHF jerseys, and the other half wearing black ESYHF jerseys.

After refueling during lunch time, students were led across the parking lot to the Wachovia Spectrum where they took park in a unique educational workshop at Bullies.

ESYHF coach and University of Pennsylvania athlete, Scooter Belasco, began the session by discussing nutrition and off-ice training. Belasco touched on the importance of pre-game meals, eating healthy and what hockey players need to do away from the rink to stay in shape.

The workshop continued with a presentation from Caitlin Slattery, who is another member of the ESYHF coaching staff. Slattery runs the Foundation’s college prep classes for high school-aged participants and spent Veterans Day with the team discussing various aspects of student life and the college application process.

On Saturday, November 28th the team will travel to Newark, NJ to take on the Hockey in Newark Americans at the AmeriHealth Pavilion.

The mission of the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation is to use the sport of hockey to help educate young people to succeed in the game of life.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009