It's Good to be Home!

Its always a great to come back to Apex for the weekend.  This market has always been synonymous with 2Hot4Ice, so much so that we have always considered this our home market, even though our offices are based out of Florida.  With the TORHS 2Hot4Ice merge now in its second year, our relationship with Raleigh has only grown, and this weekend we have record numbers for a regional qualifier with an astounding 44 teams competing here at Dreamsports!  We are anticipating many of these teams will make the short trip up to Philadelphia this summer for our 2014 National Championships.

It is great to see things growing in Apex.  Steve has been doing a great job with his Learn to Play programs(evident by the three 6u teams we have this weekend), and the market is full of guys who are committed to coaching and teaching these young kids the ins and outs of our great game.  Big shout out to the SPEEDs Drew Beason and Scott Langdon, the Carolina Force's Bob Robinson, the Carolina Nightmare's Rob McMahon, the Assaults Charlie Le, the Blue Hat Battalions Thomas Morris, and all the other coaches who spend countless hours volunteering their time to coaching.  Without these guys, we certainly do not see the growth we are seeing.

I would be remiss not to mention all the teams who have travelled in for this weekend's event.  The Tour Lizard Kings, Jr. Gladiators, and Alkali Rampage made the trip up from Atlanta, while the Tour Rattlers have brought their program down from Virginia.  Tim Harrington, George Goodwin, Rob Carter, and Darryl Talman have all been around for a while now, and I lean on these guys a lot to help out when we need them.  I cannot thank them enough for all they do!  

Things are starting to heat up this morning....The 10s and 12s are rolling in, while the 8s start this afternoon.  Tomorrow, the 6u division gets underway.  It is always one of my favorite divisions to take in, as the reaction these youngsters have to their first taste of tournament hockey is priceless.  I will be back with some updates later on.