Youth Hockey Players Putting North Carolina on Map

A few local hockey players and teams are continuing to turn heads across North America, helping put Charlotte, and Extreme Ice Center, on the hockey map.

THE MOORE BROTHERS

Former Jr. Checkers and Checkers stick boys, brothers Bryan and Kyle Moore, are currently representing Charlotte youth hockey north of the border and excelling in their own right.

The eldest brother Bryan is currently producing at a point-per-game pace with the Ontario Hockey League’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyounds, playing alongside Hurricanes prospects Sergey Tolchinsky and Tyler Ganly. Following a trade from the Sarnia Sting to Sault Ste. Marie on Jan. 7, Moore racked up 11 points (5g, 6a) in his first seven games as the Greyhounds went 6-1-0 to climb the OHL’s Western Conference standings. His 47 points (18g, 29a) in 47 games are good enough for fifth on a high-powered Greyhounds squad which hopes to compete for the Memorial Cup, the highest prize in Canadian junior hockey.

Meanwhile, down the road in Southern Ontario, brother Kyle is enjoying a breakout season with the Toronto Red Wings Midget AAA team, including an appearance in the Greater Toronto Hockey League Top Prospects Game. Moore is eligible for the OHL draft in the spring and hopes to follow in his brother''s footsteps.

JR. CHECKERS

In recent years, several local teams have achieved success on the national stage, including the U18 AA Jr. Checkers, who won the USA Hockey National Championship in April 2013 and earned a silver medal at the 2012 National Championships. The Jr. Checkers PeeWee AA team has also gone up against the best teams in the country, earning silver and bronze at the 2011 and 2012 National Championships, respectively.

Continuing this success and setting its sights on a National Championship in 2014 is the Charlotte Jr. Checkers Bantam AA team, which currently sports a record of 33-9-6, including a 5-0-0 showing at Silver Stick regionals to capture the tournament title. The team became the first from Extreme Ice Center to win the tournament and the first Jr. Checkers team to do so since 1999, the year each member of the team was born. Leading the charge was goaltender Strachan Champagne, who had two shutouts in two starts during the tournament, and Michael Holland, who led the team in scoring with 11 goals and four assists, including hat tricks in the semi-finals and finals.

Following regionals, the Jr. Checkers advanced to the Silver Stick National tournament in Port Huron, MI, where they faced some tough competition, going 0-2-1 and losing one-goal games to the No. 1 and No. 4 ranked teams in Ontario. The team will now compete in two more tournaments before hopefully heading to Nationals in April in New Jersey.

LEARN TO PLAY

In conjunction with USA Hockey’s Hockey Weekend Across America, Extreme Ice Center will be holding a Try Hockey for Free session on Saturday, March 1, at 12:30 p.m. To sign up your child for this free clinic, you can register online, visit www.xicenter.com or call 704-882-1830.

Note: The Try Hockey for Free Event is now full