Submitted by Brian Koyce for Hingham Girls Hockey (photos courtesy of Kristen Buckley and Brian Koyce)
Hingham is a town with a passion for sports and hockey has one of the biggest followings.
Hingham Girls Hockey (HGH) has been very fortunate to have the help and guidance of many through the years. Many volunteers with vast experience in the game down to the Mom or Dad that doesn’t skate but would like to help their daughter experience all the benefits the game has to offer. Many girls have started in HGH and have gone on to extended playing careers in some of the area’s top clubs and schools.
One such volunteer has been Bruce Haas. Bruce has a tremendous passion for the game and for teaching. He has been involved with hockey since the late 1950s. He played for Colby College and has been a youth hockey coach for 40+ years.
Bruce has passed his knowledge and passion for the game onto girls of all ages in Hingham. He runs the Hingham Girls Hockey Learn to Play program which gives girls the opportunity to learn hockey skills before moving onto play for higher level teams.
These parent comments about the program are typical:
"Our daughter loved the program and definitely will continue playing. As we watched, we were very impressed with the instruction."
"This was my daughter's first real experience with a specific sport. She absolutely loved it. It was amazing to see her skills progress, and even better was the jump in her self-esteem and confidence!"
Bruce also helped establish the Hingham Harbormoms program. Many of the HGH Moms expressed an interested in playing the game that their daughters were having so much fun with. They asked Bruce about learning to play, and with the help of HGH and the diligent work of some key women, the Harbormoms were born.
Both Learn to Play programs bookend Bruce’s involvement in coaching the Hingham High School Harborwomen JV Team.
Hingham Girls Hockey is pleased to announce that registration is open for the Winter session of its popular Learn to Play program. The goal of the Learn to Play program is to introduce young girls to hockey in a fun environment. The format for the sessions will include learning skating techniques and puck skills following USA Hockey’s ADM model. Small area games will conclude each practice.
The Winter session will begin on Sunday, January 5th and will run to early April. The schedule will include skills sessions on Wednesdays at 5:15pm and Sundays at 7:15am. A limited number of sets of protective equipment is available for purchase for $50. Set include gloves, pants, shin guards, shoulder pads and elbow pads. Some helmets are available also. A jersey will be provided.
Girls interested in the program should be able to stand up on skates and move around on the ice without support.
To register please go to www.hinghamgirlshockey.org and click on the Learn to Play Winter. You will first need to register your daughter as a player with USA Hockey.
Questions may be addressed to HGH02043@gmail.com.
Photo credit: Kristen Buckley and Brian Koyce