VINTON, Va. – Energetic, competitive and of course, having fun.
It was all those vibes and more at LancerLot Sports Complex in Vinton.
The Valley Youth Hockey Association held its Junior Dawgs Mites Jamboree.
“We started planning this back in August and reached out to as many teams as we could and we were able to field 14 teams this year, which is awesome,” said head coach and coordinator, Andrew Reedy.
In addition to the Dawgs host teams, other traveled from Lynchburg, Richmond, Winston-Salem and even Greensboro for Saturday’s event.
“I think it’s great. I mean, it’s just it’s definitely exploding, especially like down south,” said Greensboro Lady Stars coach Steven Hults. “There’s so many jamborees. There’s so much competition.”
“We have 80 kids in our mites program, so that’s just 8 and under,” said Reedy. “It’s to the point we’ve had to get more ice slots because there’s not room for 80 kids on the ice at one time.”
Confidence for these kids. Never a doubt.
“Since when I was little kid, I first stood up with a hockey stick and was just running around. I was like I’m a hockey player,” said Lucas Reedy.
These teams are not limited to just the boys.
“Our Lady Dawgs are great, and you wouldn’t know it today, but they actually pull double duty,” Reedy explained. “It’s like all of these ladies, they practice with the mites as a whole too when there’s not a lady’s bracket. They play with us as well.”
“It feels like you just made your first, like, like your first trophy. Yeah, your first trophy,” said some of the Lady Dawgs players when asked what it feels like scoring a goal.
While scoring feels good, the main goal of the jamboree create an uplifting, encouraging atmosphere to learn the game of hockey while also creating memories that can perhaps one day lead to bigger rinks and dreams.
“Roanoke hockey is growing. I mean, we have kids now, there are older kids that are playing in other cities, playing in triple A programs and playing juniors, playing college that are getting to the next level. I hope to see in my lifetime somebody from the Roanoke area making the NHL, making a squad for the United States like that would be amazing.”