All our hockey teams in Flagstaff are gearing up and ready to start the 2018-19 season with anticipation.

However, scheduling has been somewhat challenging at times sharing one sheet of ice between the Flagstaff Youth Hockey Association, the Avalanche high school teams and Northern Arizona University’s ACHA clubs.

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But through it all, we have managed to juggle and accommodate all teams for practices, league games and scrimmages.

And while it would be nice to have a second sheet of ice in our small town, as of now it looks like that may not come to fruition until sometime next year with the addition of a rink at the NAU Fieldhouse. Even then, we are not sure if youth teams will be able to utilize the facility once completed, but we are keeping all lines of communication open.

Another option for some of our players this past winter was to look for a few of our ponds that froze up solid when our temperatures got down into the single digits. Nothing like a friendly game of pond hockey!

Either way, even with just the one rink, all of our players certainly benefit from skating at the 7,000-foot elevation and we look forward to all our competition this year coming to Flagstaff.

Have a safe season and safe travels, everyone!

Photo/Scott Robinson

— Scott Robinson

(Sept. 26, 2018)