Huskies Hockey Club

5/28/2009


On behalf of the Huskies Hockey Club I would like to introduce myself as the new Director of Hockey Operations. I am truly humbled that our new president, Bob Graham and the Board of Directors have chosen me to direct this great and storied hockey club into the future. My first order as director has been to redefine our mission as a hockey club.


The Huskies Hockey Club “new” mission is;

- To prepare our players from the learn to skate levels through midgets for graduation and success in junior, college hockey and beyond.
- To prepare our players to contribute responsibly to the game of hockey.
- To encourage our players to realize their full potential not only in the hockey arena but in their everyday lives as well.

In order to achieve these goals we will strive;

- To provide a top level of hockey training.
- To provide a challenging physical training program.
- To provide an advanced program of skills development.
- To provide the most desirable environment in the Chicago land area
for our players to learn in.
- To develop in all Huskies players a sense of self worth and respect for others.


Some of the immediate changes I’ve made along with our board to help achieve these goals
are the appointments of Greg Stornello as Goaltending Director, Mike Perillo as
Midget Major Coach and Level Director and Vic Heurlin as Director of the Little Huskies Hockey Academy.
Greg Stornello comes to us as one of the hardest workers I’ve ever encountered and he brings a unique vision of how goaltenders need to be trained and mentored. This season will mark his first as our club’s top mite coach and level director. With Mike Perillo, I feel we have landed one of the best in the business for coaching and mentoring midget aged players at the tier two level. His accolades stretch far and wide and I can’t begin to convey how excited I am to have him back home with the Huskies. Vic Heurlin’s successes as both a player and a coach are well documented. I am thrilled to see his vision of how children start out in this great game of ours come to reality. It was a shared idea three years ago between Vic and me that led the bantam division to produce six state finalists and three state champions over the past two seasons. Now, we as an organization will be looking to implement those very ideals throughout every level of our club.
Other structural changes that will be announced in the upcoming weeks will be a more balanced fee structure for the membership. With this fee structure, we as a club will be giving all teams more practice sessions than ever before. This practice to game ratio for our teams will make the Huskies one of the first in Illinois to model ourselves with the USA Hockey Development Plan. Also, we will unveil a completely new Monday “skills” session, which I am confident, will take our development to the next level. Look for these changes on our website, along with our fall coaching lineup and a new level director structure that will be second to none.
I am looking forward to this season, our 40^th anniversary, as being one of the best ever. If you have any questions, comments or thoughts please feel free to contact me or stop by my office at the International Ice Centre. See you at the rink!

Regards,
Michael Gedzun
Director of Hockey Operations