The Fort Wayne Amateur Hockey Association will once again be represented in the International Silver Stick Final on the weekend of January 24-25.
The Parkview Sports Medicine Force 10U (2010) team will compete against some of the best youth hockey teams in North America. They'll be playing in the Atom C Finals in Forest, Ontario, Canada. The Force is the only American team in the Atom C finals. The five other foes hail from the Ontario province.
The Force qualified for the International Silver Stick Final after placing 2nd at the 10U A division at the Mid-Am Silver Stick Regional at SportONE/Parkview Fieldhouse in December.
"It's an exciting time for us," co-head coach Ryan Potts tells ParkviewSportsMedicine.com. "The kids are having fun. It's given us the opportunity to go up to Canada, and represent this area."
The season has proved fruitful for the Force, which won the regular season championship of the Little Caesars Amateur Hockey League 9U Howe 1. The team won the MLK Tier II/AA Jr. Predators AA Tournament earlier this month in Nashville, Tennessee. They also experienced playing in the prestigious Nations Cup tournament against tough Canadian teams this past November in Detroit.
This PSM Force 10U team is no stranger to Silver Stick competition. As an 8U team last year, the Force won the AA Silver Stick Regional in Dayton.
"We've got some real talent out here, and it's excing to just to be a part of it," Potts adds. "There are no egos on this team. Everybody plays together, plays as a team."
The Parkview Sports Medicine Force 10U (2010) team will play four games over the weekend: a 9:40 a.m. faceoff Friday against the Lambton Shores Predators, 3 p.m. Friday against Essa Eagles, 8 a.m. Saturday against the Belmont Rangers and 1:20 p.m. against the Huron-Bruce Blizzard.
Parkview Sports Medicine's team naming sponsorship and partnership with Fort Wayne Amateur Hockey Association offers area hockey players first-of-its kind benefits such as athletic training onsite at the SportONE/Parkview Icehouse; PSM Performance dry land training; nutrition education and injury prevention from Parkview Athletic Rehab; as well as direct access to the full team of PSM's integrated sports medicine team. Teams for all youth House, Select, Travel and Elite teams play under the Parkview Sports Medicine Force branding.