Hi everybody,

This Thursday, Dec. 18 we’ll be taking official team, individual and buddy photos. Both JV and Varsity teams should have the packets from Varsity Photo by Wednesday. On Thursday players will need to have money for whatever package they chose. We’ll scrimmage in the time remaining after all photos have been taken.

The schedule originally had the Alumni Game on Wed. Dec. 24. at VMIA. We’re going to take that day off and use part of our ice time Fri. Dec. 26 for the game. We’ll have a combined practice from 8:00-9:15 a.m. that morning and hold the Alumni Game from 9:30-10:30 a.m. Both JV and Varsity players play in the alumni game. It should be pretty fun as some of our former players are already marshaling their forces.

A couple of other things: Thank you to the parents who came up north this past weekend and supported the teams. I hope you all had fun, you represented our team well. The players received compliments from the folks in Babbitt too.

We’ve submitted some photos Jill Guimont took earlier in the season to my brother who created the site and should have them up soon. He’ll show us how to post them so we’ll want to update them throughout the season. If anybody else has photos, or will be taking photos this season feel free to submit them to us to put up on the site.

Thanks folks,

John Wareham

Fri. Dec. 5 - practice will be a combined, JV/Varsity practice at VMIA. It will start at 6:45 p.m. and go until 8:15 p.m. Any players who want to stay later are welcome to do so.

Sat. Dec. 6 - practice times have changed.  JV will start at 9:45 a.m. and go until 10:45 a.m. The Varsity’s practice will start at 11:00 a.m. and go until 12:15 p.m.

Also, on Sat. Dec. 6 from 12:45 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. at Parade, there is a a clinic for girls Park Board players. We’ll ask for volunteers to come help take part in the clinic. Many of our players got their start playing Park Board hockey and this is an excellent opportunity to give back and set a great example for girl hockey players in Minneapolis.

Here is some information  about our two December out of town trips. If you have questions please ask John Wareham:

Fri. Dec. 12 - Eveleth (Eveleth-Gilbert is the opponent)

Bus - 11:00 a.m., Washburn

Games - JV 5:30 p.m., Varsity 7:30 p.m. - Eveleth Hippodrome

Hotel - Coates Plaza Hotel / 502 Chestnut St., Virginia, MN 55792 / 218.749.1000 / 1.800.777.4699

Sat. Dec. 13 - Babbitt (East Range Knights - a co-op of Ely, Babbitt-Embarass and Tower-Soudan)

Games - JV 10:00 a.m., Varsity 12:00 p.m. - Babbitt Ice Arena

NOTES: Players will need money for lunch on the way up Friday and a meal on the way back Saturday as well as any snacks. Pizza on Friday night after the games will be taken care of. Hotel rooms are covered by booster club fees. We’ll head back directly after the Varsity’s game on Saturday, sometime around 2:00 p.m. I’ve attached Mark Raderstorf’s e-mail about the trip up north for parents. Mark and Rob Plunkett happened upon one of the state’s, heck, the country’s living hockey legends, John Mayasich, on last year’s trip.

The Eveleth rink is a great historic hockey venue, actually the whole town is, and the chow at the rink’s concession stand is as good as it gets.

Mark’s message:

Hi Nova parents,

You can tell hockey season is upon us when you get 2 emails regarding hockey tournaments on the same day. Austin has it Spam Museum and Eveleth has its Hockey Hall of Fame. Several parents went up to Eveleth last year for this one night road trip and it was a lot of fun. So we are inviting all parents to joins us for this road trip, leaving Friday December 12th and returning Saturday afternoon, December 13th. Not only is the Hockey Hall of Fame a nice stop down memory lane for you hockey buffs, the Eveleth Hippodrome (where the girls will be playing) is a one of kind hockey arena, a literal museum to Iron Range hockey. Top it off with a cold brew at the Penalty Box Lounge after the game, and you have the perfect hockey road trip.

I called the hotel tonight and reserved a block of rooms for the Parents. SO if you’d like a room in this block just respond back to me via email. Rooms are a whopping $60 a night. Also, please let me know if you’d like to drive up with other parent’s. We will need to leave by 1 or so to make it up for the 5:30 JV game.

See you at the rink!  Mark Raderstorf (Jenna’s dad)

Thanks Mark.

Moving on to Austin.

Mon. Dec. 29 – Wed. Dec. 31 - Austin Holiday Tournament

Bus - 9:00 a.m. Mon. Dec. 29, Washburn

Games - Mon. Dec. 29

JV vs. Nothfield 12:00 p.m. - Packer Arena

Varsity vs. Northfield 2:30 p.m. - Riverside Arena

Tue. Dec. 30

JV vs. New Prague 4:00 p.m. - Packer Arena

Hotel - Days Inn Austin / 700 16th Avenue NW, Austin, MN  55912 / 507.433.8600 / 877.340.2900

NOTES The JV tournament is only two games, one Monday, one Tuesday. The folks in Austin did not have the resources to cover a third day of JV games. JV will stay Tuesday night, attend the Wednesday Varsity game and both teams will head back home after that game. There is a Varsity shootout Tuesday night that both teams will attend – it’s a pretty fun event. Players will need meal money for the extent of our stay in Austin except for Steve’s Pizza on Monday night. Hotel for the kids is covered by booster fees. Sharon Samson has some rooms reserved for parents at both the Days Inn and the Holiday Inn (across the parking lot, 1701 4th Street NW, Austin, MN 55912 / 507.433.1000 / 800.985.8850). I think time is tight as far as booking a room if you’re planning on coming down.

Any questions let me know.

John Wareham

Tomorrow, Mon. Dec. 1,  both the Varsity and JV teams will gather at Martin Luther King Jr. Park, 4055 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis 612.370.4908, at 5:30 p.m. for a pasta party. We’ll leave for the theater, the Oak Street Cinema, 309 Oak Street SE Minneapolis, around 7:00 - the movie starts at 7:30 and lasts about an hour and a half. There is a link to the documentary’s site on our page if you want to find out more about the film. We do not have a bus going over to the theater so the kids will have to carpool over and arrange rides home from the theater. We may need some help from parents for rides. We can determine this once we’re all at MLK Park. If we need help we’ll put out the calls. Parent are invited to the screening of the documentary too. It’s $5 at the door (the players are covered by the boosters). If you have any questions feel free to give John Wareham a call, H - 651.649.1061, W - 612.673.7759, C - 651.366.2886.

Today’s games at Apple Valley are at noon for the JV and 2:15 for the Varsity.  The Varsity’s bus will be changed to noon from 11:00 a.m.

Hey everybody, check out the article in today’s Star Tribune featuring our two captains - Cece and Quinn.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/preps/35016479.html?elr=KArksUUUU

Attached is a PDF file as well.

cecequinnstartribune112608

Practice times have been changed for tomorrow’s practices from the evening to late morning. The Varsity will practice from 10:45 a.m to noon. The JV will practice from 12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. Ice times are still at VMIA.

Hey everybody, we’re still getting things together on the website, I have started entering the schedule and should finish this week. The bus schedule will be posted with the game information on the schedule. I’ll hand one out to the players as well.

Here are several schedule changes from what was handed out at the beginning of the season:

Tue. Nov. 25 - JV game vs. Richfield has been canceled.  JV has that day off.

Sat. Nov. 29 - Practices will be combined and start at 8:30 a.m. at VMIA. We’ll divide the players into teams who will compete in a skills competition.

Mon. Dec. 1 - Both Varsity and JV will attend a screening of the documentary film “pond hockey” (http://www.pondhockeymovie.com/) at the Oak Street Cinema at 7:30 p.m. Every team from the Tri-Metro conference has been invited so the annual Tri-Metro Skills Competition has been canceled. We’ll probably bus over there and will look into having a pasta party or some other gathering beforehand. We’ll figure out the details this week and get the word out.

Tue. Dec. 16 - JV will play Henry Sibley at 5:30 p.m. at the West St. Paul Arena.

Fri. Jan. 9 - JV will play Tartan at 5:30 p.m. at the Tartan Arena.

Tue. Jan. 20 - JV will play South St. Paul at 4:00 p.m. at VMIA

Thanks folks, that’s it for now. If you have suggestions about what would be helpful to put on the site please let me know.

John Wareham

Questions about the Novas can be directed to coach John Wareham (john.wareham@comcast.net or jwareham@startribune.com).