tryhockeyforfree.com\/event_detail\/4904<\/a>.<\/p>\nFamilies only need to register for one session.<\/p>\n
Nick Ciani, head coach of the program working with children ranging from 3 to 8 years old, hopes for a large turnout.<\/p>\n
\u201cHockey is such a fantastic lifelong recreation that children can participate in,\u201d Ciani said. \u201cIt teaches intangible values that carry over for lifelong lessons. Please take the time to give the gift to your child of having the opportunity to be exposed to this wonderful game. I promise you won\u2019t be disappointed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hockey Director Brady DeMell echoed Ciani\u2019s comments that hockey is more than just a sport, it can prove to be a valuable life skill.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur Try Hockey for Free events allow children and parents to see the positive environment that Mentor Youth Hockey provides to allow players to develop physically, socially and emotionally as they grow up through the program,\u201d DeMell said. \u201cWe have current players and coaches that volunteer their time to come out and make our events fun and informative, so the participants can join our youth hockey program.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, this year we are bringing back our Learn to Play program for ages 7 to 14 to learn the game of hockey at the beginning stages and eventually transition to our travel hockey program.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOur goal at Mentor is to not only grow our players\u2019 hockey skill, but also help them develop into young adults as they exit the program and continue into their respective high school programs,\u201d DeMell added.<\/p>\n
Recreation Coordinator Michelle Walters said a big reason for the success of the event is because of the volunteers from the leagues at the Mentor Ice Arena.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis event is one of the most visited and most fun events of the year,\u201d Walters said. \u201cTry Hockey for Free can only be that successful with wonderful volunteers from the Arena\u2019s own Men\u2019s Hockey League and Youth Hockey League. They make sure every new player who steps on the ice has an enjoyable experience while learning a little about hockey and skating.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Mentor Ice Arena and officials with the youth hockey programs are encouraging area youths to come give…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":673445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[5,6,54258,72715,72716,72717,422,2829],"class_list":["post-673444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hockey","tag-hockey","tag-ice-hockey","tag-lake-county","tag-mentor-ice-arena","tag-mentor-ohio","tag-try-hockey-for-free-event","tag-usa-hockey","tag-youth-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117348229673864781","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=673444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}