As many of you know, the McKinney Lightning was not invited to participate in the new Dallas Stars Travel Hockey League.  As you can imagine, we did not agree with the decision to exclude McKinney or the apparent desire of those in charge of the league to cause the Lightning to discontinue its operations, which would benefit those clubs. 

We also disagreed with much of the design of the new league and what it means for the hockey community in McKinney and the McKinney StarCenter, including fewer quality hockey opportunities for residents of McKinney and the surrounding areas and prohibitions on AA play from the McKinney rink.  We also disagreed with the exclusion of many clubs in the new league from having a vote in league decisions. 

Although we attempted to find compromise and considered actions preferred by the Dallas Stars, the vast majority of our members told us that they preferred to continue the McKinney Lightning and to participate in the new SouthWest Select Hockey Series rather than to pursue the course laid out for us by others.  

We believe our decision will allow more kids to enjoy the great game of hockey, while making sure parents have the right to say what youth hockey option is best for them and their child.  The course ahead will not be easy (nor will it be for anyone this year) and the timing of the announcement of the new league was not designed to make it easy for any organization desiring to do something different, but we are working hard to adjust and prepare for a 2012-13 season that we hope will prove very rewarding for our players and their families. 

We are finalizing details on the teams we will field given the new format, so please check back soon for any changes on the team and coaches that are listed below. We will also be scheduling meet the coaches skates in the near future and invite you to contact us if you are interested in attending any of our camp sessions. 

Southwest Select Hockey Series

The SouthWest Select Hockey Series is a new tournament style format that will allow teams to play approximately 20-22 games a season against AA, A1 and A2 teams, while keeping travel to a minimum.  We only expect to have to travel outside of the DFW area one time as part of play in the SWSHS. The tournament series will follow a ranking format that will allow teams to move or up down based upon their travel performance.  Participation in this league--and not in the DSTHL--will also allow McKinney to field the only AA teams in the squirt through bantam age groups in northern Collin County.  More information regarding the SWSHS will be released in the near future.

We will also schedule other independent games in the Dallas area and compete in local travel tournaments.  We will also participate in one or two tournaments outside of the Dallas area, but the parents will have the right to vote on those tournaments. 

Original Teams Based On Participation in the NTXHL but with potential placement in the SouthWest Select Hockey Series. 

McKinney Lightning Teams

Midget Major AA or A- Head Coach Kevin Bakke

Midget Minor AA or A - Head Coach Cary Archibald, Assistants Ryan Osterheldt and Jeff Williams

Bantam AA (Anticipated Ranking) - Head Coach Cary Archibald, Assistant Nate Mauer

Bantam A - Head Coach Michael Burkhart

Bantam A - Head Coach Jeff Williams

PeeWee AA (Top PeeWee Team) - Head Coach Nate Mauer

PeeWee A - Head Coach Michael Burkhart

Squirt AA or A - Head Coach Nate Mauer

Placements will be determined after formation of teams and based upon participation in the ranking tournaments.

We believe we have put together a great coaching group that will focus on teaching our players while developing competitive teams that have a lot of fun. If you are interested in playing for the Lightning, we encourage you to meet our coaches either at our upcoming meet the coach skates or by coming to attending a camp session.   

Tryouts

Tier II Bantam (AA) - June 2 at 3:45 pm (Stonebriar)
Bantam AA and A - June 3 at 3:45 pm (Stonebriar)

PeeWee and Squirt

Squirt - June 9 at 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. (Hockey Ambitions)
Peewee - June 9 at 1:40 p.m. to 2:40 p.m. (Hockey Ambitions)

Squirt and Peewee June 10th at 3:45 pm (Stonebriar)

Midgets - The weekend of June 23rd.

Please contact Jay Ray at if you have any questions or would like notice of our meet the coaches skates or would like to attend a camp session.  


 

McKinney Lightning closed out a great 2012-13 season with half of its Lightning teams making it to the semi-final round of the playoffs and one team coming in second in the NTXHL while taking the championship series to three games.  In addition, four separate Lightning teams won a total of six tournaments. Lightning teams finished second in four additional tournaments.  Along the way, the kids had a great time.  Below is a video with highlights of the Squirt and PW AA teams' seasons.





 

Congratulations to McKinney Lightning player Azan Dorsett for being selected to participate in the Rocky Mountain District Player Development Camp in Colorado.  Azan will join other top players from Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Utah at the end of June and first part of July in Colorado Springs for the camp.

Azan has played the past two years for McKinney, playing this year on the Bantam A team and last year on the PeeWee AA team.  The McKinney Ice Hockey Club congratulates Azan on his selection, which is a reflection of his talent and hard work.

Congratulations to the PeeWee AA team for finishing up as Runner-Up in the North Texas Hockey League PW AA Division.  The team advanced to the best of three finals by beating the Ice Jets 6 to 2, Alliance 10 to 0, and the Wild by 4 to 3 win over the Houston Wild.

In the best of three championship series, the team lost the first game but bounced back to win the second game 5 to 4.  The third game was scoreless after two periods when the Wild scored first.  The Ligthning team couldn't recover, but still had a great season that featured three tournament championships and a second place league finish. 

Below are highlights from the victory over the Wild in the 2nd game of the Championship Round.

The 2011-12 regular season finally came to a close this past weekend and McKinney has three teams in the semi-final round.

Midget Major finished the regular season with a four game win streak to secure a third place finish and a bye into the semi-final round of the playoffs. The team finished with a 13-5-1 record and 42 points.

The Squirt team also secured a bye into the semi-final round with a 15-5-1 record and 46 points. The team finished second, losing out to the first place team on a tiebreaker based on one less head-to-head point. This group really worked hard and won as a team, relying upon strong team play, excellent defense, and the best goalie in the division.

PW AA also finished second at the end of the regular season with a 13-6-1 record and 40 points. Given that there are only 5 playoff eligible teams in the division, the playoffs start with the semi-final round.

Although the Bantam A team didn't get a bye, it had a chance to secure the bye in the final game of the season before having just one of those days. The team finished 6th out of 11 teams and has a tough qualifying round schedule with two 6 a.m. games at NYTEX.

PW A and Bantam B will also play in the qualifying round of the playoffs the last weekend of February, looking to pick off some teams and make it to the semi-final round.

 

Both the Midget Major and Squirt Lightning teams had success at President's Day tournaments this year.

The Midgets headed to sunny California and finished second.  The team started play by defeating the California Golden Bears 7 to 0.  After a day at the beach, the team then defeated the Ventura Mariners 9 to 1.  The team concluded preliminary play with a 4 to 0 win over the California Stars. 

The Midgets took on J Serra Catholic High School in the Championship Game.  The Lightning led from the first period to late in the third by a score of 1 to 0.  J Serra tied it up late in the third, although the score should have been 2 to 1 because the refs missed a Lightning goal that hit net and popped back out. The game was eventually decided in the 10th round of a shootout in J Serra's favor, but it was  a great trip for the Midgets and they played fabulous.

The squirts were not interested in bikini clad girls, so they decided to go to St. Louis instead.  They had some outstanding and diverse teams to play in their 10 team Squirt A Division.  The team started off playing the Huntsville Chargers, who won the tournament the previous year.  The team had some breakdowns and lost 2 to 0 against the eventual tournament runner-up. The team picked up half of a point by tying the Chargers in one period (scoring was 2 points for a game win and one point for each period you won). 

The team knew it had its work cutout for it if it was going to make the top semi bracket (teams 1-4 had one championship, teams 5-8 would have another, and teams 9 and 10 would play in a consolation game).  The team responded by beating St. Peters Spirit's top team 4 to 0 and winning all three periods. Brent Johnson and Matthew McLaren each scored two goals.  After the first two games, the team was sitting in 4th place, but knew it needed to earn some points in its next game, which was against the 1st place Chicago Hawks team, in order to make the top bracket. 

The game with the Hawks started out with the Hawks dominating, but unable to score.  After hanging on for the first few minutes, Luke DeHaven scored the eventual game winner in the first period.  Tyler Lasiter and Ethan Beaumont then scored in the second period to pick up another point for the Lightning.  In the third period, the Lightning were awarded an automatic goal when a Hawks' player covered the puck in the crease after the Hawks had pulled its goalie.  The final score was 4 to 0 in the Lightning's favor, which meant the Lightning team won all five points and jumped over the Hawks, finishing in third place after the preliminaries.

The Lightning played the first place Nashville Jr. Predators in the semi-final round.  The Predators were a very talented team. The Preds took a 2 to 0 lead in the first period, but Drew Bonneau made it a one goal game in the second period, which it stayed until two minutes remained in the third.  After a lot of chances by the Lightning, including pucks going behind the goalie and across the crease, the Predators scored two quick goals to earn a 4 to 1 win.  Although the Lightning team lost, it played great and earned more confidence heading into league playoffs. The players also picked up some bruises in some massive mini-hockey games at the hotel. It was a great trip for a team that has had a great year.

Highlights from the Squirt game with the Hawks are included below: