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History of the Meramec Youth Hockey Association
1970
- Meramec Youth Hockey Club was founded by
Mr. Harry Bayens who was an ice hockey coach at
the infamous Winterland Rink on St. Charles Rock Road.
The original blue and green colors used by
Meramec Youth Hockey Club were from the Vancouver
Canucks who were an NHL expansion team that same year.
No ice was available in South County, so the club skated
the first season in St. Charles and 9 teams were formed
that were declared at the A and B levels. Coaches were
far and few between, so Mr. Bayens coached
all 9
teams.
1971 - The club's second year
saw a move to Arnold into the old Kozeny Wagner
building, which was converted into an ice rink. The club
grew to 14 teams and played in the Arnold Ice Rink for 2
seasons until this building was converted into a concert
hall called the Concert South Facility.
1973 - With the closing of
The Arnold Ice Rink, the Meramec Youth Hockey Club moved
to Ballwin, yes Ballwin, where the Meramec Youth Hockey
Club ran the rink as well as the club. The old West
County Flyers shared the rink with the Sharks and other
teams that skated at Ballwin were The Rainbow Rockets,
The Blues, and The Billikens.
It was also 1973
when the Meramec Youth Hockey Club took more
league championships than any other club in St Louis.
1974
- The club moved again to the new Kennedy Recreation
Complex (South County) located on 6050 Wells Road where
the club still skates and buys ice. In the late 1980's
the club was so pressed for ice, the Meramec Youth
Hockey Club skated at 4:30am with 3 teams at the same
time on each sheet of ice. It was very difficult to try
and develop an interesting practice plan using just
one-third of the ice and if it was your teams turn to
have the neutral zone as your practice ice, there were
no goals. The club skated quite often outdoors at
Cahokia, Webster Groves, Kirkwood (both Webster Groves
and Kirkwood were not always indoor facilities),
Florissant Civic Center, Granite City, and Shaw Park.
2003
- Through all the changes, the club continues to grow
strong, remains competitive and has the largest Learn To
Play program in the area. The fall of 2003 entered a
whole new chapter in the history of the Meramec Youth
Hockey Club with the opening of their own ice facility
called The Shark Tank located in the All American
Sports Complex in South County.
If you are interested in learning
more about The Meramec Youth Hockey Club or what it
would take to become a Shark, select the link below
to
view or print the 2005-2006 Meramec Hockey
Club Brochure which requires you to have Adobe
Acrobat Reader loaded prior to doing this. You can also contact the Club
Registrar by any of the below methods or contact any of
the members of The Board of Directors.
Meramec
Hockey Club
PMB #188
5541 Oakville Center
St.
Louis, Missouri 63129-3572
Sharks
Hotline Number: (314) 995-1299
or email the
Club Registrar at: registration@meramecsharks.com
2007/2008 Fall Season
Brochure
Page 1 of 2
Page 2 of 2
Club Policies,
Bylaws and Rules
The Meramec Youth Hockey Club Policies (which includes
the Member Contact Team or MCT individual assignments),
Bylaws and Rules are available. Select the proper link
below:
Club Policies
Bylaws and Rules
The Richard
Stanko Memorial Fund
To find out more about this Meramec Shark exclusive
program, select the link below:
Richard Stanko
Memorial Fund
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