Provo Blades News

Each day after chalk talk I will be posting a summary of what was discussed as well as a video if it is applicable. For our team systems/strategies I will be putting together some documents with diagrams that we can use to make a playbook. All of these items will be posted online in the Coach’s Corner section of our website. This area is password protected so please check your email for the password. I only give it to current team members as we don’t want to give away all of our secrets I have put up our first two sessions already so please go check them out if you missed either of the chalk talks.

We are going to be doing chalk talks AFTER practice from now on. I think this will be easier for most people to attend and then if we end early we can leave early. Please make sure to check the calendar before each session to verify the correct times. View the calendar now!

Our season is starting to come together. Make sure to check the website often as there are changes being made every day. The calendar has all of our practices on it, and a few of our games and tournaments. More will be added as I get them scheduled.

Our 2008/2009 registration form is up and running so please go in and complete the registration process so we can get you added to the team roster.

So far it looks like our team fees will be $425 for the season which will run September through mid-April. If we end up with a huge team we will adjust the fees down accordingly. We will be having a two week training camp in September which includes 3 ice sessions per week plus an hour of chalk talk accompanying each ice session. This will be intense but definitely worth it. If you can’t afford the entire team fee up front we are offering a payment plan of 4 payments of $115 payable in the first 4 months of the season. (Please let me know if you will only be playing for part of the season and we will pro-rate your fees accordingly).

We have a great opportunity to run chuck-a-puck at the BYU hockey games this year as a fund-raiser. We are hoping that this will raise enough money to pay for our tournaments so it will be no additional cost for the players. Everyone will need to chip in and help with this, but we will all receive the benefits.

If you have any questions or concerns about this year please contact me or Kevin and we will work through it. I am so excited to get started and can’t wait to get back on the ice with my friends and teammates.

Today was a very emotional day for all of the Provo Blades. A lot of us had the opportunity to attend the funeral services of our friend and teammate Carolyn Shinners. It was a beautiful memorial to her life and she had a lot of family and friends there, including members of both her hockey teams sporting their jerseys.

When the casket was brought in tears started to flow. Watching her family come in was really hard. She LOVED her family, especially her brothers. And to know they have to go on without her is really hard. The opening hymn was “Be Still My Soul” #124. Go read the words and then you will realize why I was sobbing through the entire song. It’s amazing how touching music can be.

Carolyn’s brother, Joe read her obituary and shared a few personal stories about her. Joe had the opportunity to practice with the Blades for a season and I got to speak to him in the line at the viewing on Sunday. He said that playing with us that year got him started in hockey and made him a big part of who he is today. He was so glad that Carolyn was a part of our team. He shared a story about how she stuck up for him when they played on Springville High together and punched a guy in the face who had hit Joe earlier in the game. That is the girl we know and love.

Carolyn’s sister-in-law and her older brother, Mike also spoke in the service. The overall theme that everyone spoke about was hoping that people would carry on and live the kind of life that Carolyn would want us to live. Work hard, be loyal, be kind, and of course (my own interpretation) keep playing hockey!

The closing song was “Where Can I Turn for Peace” #129. Once again, I couldn’t contain my tears during the song. The words have so much meaning in this situation. I am not sure I will ever be able to hear these two hymns again without remember our Carolyn. Suzy had the honor of saying the closing prayer which was emotional as well. She did a great job and really held up well. She was like Carolyn’s surrogate Mom on the team and they had a special bond. It was fitting that she was the one to close out the service.

Hockey was a huge part of Carolyn’s identity and we were all a big part of that. Her mom was so touched by the support that we all showed her during this difficult time. She said that when Carolyn joined our team she was struggling with figuring out who she was and what her purpose was in life. Hockey helped her find that and find something to be proud of herself about. She blossomed as a member of the Provo Blades and turned into our feisty defender and biggest advocate. If anyone said anything negative about the team or anyone on the team Carolyn would take it to them.

Julie put together an amazing scrapbook of the pictures that you all sent to me. All of the people that attended were able to sign the book as a tribute to Carolyn and what she meant to our team. We presented it to her mom after the funeral and she was so grateful. She urged us all to play hard and to always remember Carolyn when we play. She really wants to see our program continue to flourish and grow because she will always remember that impact it had in her daughter’s life.

We will be retiring Carolyn’s jersey #20 out of respect for her and because it would be too hard to see anyone wear that jersey in the future. I told her Grandpa (Poppy) that we would be having some kind of ceremony to do this and he got all teary-eyed and said that would be like a second funeral for him. His biggest joy and what he shared most with Carolyn was the love of hockey.

I am so emotionally drained after the events of yesterday and today. I wanted to share my thoughts for anyone who wasn’t able to make it, and to just get out some of my feelings. I am still in shock and I’m not sure everything will sink in fully until we hit the ice this year and realize that she will never skate with us again. I am going to do everything I can to make this our best, most fun season ever and hope that somewhere out there Carolyn will be smiling down on us glad that we are continuing to play the sport that we all love.

Please leave your thoughts/comments about the service or Carolyn below.

VIEWING:
Viewing for family and friends will be held Sunday, August 24th from 6-9 PM at Wheeler Mortuary located at 211 E 200 S. Springville and Monday, August 25th at 10 AM before the services.

SERVICES:
Burial services for Carolyn will be held Monday, August 25, 2008 at 11 AM at the Spring Creek 4th Ward Chapel, 400 North 400 East, Springville. In lieu of flowers, please donate to a special Carolyn Shinners Memorial fund that has been set up at Central Bank, 202 S Main St. Springville, UT. The money for this fund will be used to provide a hockey player(s) who may not be able to afford to play an opportunity.

ATTIRE:
To show team support we will be wearing our blades jerseys (the new ones if you have one). And wear normal church clothes underneath.

Hey everyone. I am switching over how we do our news a little bit. The old news blog was getting lots of spam and was not a format I’m very familiar with. So I am switching to this new one for this year. There wasn’t anything too critical on the old one so I’m not going to bother archiving it.

If you track your blogs using an RSS reader you can do that with this one as well, and avoid always having to check back to the site to see if there are updates. I will post all site updates on here as well. Even if you don’t use an RSS reader this should be a great way to see what’s been updated without having to look through the whole site.

Hope you will all find this useful. Please feel free to leave a comment if you have a suggestion as to how this would work better. Thanks!

-Jodi