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Rochester Sled Hawks Team Up For Exciting Empire State Winter Games!
There may not have been much snow this winter, but The Rochester Sled Hawks, Rochester’s very own sled hockey team, has been enjoying an exciting season on the ice! Catch up here with updates from Sled Hawks player, Suzanne Wamp!
Time for a Winter Update from the Rochester Sled Hawks! Here’s an overview of a wonderful weekend at the 2023 Empire State Winter Games.
The 2023 Empire State Winter Games opened in Lake Placid with grand fanfare! Frigid temperatures and blowing wind made the early days very exciting, and very very cold! (Believe it or not, the ice rink was warmer than outside!)
Athletes from across New York and Vermont gathered around as bands played and trumpets blared with opening ceremonies playing USA’s national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner.
Our Rochester Sled Hawks athletes combined with the CNY Flyers in one of our most exciting tournaments.
But let’s back up a minute…Who is this combined team? The CNY Flyers take the lead position, and our Rochester Sled Hawks athletes fill in around their players. This enables both teams to have a solid wall of athletes ready to hit the ice at any moment. (We most often get referred to simply as the CNY Flyers at these tournaments.)
Rochester’s Steve, Suzanne, Darren, Jack, Scotty, and Ryan played in this year’s tournament, traveling to Lake Placid from various parts of the Greater Rochester area. (Another good thing about the team partnership with the CNY Flyers is that all of our Hawks can’t always travel to every game – so by combining, we know we have enough athletes there to keep up the strong-powered plays throughout a 4 game tournament.)
Back to the games. Early warm-ups were appreciated. Tensions and excitement were high!
Game One Recap:
The CNY Flyers played against the Vermont Sled Vets. This was a great game played against a fairly new VT team. The VT team played their hearts out against the CNY Flyers but the Flyers got the win in the first period. For the 2nd and 3rd periods, both teams joined together forming 2 joint teams playing against each other. It was fun playing against some of your teammates while also getting to know some of the VT players.
That led to Game Two
…against the Capital District Sled Warriors who kept the CNY Flyers on their guard. Many trips from end to end, battling to get the puck in the goals, only to be blocked by a goalie, or banked away by an intruding defender. In the end, though, the Flyers kept the Sled Warriors from scoring and took home the win.
Game Three:
Our CNY Flyers/Hawks combined team went head to head with the Fort Drum Mountain Warriors , a team we are very familiar with, having played MANY games against them over the years! Of course, familiarity with each other’s strengths means we were pretty evening matched throughout the game and we ended up in a tie and a chance to play again in the final game to hope to bring home the gold.
The Final Game:
Game four play-action saw another great game against the Mountain Warriors who were a tough team to beat. The fierce and determined CNY Flyer offense scored 2 goals during the game against a very strong, thrilling defense with fabulous goal-tending. We managed to hold the Mountain Warriors to getting only one puck across into the net — what a thrilling final!
Bringing home the GOLD was never sweeter!
And in addition to the sweet victories, we really can’t say enough about the awesome sled hockey teams we played, and the amazing friendships we have developed!
Thanks, Suzanne, for the recap of an exciting weekend! For those of you who are interested in learning more, we highly encourage you to contact us and let’s talk further! Whether you want to sponsor the Rochester Sled Hawks or start learning to play sled hockey — just contact us today!
Suzanne has wonderfully provided the links to videos of the 2023 Empire State Games that featured Sled Hawks players with the CNY Flyers.
Game 1 https://youtu.be/3Loipoz27jM
Game 2 https://youtu.be/MsQG6UbPJjE
Game 3 https://youtu.be/7kN_skQjqJc
Game 4 https://youtu.be/-P08PBqQ0OA
You can learn more about the Empire State Winter Games – the largest Olympic-style winter games in the Northeast.
And find out more about the Rochester Sled Hawks — we hope to hear from you about getting you on the ice or having your support to grow and develop the youth and adult sled hockey programs!
Stay tuned for more! The Rochester Sled Hawks join up again with the CNY Flyers for a tournament in Syracuse!
