About

Welcome to the Put It On Ice Blog!

Put It On Ice was created in January of 2010 as a way for me to combine my love of the Colorado Avalanche with my passion for web design and writing. I have not received any kind of formal writing instruction, but I always enjoyed English classes throughout my High School and College education. I like being creative and voicing my opinion about fields I am very knowledgeable in, such as hockey, and blogging seemed like something I would enjoy.

About Put It On Ice

The intention of this blog is to provide information all year round about the Colorado Avalanche. This blog is meant to be fun and enjoyable for me as well as other fans who read it. One goals for this blog is to create a place for Avs fans to come and keep up with latest news and events. My main goal is to create a fun atmosphere for fans from around the world to come interact with each other about the team which is why there are Live Game Chats for all Colorado Avalanche home games. There is also a forum that does not get a lot of traffic at the moment, but I am hoping to gain more interest with that as the blog grows. Right now the forum I am using is small and kind of hard to read. I am looking for alternatives to fix this issue. I am trying to keep everything on one site which makes it difficult to find a good forum to use, but I may have to look elsewhere and host the forum somewhere else. I look forward to the start of the season and hope that readers will register and comment on posts and leave me some feedback.

About the Creator and Administrator

My father has played and officiated hockey his whole life so it’s only fitting that I was sliding on a pair of skates and learning how to skate at age 4. That next year, 1991, at 5 years old I began playing hockey for my local youth hockey program. I have played every year since that first season, with the exception of one year in 1994 when I decided (for some reason) it wasn’t something I wanted to do. Well by the next year I was back on the ice on a team with no one standing in between the pipes. The coaches asked who wanted to try it out and three of us raised our little 9-year-old gloves in the air. We were given some equipment that the program had stored away and we got to try out our goaltending skills. My parents didn’t think I would stick with it because who in their right mind wants to guard a 6′ x 4′ net while other kids shoot hard rubber pucks at you, especially after losing one of your first games 13-1?

Well, I guess I did because I have played in net every season since then. I went on to play for the Clinton High School hockey team and graduated one year before they won back-to-back New York State Championships. After my high school playing days I enrolled at the local Mohawk Valley Community College and played there for two seasons, 2004-2006, before graduating. Luckily, my mom’s boss played on a mens 30 and over team the next town over and needed a goalie, who are required to be 18 or older. I hopped on that team and we won the league championship three times in four years. I also play in lower level mens league in my hometown and plan to continue playing in both leagues as long my body allows me.

I got involved in officiating at a young age as well and was only 10 when I decided to embark on my first season of reffing youth hockey. I fell in love right away and have since officiated various Sectional tournament, State tournament, and league tournament games. The older I got the more I enjoyed officiating and helping out the younger kids learn the rules and teach them the game. The more I officiated the hungrier I got to move up the proverbial officials ladder so I decided to try to get into the local NIHOA chapter. I was denied the first year, but granted access my second attempt, which was prior to the 2007-2008 season. Since then I have had the pleasure of officiating High School, Junior College, Division I and III Club, some Girls Prep tournaments, and various mens league games.

I will continue to officiate and play this game that I love so much for as long as my body will let me. Hopefully, that will be a very long time because I can’t imagine going through the winter months without lacing up the skates and getting out on the ice whether it is to make some extra cash or put my reaction skills to the test. I hope you all enjoy this blog and pass the word along to your friends.