skip navigation

  1. 1 of 5
  2. 2 of 5
  3. 3 of 5
  4. 4 of 5
  5. 5 of 5

Chinook News

Chinook Approved for Rink Location

By Mark Kazmer 09/18/2024, 10:45pm MDT

Hillsview Field to become Home of the Northern Hills Chinook

The Spearfish City Council chambers took center ice on Monday night, September 16th, as the Northern Hills Amateur Hockey Association was granted use of Hillsview Field at 421 Hillsview Road for a full-sized rink. See the full post of the Black Hills Pioneer story here.

To the City Council, the Parks, Recreation, and Forestry Advisory Board, and Tyler Ehnes and the great staff of the Parks, Recreation, and Forestry Department - we cannot thank you enough for entrusting us with this location. We look forward to seeing you at center ice for the inaugural puck drop of the 2025-2026 season.

September 14th

By Rob Zinke 09/14/2024, 7:45pm MDT

Good Evening!

Today we had a great turnout of our skaters in both our younger and older groups. We are making great strides in our membership but we are in need of more players, especially for our Squirts group. As a part of the SDAHA, our squirts team will be traveling and have a schedule that will be coming out. But we need your help!  We will be looking forward to seeing you next weekend. 

If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to reach out to Rob at 605-569-6147 or email the board at northernhillsaha@gmail.com

 

Peewees and Bantam

Today we worked on great skills again. In your free time, try to get some running practice in. Like we did in practice, set yourself up two lines on the ground and run back and forth trying to stop perfectly on them. Imagine you have your skates on and how it feels different from going back and forth on your skates compared to your shoes. If you have a friend, try practicing kicking a ball back and forth with them, keeping and maintaining control at all times. You want to only put the puck or ball where your partner can get it and you can both maintain control while moving forward or backward.

Try working on your forearm passing for next week!

Link to video example

 

Mites and Squirts

Every day is a new adventure! We saw a lot of improvement from the previous week in some of our newer players. Everyone needs to keep working on their skating and turning. Keep working on trying to be able to not walk your skates but truly glide across it. At home, if you can set yourself up with an area and try to do Moguls back and forth to get the feeling of what its like to glide back and forth on your skates and build up your strength in your legs.

Strengthen your legs at home!

Video link with an example, you don't have to use a ladder, just jump jump jump!

Important reminder

As of August 1, 2024 the USA Hockey rule mandating neck laceration protection went into effect. There are a lot of great options for our SDAHA and Northern Hills Chinook families to choose from to outfit their players. We have had a few practices and starting with our next practice on September 21st if you do not have a neck guard, you will not be allowed to skate with no exceptions. This is to adhere to not only the Chinook and SDAHA rules, but to USA Hockey.

SDAHA Rules for players and spectators can be read here

Help Us Recruit!

With our program still being young, we have the hard task of keeping our numbers up and proving to the city councils in our area that there is a need and want for hockey and ice sports in general in the Northern Hills.

We need EVERYONE to continue to talk up how fun hockey and being on the ice is with their friends. The more skaters we have the better the program can grow with all of us. That being said, we have a MONUMENTAL task ahead of us:

Monday, September 16th at 5:30 PM in Spearfish, the Northern Hills Chinook Board is presenting in front of the City Council about the currently vacant location previously used by the soccer programs in Hillsview Drive. We had previously went before the special recreation council and was voted UNANIMOUSLY to put a temporary rink at that location to be maintained by us. This would be a huge step forward in growing the program and would give us our own ice and we would not need to continue to drive to Rapid City during the fall months anymore. If we can get the council to vote, this would be the home ice for us for the foreseeable future looking to many years there. We want the council chambers to be FULL and STANDING ROOM ONLY with everyone possible that is wearing Chinook gear. They NEED to see how loved we are and how much of a benefit this would be for the communities of the Northern Hills.

We ask each of you, if possible, to be there to show your support and if you can, bring friends and family and talk about it to everyone you know. The more we have the better it will show and help convince the council to approve us building a rink.

SPONSOR OF THE WEEK

Sponsored by RecStation.net

RecStation.net

Visit Website

Jackpot as of 10/1/2024 - $21,324

Drawings held Tuesdays at 7pm

Facebook

Next Chase the Ace Drawing

0
Days
0
Hours
0
Minutes
0
Seconds

DIBS for Summer events and beyond

For all parents and volunteers, visit our DIBS page and sign up for whatever days you can assist us this summer.

About the Northern Hills Chinook

The Northern Hills Amateur Hockey Association is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of youth hockey, figure skating, and recreational skating in the Northern Black Hills of South Dakota.  We invite you to join us in our efforts to bring hockey and a rink to Spearfish. Finding a location for the rink has been challenging to say the least, but hopefully we meet that challenge soon and take it to the next level.

We still have a way to go, and fundraising is our next big step. You can aid the cause by clicking on the donate tab because every little bit helps. If you are considering corporate partnership, please contact one of our board members and we can share our vision and options with you.

Help us bring hockey and ice skating to the Northern Hills. #ItsTime

Contact Us

Contact Us

Northern Hills Amateur Hockey Association

Phone: 605-645-9196

Northern Hills Amateur Hockey Association Sponsors

Interested in becoming a sponsor of Northern Hills Amateur Hockey Association?

Contact us 

Sponsored by Recstation.net

Recstation.net

Visit Website

A huge thank you to our 2022-2023 clinic jersey sponsor RecStation.net! Providing top quality boat sales and service since 2005.

Sponsored by Roundup Building Center

Roundup Building Center

Visit Website

Thank you to RBC in Belle Fourche, SD for giving us a huge discount on our materials for our new shed being built by the Belle Fourche HS CTE Construction Students.

Roundup Building Center provides personalized service for your construction and remodeling needs at all budget levels not found in "Big Box" stores.

Sponsored by Yesway

Yesway

Visit Website

Another big thank you to our 2023-2024 Badland Sabres jersey sponsors, Yesway! They are located in Fort Worth, Texas with gas and convenience stores located around South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico.

Zero-Tolerance Policy

 

USA Hockey and the Northern Hills Chinook will not tolerate any physical, verbal, or social behavior related to race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, or mental or physical disability meant to bully, harass, or intimidate another person, on or off the ice. If such conduct occurs on the ice it should be reported to the on-ice officials and will be addressed pursuant to the USA Hockey Playing Rules and result in a match penalty. If such conduct occurs off the ice, it should be reported as soon as possible to a USA Hockey Affiliate Safe Sport Coordinator or directly to any member of the Northern Hills Chinook Board or Coaching Staff.

Reports alleging abuse or misconduct that are not within the U.S. Center for SafeSport’s exclusive jurisdiction will be referred by USA Hockey staff to the appropriate USA Hockey Affiliate Safe Sport Coordinator, who will oversee the investigation and resolution pursuant to the Safe Sport Program Handbook and the respective Affiliate’s process. Reports that do not fall under the Safe Sport Program will be referred from the Northern Hills Chinook Board to the  USA Hockey staff or District or Affiliate representatives as appropriate.