Arizona Coyotes bring hockey to the Boys & Girls Club in Sacaton

August 3, 2018

Aaron J. Tohtsoni

Gila River Indian News

Continuing to foster their relationship with the Gila River Indian Community, the Arizona Coyotes organization visited the Boys and Girls Club of the East Valley – Sacaton Branch for an afternoon of street-style hockey.

This was the fifth time that Zach Izumi, amateur hockey development coordinator, has made a trip out to the Community to work with the youth programs.

“We come out here and teach them street hockey,” said Izumi. “We like to bring equipment out here, show them hockey, teach them the fundamentals like stick handle, shoot, pass and then we play a little hockey game.”

Izumi said every year that he comes back to the Community, the kids are getting better and growing. He said the first year that they came down no one knew how to hold a stick but now their skillset is improving.

The games pitted boys versus girls and rotated depending on age. They also got to have free-time with everyone having a hockey stick in hand, rubber balls were flying throughout the club’s gymnasium.

Also, helping the youth hone their skills was Zack Savage, Coyotes hockey development. The idea of street hockey is to give the children a new way to enjoy the sport of hockey so that when there is inclement weather, the children have another game to play indoors.

The street hockey is part of a series of outreach events that the Coyotes organization does with the Community through their corporate sponsorship with Gila River Hotel and Casinos. Last month, the Coyotes invited the Community’s Boys and Girls Club to a skate party at Gila River Arena.

At the end of the event, the children received a Coyotes stainless steel water bottle and stickers.