week of January 23, 2023

Save The Dates….

January 27: Ferris Campus Visit + Bulldogs Game

January 29: Players Choice Game – 1:30pm

February 4: GYF Blood Drive in the Community Room

February 5: Last day of Learn To Skate!

February 5:  2nd / 3rd grade Move Up Game

February 8: Grifins vs Sledwings Game @ Griff’s Icehouse

February 8: NO practice for Olympian and Adams Divisions.

Campbell practices @ a different time-check TeamSnap!!

February 12: Adams Charity Classic Games

February 13: Returning player registration opens!

February 19: Campbell Charity Classic Games

February 26: Norris Charity Classic Games

March 4: Girls Game @ the Van Andel! more info to come!

March 5: Patrick Charity Classic Games

March 4: Star Wars Night- Griffins Ticket fundraiser- tickets available soon!

March 12: Patrick try-outs- by invite only

March 18: Last day of the Season!

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Ferris Campus Visit

This Friday we are taking a group of 55 Griffins Youth Foundation players and their parents to Ferris State University for a campus tour and college hockey game. This is a great opportunity for prospective 10-12th graders to have a college visit experience and spend time with their teammates off-ice.  The bus will leave the Belknap ice arena parking lot at 2pm. We ask that you arrive no later than 1:45pm so we can quickly take attendance and begin our trip on time.  The hockey game is scheduled for 7:05pm and we will return to Belknap between 10:30 and 11pm.

There are still a few seats available! Ferris will be providing free transportation for us, as well as a campus tour, dinner and the opportunity to watch a Bulldogs hockey game.  Sign up here if you are interested in going!

Also, prior to arriving on campus, each student (STUDENTS ONLY) attending the visit must complete the visit registration form found at the following link: https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/admision/VisitRegistration/GroupVisit.htm

To register:

  • Click “Register Now”
  • Click on “Group Visit: GR Griffins Youth  Foundation”
  • Complete the registration form
  • Click the green “Register” button

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Norris Schedule 

Norris families have already recieved this e-mail updae, so this is just a reminder- there was an error on the printed/PDF schedules that went out at the beginning of the season.  The schedule has been updated on TeamSnap as well as the calendar on our website- please make sure to update your records!

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Sunday Extra Ice Time

This weeks extra ice time is a Players Choice Game for our Girls, Norris and Patrick Divisions!

The game begins at 1:30pm and will follow pond hockey rules.  Staff have picked two team captains who will draft their team, choose their game jerseys, and have the ability to ask any (adult) coach within the Foundation regardless of division coached to be their supervising bench coach for this game.  There will be no refs. It is a self governing game and players will simply be removed from the game if control is not shown. This game is designed to give our players a bit of independence, reward our captains for leadership skills shown and let our Norris, Patrick & Girl’s Divisions hang out together.  Feel free to come and watch and cheer on our high school players!

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Community Room News

Come help us build a giant fort in the Community Room! Use blankets, sheets, tables and chairs or create your own cardboard castle. Learn about architecture and make a tiny city. Our animal of the week is the Turtle-color and design your own turtle to take home or grab a book to read about Franklin.

FAMILY FARE/SPARTAN STORE RECEIPTS:

Turn in your receipts in the education room– feel free to leave them on the counter Saturdays. Every receipt gets us closer to $1000. We currently have approx. $135,000 in receipts out of the$150,000 needed for our first $1000. 

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Volunteers Needed This Week

-Scoreboard/Announcers- We need help for the following games (Sign Up Here!)

  • 1/24 Patrick Game (blue vs red) 7pm – 2 people needed
  • 1/26 Girls Game (pink vs green) 7pm- 1 person needed
  • 1/28 Campbell Games (1:40 & 3:00 pm)- 1 person needed for each game

-Refs Needed This Week! We need help for the following games, if you or your player has taken a ref class, please considering signing up for a time to help out this week!

  • 1/26 Girls Games- 7pm and 7:50pm (2 refs needed for each game) Sign Up Here!
  • 1/28 Games- (Sign Up Here):
    • World Juniors 9:00am- 1 ref needed
    • Adams 11:00am game- 1 ref needed
    • Campbell 1:40pm game- 1 ref needed

Education Room- If you like to stay warm and want to volunteer with kids young and old, the Education Room is a great place to be. Play games, do puzzles, help with crafts, read books, sweep floors or play referee- all help is appreciated!  Stop by the Community Room and let Julie E. know you’d like to help!

Equipment Room- From laundry to helping organize equipment, there’s lots to do back in the equipment room each week that requires little to no experience!  E-mail Julie G. (equipment@griffinskids.org) or stop in the back while youre at the rink and let her know you’d like to help!

50/50 Help at Home Griffins Game- There are no home games this week, but feel free to take a look and see if there is an upcoming home game you can help with! Sign Up Here!

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It’s Pizza Time!

Our Little Caesars Fundraiser is going strong! In fact, you might say we go together like cheese and pepperoni!

Big pizza eating days are just around the corner, so make sure you have Pizza Kits on hand for your celebration this year. Remember that you can also email the link to your family and friends, so they don’t miss out, and post on your social media pages. Shipping costs are the same for 1 Kit or 2 Kits, so stock up and help us reach our goal!  Every kit we sell earns $6 profit and helps alot!

To get started follow this link to create your very own Seller page. You can customize your page, upload a video, create an avatar, and watch how many pizza kits you’ve sold. You’ll get your own special link to send to your friends and family so they can buy delicious pizza kits and support our fundraiser.

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Attendance & Closure Policies

Closures- We’ve been pretty lucky weather wise- but it’s always nice to have a refresher on our cancellation policy so when the snow does fall you already know what to expect.  If GVSU Downtown Campus cancels classes then we are closed.  Staff monitors each weather situation closely, and if we do cancel ice time, you will receive and e-mail and a notice will be posted to Facebook.  You can also opt to receive text message notifications in your TeamSnap settings.  Please use your best judgement in traveling- if you do not feel safe coming in, don’t risk it!

Attendance:

  • All players are responsible for signing themselves in before each practice/game.  Parents may not sign their child in!
    • Failure to sign in at each practice and game will be considered an UNEXCUSED absence
  • A parent must contact Ms. Eileen as soon as they are aware of an upcoming absence. While we encourage the athletes to communicate with the coaches regarding any potential conflicts, for an absence to be excused, the parent must report the absence to Ms. Eileen via email (attendance@griffinskids.org) prior to the end of the practice or game that is missed. Any e-mail, phone call, text message or TeamSnap notification sent to anyone other than Ms. Eileen will not be counted as excused!  
  • You can view our full attendance policy here.

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GYF Blood Drive

GYF will once again be hosting a blood drive, on Saturday Feb 4th, in the community room from 10am-3pm. We have been given a goal of getting 50 people to commit to donating at this event!  Please use this link to sign up for an appointment.  Times are available every 5 minutes throughout this event.  Please feel free to share with friends or family who may be interested!

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Griffins vs Sledwings- February 8th, 2023

Be sure to come show your support to our Sled Wings players on Wednesday February 8th!  This is an annual event that showcases the skills of our Sled Wings players as they square off against Griffins players (who will also be on sleds!) right here at Griff’s Icehouse.  Meet your favorite players and get their autographs prior to watching them tangle with the Sled Wings!

PLEASE NOTE! Due to this special event- Olympians and Adams Divisions will NOT have practice on Wednesday Feb. 8th!  Campbell Division practices will be 5:00 and 5:55pm on the EAST rink!

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