The Milwaukee Power junior hockey team, the new team in its first full year in West Bend is holding their training camp Monday through Friday. On Tuesday, Thursday and Friday camp starts at 5:15pm and on Wednesday at 7:30pm and the team will be on the ice for 90 minutes at the Kettle Moraine Ice Center.
Kris Marion, vice president of business operations and business manager for the Power said this camp is where the team finalizes the roster for next season.
“Roster consolidation, strengthening positions, building depth charts all that stuff,” she said. “It’s basically their first week of practice and it’s a schedule based on the coach’s expectations and whatnot, so they’ll be ready to go when the season opens in two weeks,” Marion said of training camp. be open to. public for those who want to come and watch.
“That’s what it’s all about,” she said. “It’s free to enter. People can come without admission, it’s free. It’s basically just being able to experience a youth hockey practice.” Marion said there will be an opportunity for people to meet the players after practices are done while they are on the ice. But there will also be a Meet the Power Players event at the King Pin Bowl and Ale House in West Bend today from 7:30-9:30 p.m.
“Basically they’re going to be there all night, the whole team, the coaching staff, everybody’s going to be at the King Pin,” she said. “Fans can come and get autographs and meet and talk to the players. If they want to take pictures with the players, anything will happen. So there really could be a chance after the training camp skates, but the best opportunity will be Tuesday night.”
The Power will host their annual Black and White scrimmages on Saturday at 2pm at the Kettle Moraine Ice Center, and the scrimmage will also be free to the public when residents bring a non-perishable food item to the event.
Marion said the items collected will be to benefit the Full Shelf Food Pantry in West Bend.
“Fans can come to the scrimmage, watch it for free, and then for an hour after that game from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., the guys will be available for pictures, autographs, meet and greets, all of that.” , she. said.
Since it’s the team’s first full season in West Bend, Marion said opportunities like these events are great for the team.
“They are very important to us,” she said. “We now call West Bend home, we are West Bend’s new hockey team. So this is the first opportunity for fans and everyone in the community to meet the players. This is really their first experience meeting these players and because Junior Hockey is new to West Bend, it’s exciting for the community as well.”
Marion said this experience may be the first time community members are introduced to youth hockey.
“A lot of people aren’t even familiar with junior hockey,” she said. “When you say youth hockey, they think like young men, like little boys. Either they think the Bombers or the Milwaukee Admirals or they aren’t sure what junior hockey is all about. Hockey is not a traditional sport like football, basketball or baseball. Players don’t go straight from high school to college, young people play. So for some people this is the first experience to find out what junior hockey is all about.”
According to Marion there are plans for more community events in the future.
“Our program here is going to open up a lot of opportunities for the community not only this season because of the entertainment goals, but we’re going to have events around the community that fans can come to,” she said.
Marion said the team has a goal of packing the Kettle Moraine Ice Center during the team’s 22 home games this coming season.
“We want 1,000 people at every game,” she said. “Four of our home games will be Skate with the Power Nights. These are nights where fans after the game stay and can rent skates and they can skate for an hour with the players. So that’s a good thing about it, kids and adults alike can skate with it players after the match”.
On Sept. 1 at 7 p.m., the Power will have an exhibition game with the Oregon Merchants, and kids in hockey jerseys will be able to get into the game for free, and tickets for everyone else will be $5.
“That night we will also have Washington County Youth Hockey players of various age levels playing mini-games between the first and second intermission,” Marion said.