HOCKEY WEEKEND ACROSS AMERICA

Hockey Weekend Across America will be celebrated in the United States on President's Day weekend, Feb. 13-15, 2008. While USA Hockey leads the initiative, it will again take the effort of all hockey entities across the country to put programs in place to make the event a true success. Not only do we want to celebrate our great game and those involved in the sport at all levels, but we also hope to expose hockey to new audiences.

Similar to last year, each of the three days of Hockey Weekend Across America will have a theme. Here are a few ideas of programs that could be implemented to go along with the daily themes:

Friday - Wear Your Jersey, sponsored by ShopUSAHockey.com

• Wear your favorite hockey jersey from any level (youth, high school, junior, adult, college, pro) to school, work, etc.
• Conduct hockey programming in schools or the work place (floor hockey tournaments, contests, guest speaker, local hockey celebrity reading in schools, etc.)

Saturday – Bring A Friend To The Rink, sponsored by the NHL

• Host open house to expose hockey to those who haven’t played (learn to skate program or similar)
• Bring a friend(s) to your game
• Bring a friend(s) to a youth, high school, junior, college or professional game who hasn’t ever had a chance to attend

Sunday - Celebrate Local Hockey Heroes, sponsored by Liberty Mutual's Responsible Sports

• Honor your favorite coach, timekeeper, official, player, etc., through a special recognition event, by way of a media story or through a feature on your website (or all of the above!)
• Conduct a fund-raising event in which your local hockey heroes are honored
  Host an open house at which some of your local hockey heroes address attendees and talk of the benefits of participating in hockey

The following pieces of information will help you:

1. Begin planning how you will celebrate Hockey Weekend Across America today! Now is the time to meet with the appropriate people in your organization and discuss creative ways you can be a part of the celebration. Be sure to pass this document on to as many people as appropriate.
2. HockeyWeekendAcrossAmerica.com is the official communicaton hub for the event. The event logo, along with usage guidelines, is available for download. Please feel free to use the logo and add your marks appropriately. You will find additional information and material as time moves forward, including public service announcements, P.A. scripts, mock news releases, etc. Also available on the website is a listing of last year's featured events from around the country, to give you an idea of how the entire hockey community got involved.
3. As part of the festivities, HockeyWeekendAcrossAmerica.com will include a place for fans to register for a chance to win their favorite NHL jerseys as part of Hockey Weekend Across America's Great Jersey Giveaway, presented by Reebok. Registration begins on January 7 and will run through February 12, with a total of 15 jerseys being given away during each of the three days of Hockey Weekend Across America.
4. We’ve developed a competition and prize structure for the best Hockey Weekend Across America programming. A contest entry form is available at HockeyWeekendAcrossAmerica.com. The grand prize is 25 sets of OneGoal starter equipment plus $2,000 cash, with five runner-up prizes of $1,000 cash.
5. Any questions regarding Hockey Weekend Across America can be e-mailed to HockeyWeekendAcrossAmerica@usahockey.org.

We encourage you to visit HockeyWeekendAcrossAmerica.com often for updates on happenings related to the event.

It is important that everyone involved in hockey participate in this weekend celebration in some fashion. Have fun and thanks in advance for your efforts. Please share this information with as many people as possible.