Where do we start with this wonderful organization. Our family has been with Ice puppies for 2 years and we are having a blast. Our son enjoys coming every weekend . He was nervous about skating last year. His first time on the ice he could not stand up. Wanted to come off the rink due to him falling all the time. But with the help and support of coach Sean, coach Niki and the volunteers 2 months later he was skating without any help and learning to skate with 2 feet. This year you wouldn’t even know he could not skate. He is skating with ease and loving it. Thank you for encouraging Nolan (Kazoomi) to stick with hockey. Our family is fully involved on and off the ice. The support and help of our community is amazing. The fundraisers are so much fun for the children. The way we all come together to help one another is truly inspiring. Meadowvale Minor Hockey is where you want your child to be. You will be hooked! The kazemi’s!
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The progression my son has made in his first year of Ice Puppies is all thanks to Coach Greg. I couldn’t have imagined him improving as much as he has in such a short period of time.
Deanna
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The IP program, in my experience, is a fantastic opportunity for children to learn to enjoy the sport of hockey. It is a well thought out and executed program facilitated by passionate, kind and experienced volunteers. My two children have gone through the Ice Puppy experience and have gained a self confidence and team mentality I know only a well run sport can provide. They have learned how important community involvement is and most importantly have had a lot of fun while making new friends.
Jonathan
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The Ice Puppys program has improved my son’s skating and his confidence so much. His coaches really took the time to get to know him (and all the kids on the team) to identify their learning styles, strengths and weaknesses. It was really fun watching the kids develop their skills throughout the season.
Danielle T.
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Once again The Meadowvale Minor Hockey Association provided us with another fantastic year! Thank you Coach Luke, the other coaches and our wonderful manager Debbie. Your dedication is always top notch and much appreciated! You taught the kids more than plays and strategy, you taught them how to be positive and have fun on and off the ice. Looking forward to the next season!
January Rahmani
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My son had no hockey or skating experience prior to joining ice hockey in Sep last year. Coach Jon and other volunteer parents helped him a lot to learn and progress on the court. We really appreciate it!
Linda
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Mike is a great coach. My son has improved so much with Mike’s guidance and encouragement and cannot wait to even go to practice. Mike is kind and is always patient and really puts in the time to give everyone a great experience. I will not hesitate to put my next child in the program.
Laura
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Ice Puppies is a great program, and the number of volunteers per player is great, the kids get a lot of attention which helps in their development.
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Ice Puppies is a great volunteer run organization full of amazing coaches/families/friends who will help train your kids to not only become great skaters and maybe future hockey players but more importantly hard working kids who will persevere and learn to work as a team while having fun!
Patricia
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Coach Mike has been fantastic and we are happy that he was the head coach of our daughter’s hockey team! He teaches the kids all the necessary fundamentals of the game with a positive and caring attitude. Most importantly, his number one rule for the kids is to have FUN! Thanks again for being a great coach and it’s truly incredible to see our daughter’s skills improve each year with his guidance!
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Coach Greg and the Ice puppies league has helped my Daughter fall in Love with Hockey. The community, fun and friendly atmosphere have made this an amazing experience.
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Where does the Kazemi family start. This is our first year putting Nolan (a.k.a Kazoomi! ) in ice puppies. My son was a young 4 year old who knew nothing about hockey or skating. Some wise friends told us that your son will be skating in no time if he joins the Meadowvale Minor Hockey Assosiation. They were right! Skating on his own in 1 month. What a great organization! Meadowvale Minor Hockey welcomed each child on the ice even when they could not skate. My Nolan was one of those. Standing was an understatement for him. But with the help of the wonderful coaches Sean and Nikki Beneteau and the several volunteer parents including my husband who dedicate their weekends and weekdays children like my son want to come back each week and learn from the best. The staff and volunteers encourage the young players to do their best and go out on the ice and have fun. The practices and games are well organized and the fundraisers are the blast. We have a yummy pancake day, parties/ gatherings when holidays arrive, a coaches charity game, and an all star weekend to end the year. We were introduced to Meadowvale Minor Hockey league by our close friends who had their children playing. They were encouraging us to sign our son up even though he was not born yet. That is how confident and excited our friends were for us to join the group. Our expectation has over exceeded. We thank our friends very much. The Kazemi family encourages you to join and be a part of a hockey family that will stay with you for years to come.
Kazemi Family – March 2019
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The Meadowvale Ice Puppies program has been a great way to introduce my kids to the great game of hockey. There is no shortage of volunteers to help on the ice and on the bench, so each child receives the attention they need to learn and develop at their own pace. After moving out of Meadowvale, our family continues to come back to Meadowvale for the Ice Puppies program because of how well it is run, and the quality of the coaches and other volunteers!
Ice Puppy Parent – March 2019
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It’s not just about the sport, or about the physical skills the kids learn. What I found unique about Meadowvale Ice puppys, compared to other sports leagues I have experienced, is the wholistic approach to the children’s development: confidence building, teamwork, camaraderie, good sportsmanship, equal opportunity, all while striving for excellence. Meadowvale Ice Puppys shows that you can create an environment and atmosphere where kids can grow in more than one dimension, and keep it fun for both players and parents!
Ice Puppy Parent – March 2019
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It was our sons first season playing hockey. He could barely stand on the ice on his own and with the help and guidance of the amazing coaches he was skating on his own after 2 weeks. Meadowvale made us feel welcome and it is a very family friendly environment. Our son had an amazing first hockey season experience and we can not wait for next season! We miss it already!
Ice Puppy Parent – March 2019
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Impressed! No detail is over looked with this program. The amount of organization that goes into this program is amazing. The level of commitment to make sure kids are playing with like skill level to ensure kids are getting the most out of the program is what sets this program apart from others. You will not be disappointed with this program.
Ice Puppy Parent – March 2019
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I cannot believe that today was Austin’s last official game as an ice puppy. I loved this program so very much. Next season Austin goes to Minor novice. Thank you Meadowvale Ice puppy program! Austin, Jon and I really enjoyed the last three years and are so happy that we chose Meadowvale to be our hockey family!
Karen G – March 2017
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I am speechless, never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I could receive such an honour as Coach of the Year! I know that I have shared with many of you how amazing and gratifying this experience has been for me over the past 2 years to be out on the ice with the kids and my family…I get emotional every time I think about it. This is truly an amazing organization with great people volunteering at all levels for one common goal…..the kids having fun while learning to play and amazing sport and building relationships with their peers and mentors.
Thank you so much for this as I share this with my family that also dedicated their time to teaching and mentoring me every week on the ice.
Coach Niki B.
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“Even before he learned to skate, our son loved to play hockey. So we started the process at age 3 with Parent and Tot skate which to our surprise, went horribly wrong as our ‘hockey player’ refused to skate. In the end we had to remove him from the program. When the time came to start hockey, I questioned whether he would go on the ice. He did so but with great reservation – basically spending most of his first day lying on the ice. The turning point was when a great coach gave him a stick and encouraged him to shoot on the net. It took him quite some time to skate/crawl there but he was successful. This same coach reassured us that he would be fine and to give him some time. We did and we now have a 9 year old real ‘hockey player’ and we are a real hockey family with the Meadowvale association. Dad is the head coach for two teams with our second son now in the program and our 3 year old daughter anxious to get out on the ice (with a stick and puck-I can’t get her to go to parent and tot either) “
Christi
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“After trying parent and tot skating and fun skate with my daughter since see was 3 years old, I decided to put her in Meadowvale hockey ice puppies after a great referral from a close friend. I was worried my 4 year old daughter would not participate. She started off slow. It turns out, she loved playing. We had a great coach who encouraged me to be an on ice helper which helped my daughter significantly. She had a great experience and we got to have some (father daughter) quality time on the ice. Even though we moved out of the Mississauga area, we’ll be back at the Meadowvale ice puppy program sept 2014”
Paulo
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“We’ve had two boys go through the Ice Puppy program and we can’t say enough good things about the program. Both of our kids couldn’t skate when they started and within a few weeks you’d never know they were new to the sport. The Coaches are top notch and the parents are great! I can’t imagine leaving the Meadowvale organization after the wonderful 5 years that we’ve had here. I think the Ice Puppy program turned us into a hockey family by the way that they not only taught the kids about hockey but they created a real sense of “team” by engaging the kids and families on and off the ice.”
Randi
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“Although our son could not really skate I called the Meadowvale Hockey Association to question his ability to play and was told to enrol him, learning to skate was part of the Ice Puppies Program. Not knowing anyone in the Ice Puppies program we enrolled him and off we went to Meadowvale. A few weeks into the season our son was skating and loving the game. We had a great coach who has over the years continued to be a part of our son’s team. 5 years in and our son still loves the game and is now a goalie. Through the Ice Puppies program we have great friends, lots of memories and continued laughter. Looking forward to the start of another great year in September.”
Claudia
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“My family has been with Meadowvale for the last 5 years. Our son Luke was playing ball hockey with some neighbours when he was 4, and the dad asked us if we registered for ice hockey yet. It hadn’t crossed our minds because we thought he was too young. More importantly, Luke had never been on skates so we thought it wouldn’t be possible. Our neighbour told us about the Ice Puppy program and how much fun it was. He took out his cell phone, called a Meadowvale friend and told us we need to be at the rink at 6am that Saturday morning. I had no idea where the rink was, how to dress my son in hockey gear or anything! We were impressed by the warm, caring and helpful Meadowvale coaches and parents. Hockey has been awesome! “
Liz
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” If you are thinking of registering your child in hockey with the Meadowvale Ice Puppy program… you should. I wasn’t sure if my son was mature enough to start the first year when he was four years old, so I didn’t sign him up. With hindsight being 20/20 I believe that he would have benefited from playing that year. Nonetheless, with his participation in the program during the last two years, he has grown to LOVE the game of hockey. It is an excellent program for many reasons. One of the most significant, I think, is the ability for parent volunteers to help out with practices and games. It increases the coach to player ratio and helps to provide more instruction to more players. Also, the game format of matching skill levels helps to keep all players interested and challenged while maintaining balance. The entire program is focused on skill development combined with having fun. Our experience with Meadowvale has been more than worthwhile.”
Chris
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“He loved hockey but was too intimidated to play in a league. We finally convinced him to join the Meadowvale’s Ice Puppy program by showing him the website and how the program was geared to accommodate new players.
He looked forward to his first practice but was full of nerves. In his mind, all hockey players were like the Leafs. How could he keep up! Once he saw one of the players go on the ice and fall, he was fine as he could do that too.
The focus of the coaching team was encouragement, mentoring, and fun. With this formula, he quickly evolved into a fun loving hockey player.
The coach also asked if I was available to be one of the assistant coaches. I agreed not know how fulfilling an experience it would be. Playing a part in the development of all the players and seeing the joy of scoring their first goals made taking on the task worth it.”
Cameron
