The Skills Competition is an exciting and popular component each year at the Frank Sabatino Memorial Tournament. Separate events are held for each division - in 2011 there will be Atom, Peewee White and Peewee Red divisions with each team allowed to nominate participants for each of the five events - Fastest Skater - Rapid Fire - Breakaway - Defense Agility and the Speed Relay. In addition to the skaters, goalie winners are identified in both the Rapid Fire and Breakaway events.

An outline of the events and available results are provided below.

the skills were once again a Very Exciting and Popular Event!

1) Fastest Skater                             

participants:   -fastest skater competitor from each team

setup:              -one skater at each end of the center red line

                        -pylon are placed in each corner of the rink (no cutting corners)

procedure:      -on signal, both skaters complete one counter-clockwise circumference of the ice

                        -up to eight heats of two skaters per 16 team division.

NOTE:  they are racing the clock, not each other

                        -fastest two skaters will ‘skate off’ for championship

2) Rapidfire Drill                            

participants:   -one goalie from each team

                        -one shooter from each team  (forward or defense)

                        -random match-ups chosen by Skills Committee in advance

setup:             -using both ends – balanced number of goalies and shooters at each end

                        -goalie starts in net and must remain in the crease

                        -6 pucks in a row, centered at the hash marks

procedure:     -shooter is timed taking 6 shots rapidly

                        -goalies are scored on saves; shooters are scored on goals and elapsed time

                        -after 6 shots, goalie and shooter and shooter are changed

                        -"sudden death" shooting tiebreaker for goalies only

3) Breakaway Drill                         

participants:   -goalie from each team

                        -shooter from each team (forward or defense)

-random match-ups chosen by Skills Committee in advance

setup:             -using both ends – balanced number of goalies and shooters at each end

                        -goalie in net

-shooters each side of center ice with a puck at top of center circle

procedure:     -first shooter breaks in on goalie – as soon as goalie touches puck, the scorer will instruct the next shooter to proceed

                        -after four shooters, change goalies, repeat

                        -therefore eight repetitions at each end (4 shots per goalie)

                        -score goalies on saves; score shooters on goals

                        -"Sudden death" shootouts as necessary to break any goalie or shooter ties.

4) Defenseman Agility Race                     

participants:   -fastest stickhandling defenseman from each team

setup:              -four skaters at the end of each blueline

-using all four quadrants, space four pylons from blueline to goaline thru  faceoff dot

procedure:     -on signal, first skater, racing the clock, starts at the blue line – forward to goal line and pivot around last pylon – backwards return to blue line – pick up puck - forward slalom with puck through pylons to goal line – turn around last pylon and return forward slalom with puck through pylons – finish at blue line

-four heats x four skaters

-2 fastest times "skate off" for Championship.

5) Speed Relay                                          

participants:   -four skaters already on ice from each of 16 teams (=64)

setup:              -two skaters from each team behind each goal line

                        -a pylon will be placed in front of each team

procedure:     -on signal, first skater races the length of the ice & taps  2^nd skater with his stick [second skater remains stationary, on his knees, behind the goal line until tapped]

                        -"early" start on tags will lead to disqualification

                        -repeat 3x so that all 4 teammates skate 1 length

                        -4 heats x 4 teams

                        -Winners of each heat compete in final to determine champions

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