Letter from AJHL Director of Hockey Operations Mark Kumpel

Press Release

To Whom It May Concern:

Regarding the state of Tier III Junior hockey on the East Coast, I wanted to weigh in and let you know that theAtlantic Junior Hockey League is not exploring any options outside of Junior hockey, nor are any of the 12 AJHLFranchise Members. On the contrary, the AJHL just completed its first season as a stand-alone league.

For the first nine years of its existence, the AJHL was underneath the Atlantic Metropolitan Hockey League umbrella. That organization also oversees the Atlantic Youth Hockey League and the Metropolitan Junior Hockey

League. I have been head coach of the AJHL Walpole Express for the last five seasons and helped the "new" AJHL separate from the AMHL. This past season was the AJHL’s 10th Anniversary campaign. It concluded with an overtime win in Game 3 (the deciding contest) of the finals for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights. The exciting game marked the end of a truly successful season.

Throughout the season, league owners spent considerable time solidifying the foundation of the new entity and planning for the future. For starters, the league created a full time Director of Hockey Operations position, a job I am proud to hold. Instead of one person wearing many hats, the league now has focused leadership moving forward. Jeff Nygaard will remain as AJHL Director of Administration. I will help each team/organization continue to develop its on- and off-ice operations. I will draw on my background in coaching, player development andknowledge of USA Hockey to continue to move the AJHL forward, improving the Junior hockey experience for our student-athletes.

The AJHL has also re-committed to offering "true" Junior hockey. The league will remove virtually all equipment and playing rules that differ from USA Hockey’s Junior rulebook. Additionally, the 12 AJHL organizations will commit to offering the true Junior experience as a tried-and-true path to college hockey. This re-emphasis on true junior hockey is the result of the 12 ownership groups dedicating their efforts to the player experience and the ultimate goal of advancing players to college hockey.

I realize information may be hard to extract during times like these. However, I want to set the record straight, at least from the AJHL perspective. We plan to stay on our committed path of providing a nurturing environment with USA Hockey Junior standards—set forth in the USA Hockey Annual Guide—to provide our athletes the opportunity to achieve their goals.

Please check out the two-page brochure that follows this letter to learn more about what the AJHL has in store for 2013-14 and beyond.

Sincerely,

Mark Kumpel

Director of Hockey Operations

(Nathan can be reached at nathanfournier@mainehockeyjournal.com)