Dinos in the Star Tribune!

The DinoMights were featured in the Star Tribune on Monday!
I also just got back from the Hockey in the hood tournament in Detroit which was fantastic!


The article is below, but I will also include the Star Tribune link which has a photo gallery of the kids.


Inner-city kids get a shot at playing hockey thanks to the nonprofit DinoMights organization.

By JOY PETERSEN, Star Tribune


The alarm rings early Wednesday mornings for 11-year-old Hector Ramirez.

Just a day before he was to leave last week for the Hockey in the Hood Tournament in Detroit, he was catching a ride to an early-morning practice at the Augsburg Ice Arena. Arriving at the brightly lit rink, he was greeted with upraised arms and an eager welcome by his coach, Scott Harman.

"Hector! Glad to see you, buddy!"

Red duffel bags were piled in a heap next to the lockerroom door. One was marked specifically for Hector. All the gear inside -- helmet, pads and skates -- had been donated.

Hector, along with 94 other boys and girls ages 5 to 18, is part of DinoMights, a Minneapolis program that gives inner-city kids access to a sport not commonly played by minority children.

The National Hockey League in 1995 began the NHL Diversity Task Force, now known as the "Hockey is for Everyone" initiative. It offers children of all backgrounds the opportunity to play hockey.

That same year, a team was organized in Minneapolis by John Foley, a preacher's son who started the program as an outreach effort from his father's church, Faith Covenant. That early enterprise today has grown into DinoMights, a nonprofit organization with three paid staff members and 40 volunteers who work with children from the Central, Powderhorn Park and Phillips neighborhoods.

The organization holds an annual fundraiser, receives grants and accepts donations from local businesses. While it asks for $50 from each participant per year to defray costs, those unable to pay are not turned away.

DinoMights also provides tutoring, mentoring, social interaction and faith-based education to the players.

Harman, who is also executive director of the program, said the 40 volunteers pick up and drop off the players. Because most participants are dependent on rides, Harman said it teaches the kids responsibility because they have to set an alarm and be on time.

The volunteers bring the kids to the Augsburg Ice Arena for their 6:15 a.m. practices each Wednesday during hockey season.

While the youngest kids get help suiting up, the older kids take the ice. At 6:45 a.m., after the skates have been tightened and the mouth guards put in place, the volunteers huddle up the younger children for a morning prayer. Then a one-hour practice begins.

Hector said the hardest part for him was learning how to skate -- he'd never skated before he joined DinoMights. For the littlest ones, tumbles on the ice are common. Some fly into the side boards and hit hard. But they pick themselves up and dust themselves off.

After practice, the kids eat breakfast together as a team and then the volunteers take them to school.

Team members practice and play in games and tournaments against squads from around the metro area. The DinoMights also played during intermission at Saturday's Minnesota Wild game. Last fall, Willie O'Ree, the first black NHL player, visited the team.

Hector was one of 10 DinoMights who participated in Detroit's fifth annual Hockey in the Hood Tournament Friday through Sunday. The event hosted teams from 11 cities, including Chicago, Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, and smaller cities such as Windsor, Ontario, and Wasilla, Alaska.

Hector was looking forward to the trip. "I'm excited about all the teams we're going to play."

Leonard Silbernagle, 24, grew up in the Longfellow neighborhood and joined DinoMights in 1999 at a time when he said he was "struggling with school." While some in his neighborhood turned to gangs, Silbernagle said the program was a way for him "to get out of the community."

After graduating from high school and taking some time off, he rejoined DinoMights this year as a volunteer coach.

And he loves working with the kids. "It's great to see their faces."

Joy Petersen is a University of Minnesota journalism student on assignment for the Star Tribune.