Greetings Veterans and Happy New Year!

2023 was an exhilarating year with 13 skates, our first tournament against the Coast Guard in Winthrop, and the inaugural Veterans Classic versus Vegas Veterans Hockey at the Kraken Community Iceplex. In addition to hosting these wonderful events, we have make tremendous progress towards growing our foundation. The most notable is achieving 501(c)3 status and officially becoming a recognized non-profit organization. This allows us to accept tax-deductible donations to help fund our monthly skates, bring the sport of hockey to veterans through Learn-to-play scholarships, and purchase uniforms for our players. One of our largest donations in 2023 came from the One Roof Foundation’s 50/50 raffle that was advertised at the Veteran’s Day Seattle Kraken game!

These amazing donations allow us to bring hockey to more veterans across the Pacific Northwest like Chase Nilsen who is one of our first Learn-to-Play candidates. Chase who is originally from Poulsbo, WA, spent 20 years in the Army before moving back to the area within the last year. He is one of the original members of Veteran MX, a nationwide non-profit that is focused on using dirt bikes as therapy for veterans. Today he works in law enforcement for the State of Washington and enjoys racing motocross and playing rugby when he is not playing hockey. When asked about the impact that hockey has had on him he said, “When stepping out on the ice everything goes away. PTSD and any physical ailments don’t even cross my mind. As a veteran, the bonds I have made with other veterans while playing hockey is something that will last a lifetime.”

Among these exciting times, we have also had some changes to our board members. Nate Gallery and Suman Chakrabarti have parted ways to pursue other personal and professional endeavors. Their passion and commitment have played a significant role in the success and growth of our organization, and we wish them the very best in all their future endeavors! At the same time, we continue to grow the organization with new board members as we move into the next stage of our evolution. Greg has joined us and hit the ground running, and we continue to consider additional board candidates that have the right set of skills to continue growing our foundation. 

We want to thank you all for all of the engagement and enthusiasm during this exciting time as we grow this wonderful foundation. Our board members are working hard to plan some exciting skates for the year. Keep an eye out for upcoming events on our website and please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any questions.