Meijer State Games take place this weekend in Grand Rapids

By Pat Evans – 

When Darrel Newman takes the ice with the team he coaches in the Meijer State Games, he pulls out an old jersey.

It’s the jersey from the Empire State Games the former pro player and current youth coach took part in when he was a teenager.

“Those games were such a great experience for me that I kept the jersey,” Newman told his team.

That’s the type of message the organizers of the hockey portion of the Michigan-based State Games, Brian Bellgraph and Andrew Hall, want to send.

“He played in college and professional, but he still has that jersey,” Bellgraph said. “That’s the kind of experience we want the kids to have. We try to get coaches that can offer more than just go on the ice.”

The games – held June 20-23 in Grand Rapids – bring teams from districts across the state to Grand Rapids for an Olympic-style competition. Bellgraph said its a different type of tournament than just bringing in various travel teams.

“It’s to bring together the kids within the district, rather than opponents at the local arena,” he said. “It a whole happy utopian feeling we like to have. As more people get involved, we’re showing we’re a bigger community.”

Tournament schedules by age group:

High School (boys) – 12U boys, 14U boys and 19U girls

The tournament also tries to show off talent that is otherwise lost most of the times. The teams are Tier-2 players or lower. Hall said that is to hopefully show you don’t need that “third A” behind a team name to be a good player.

“They get enough publicity; they go to showcases,” he said. “We wanted to do Tier 2, to allow kids who could play AAA a chance to shine.”

Bellgraph said he believes travel hockey to be counterproductive to the process of learning hockey until at least second year Pee Wee.

Along with Newman, the games also have had Dennis Hextall, Rob Palmer and several other NHL players participate.

”We have had a lot of LA Kings for some reason,” Hall and Bellgraph said.

This season, they’ve also had Drew Famulak, the associate head coach at Ferris State.

“Our numbers for District 6 were already high, but now with a Ferris coach, we have a feeling we’re going to have a lot of kids trying out,” Hall said.

The pair has also run into some road bumps as they attempt to promote the tournament. They said several groups don’t understand the whole Meijer State Games and West Michigan Sports Commission, which puts it on, are both non-profit.

“Not a single dime will stay in our pockets or the sports commission’s,” Bellgraph said.

“Everything is going back into the community. We buy tryout and practice ice around the state. Every kid who tries out gets a jersey. Kids who play get jersey socks, ice, referees. It’s a lot of money and at the same time we try to keep the price low enough to get kids to play.”

As the State Games enter its fourth year, the participation has picked up steam and the organizers hope to introduce a girls’ side of the tournament.

This year, the games will offer a 19U girls tournament with four regional teams, North, South, East and West.

“The interest just got stronger, we took a look at numbers, what age groups can we offer,” Hall said.

The West Michigan Sports Commission also recently announced the addition of a Winter State Games, with the inaugural event taking place in February 2014.

But the regionally-based hockey tournament won’t switch seasons, because of teams being in season.

“This tournament will always stay in the summer. Winter games if they we do anything, it’ll be a team-based tournament, nothing special about it,” Bellgraph said. “There are too many hoops to jump through roster-wise. I can’t imagine a coach saying ok I’ll let my kid do this.” But no matter the season, Bellgraph said the State Games are about more than just winning a medal.

“It’s not about winning, it’s about developing kids,” he said. “We’re just trying to reach out and offer kids advice, real world, been there done that advice.”

This story originally ran in the May 13 edition of MiHockeyMag.