Nederland was accepted by a unanimous vote of the Colorado Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) to become the newest youth hockey association in Colorado. The vote took place at CAHA’s annual meeting earlier this summer.

As a member of CAHA, the new Nederland Youth Hockey Association (NYHA) will be sanctioned by USA Hockey as a bona fide hockey program, providing players from the Peak-to-Peak region with access to tournament and league play throughout the state.

“Our program was ready for this next step,” said Tim Murphy, Nederland hockey director. “In the last couple of years we’ve had some experience with road trips and our players have absolutely loved it. Now we can explore so many more options than we ever had before.”

The reason joining CAHA is so important for the evolution of Nederland’s youth hockey program is that CAHA and USA Hockey restrict member organizations from playing non-member teams. Because of that, Nederland was not eligible for tournaments, or even able to do “home-and-home” series with other CAHA organizations.

“In the past we worked so hard to get the rink ready, get teams and coaches together, and then we got maybe half a dozen games with the Boulder YMCA and Longmont,” said Murphy. “Now we can get our kids into as many games as they want. We’ll take it slow and see what the hockey community wants.”

The next step for NYHA is to form a board of directors. Anyone who is interested in joining the board, or in being a part of the board selection process, please attend the meeting Weds., August 4, 2010, 7 p.m. at the Teen Center in Nederland. If you have any questions, please email James Churches, jec@indra.com, or call 303-258-7475.

After the board is selected, NYHA will begin assembling coaches and managers, and then conduct team meetings with parents to see where they would like to see the program go for the 2010-2011 season.

“These are exciting times for youth hockey in the mountains,” Murphy said. “We have come so far, and now we’ve taken another big step forward. It’s a victory for our entire community.”