North City Blues hold practice at Enterprise Center

Just seven weeks after putting on skates for the first time, the
North City Blues
took the ice at Enterprise Center on Wednesday for their first practice in full gear. And they did it in style.
Louie, Blue Crew and the front office staff cheered on the participants as they arrived, there was a full set of equipment ready and waiting for them in their locker rooms and, when they took the ice, each player was introudced on the PA system by the team's longtime announcer, Tom Calhoun.

Coaches for the practice included lead instructor and Blues alum Jamal Mayers, team chairman Tom Stillman, President and CEO Chris Zimmerman and one more special guest. Near the end of the session, Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly surprised the kids by joining them on the ice to talk about hockey, answer questions, help with some drills and take photos.
"[It's] such a great program, and I'm excited to be able to come out today and hopefully be part of it more and more in the future," O'Reilly said. "It's amazing to see and it's great for the growth of the game."
North City Blues is the organization's newest youth hockey intiative. It was launched this year and offers a free after-school program to students ages 4-10 enrolled in KIPP Schools and/or Friendly Temple. Participants spent the first six weeks learning how to skate before graduating to the six-week Learn to Play.
Twenty-one kids took part in Wednesday's practice, but Mayers said he's looking forward to seeing the program - and the sport of hockey - continue to grow.
"You're going to gain more kids because they're going to talk about it at school, they're going to be excited about what's coming next," he said. "You're going to see a lot of these kids continue to play, and I'm looking forward to seeing that happen."