TRHC 16U/18U Program Announcement

The Toms River Blackhawks are proud to announce plans for our 16U/18U Travel Hockey Program for the 2023/2024 season. Our club has been enhancing our entire hockey program across all age levels and this year we are building upon our successes and growth to add a number of additional improvements to our 16U/18U program.

First, we are thrilled to announce that Coach Andrew Yasenchock (18U) and Coach Joey Campisano (16U) will be returning as Head Coaches for the upcoming season. In addition to their heading coaching roles they will be continuing as skills instructors across all age levels, working on skill development at team practices and running various clinics over the course of the season. Both coaches have been working with our players to help develop their hockey skill sets as well as guiding and mentoring them with their hockey and academic goals. Coach Andrew and Coach Joey played NCAA/ACHA hockey in college, making the sport a big part of their lives, all while attending classes and earning their degrees in their respective majors in college.

Next season, Coach Andrew and Coach Joey will be working cooperatively with our Hockey Department to guide the overall structure of our 16U/18U hockey program. They will be working with the entire 16U/18U coaching staff to define our program, implement on-ice systems, create templates for off-ice workout regiments and game preparation as well the establishment of team rules that all of our 16U/18U teams will follow. They will be overseeing the entire program and be directly involved with all of our players at 16U/18U.

We would also like to welcome Coach Gage Grist to our 16U/18U Coaching Staff. Coach Gage will serve as an Assistant Coach and will be a valuable resource both on the ice and on the bench. Coach Gage played AA hockey throughout his youth career along with two years of Junior hockey before starting his career running a construction company. Coach Gage will bring an in-depth knowledge of the game to our 16U/18U teams.

For the 2023/2024 travel hockey season our club plans to skate two to three 16U teams, a 16U full season “National” team and possibly two 16U NJYHL short season teams, as well as an 18U NJYHL short season team. Other additions to the upcoming season’s 16U/18U program also include the addition of pre-season clinics in July, a pre-season tournament held at Winding River Skating Center the first weekend of August, and the participation in an additional tournament and/or showcase for each 16U/18U team specifically to expand their competition footprint into other leagues and geographic areas.

The hockey program will include the following:

NJYHL - SHORT SEASON TEAMS - 16UAA American/16UA & 18UAA/A:

Short season High School Friendly travel hockey in the NJYHL starting in late July and ending when High School ice hockey starts. The following will be included in tuition:

• Pre-Season On-Ice Tune-Up Clinics in July

• Pre-Season Off-Ice Dryland Training

• Practices starting in August

• 2 Blackhawks Practice Jerseys and Game Socks

• Approximately 30-35 Games including Showcases/Tournaments

• Approximately 30-35 On-Ice Practices

• NJYHL League Play

• 2 Tournaments (1 Pre-Season Tune-Up, 1 Columbus Day Weekend)

• 1 Showcase (AHF/EJEPL/Other)

• Summer TRHC Goaltending Clinics

  
  (click on image to view PDF)

  

NJYHL - FULL SEASON TEAM - 16UAA National:

Full season High School Friendly travel hockey in the NJYHL starting in late July and ending late February. Short season league play in the NJYHL. During the High School ice hockey season the team will play additional games on the weekends (1 game per weekend) and have practices once a week to keep the team playing competitively together. After the High School ice hockey season, the team will play in a select showcase event as well. The following will be included in tuition:

The following is included in the tuition:

• Pre-Season On-Ice Tune-Up Clinics in July

• Pre-Season Off-Ice Dryland Training

• Practices starting in August

• 2 Blackhawks Practice Jerseys and Game Socks

• Approximately 50-60 Games including Showcases/Tournaments

• Approximately 40-45 On-Ice Practices

• NJYHL League Play

• 2 Tournaments (1 Pre-Season, 1 Travel)

• Summer TRHC Goaltending Clinics

• Showcase Season -

  • 2 Showcases (2023 Boston Breakout & Eastern Exposure Series Showcases)

  • Additional Showcase Games (~16 additional games)

(click on image to view PDF)

For more information about our upcoming 2023/2024 travel hockey season, please visit our website (http://njblackhawks.com/) or reach out to us via email at trhcboard@gmail.com.

Our entire 2023/2024 Hockey Program details as well as our Head Coaches for all age levels are listed on our website.

We look forward to seeing your player at our 2023/2024 tryouts!!!

Regards,

TRHC Hockey Department

Coaching Bios:

Coach Andrew Yasenchock - Coach Andrew is currently the Head Coach of our Toms River Blackhawks 18U team as well as a Skills Instructor with our hockey club. Coach Andrew played his entire youth hockey career with the Toms River Blackhawks. He moved on to play Junior B hockey with the New Jersey Junior Titans Junior team in the Metropolitan Hockey League and later played in the NAPHL (North American Prospect Hockey League) in 2013/2014. Coach Andrew also played Junior A hockey in the EHL (Eastern Hockey League) in 2014/2015. While playing Junior hockey he also attended Ocean County Community college to start earning college credits towards his degree. Coach Andrew then attended Rutgers University (New Brunswick) where he played ACHA D1 hockey and was also the Assistant Captain of the team from 2015 to 2018. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in History from Rutgers. Coach Andrew has been working closely with our Toms River Blackhawks players as a Head Coach, Skills Instructor, and Player Development coach for the past few seasons utilizing his extensive hockey knowledge to help develop our players. He has also been the head coach of various Spring/Summer teams for Parker’s Army Hockey and South Jersey Selects and has a passion for teaching the game to our young players.

Coach Joey Campisano - Coach Camp is currently the Head Coach of our Toms River Blackhawks 16U-AA team as well as a Skills Instructor with our hockey club. He was formerly working as a Scout/Assistant Coach for the Jersey Shore Whalers Junior Elite team and is a native of Toms River, NJ. He attended four years at Toms River High School North, where he ended up breaking the record for Most Goals in one season with 49 goals and the record for Most Points in four years with 165 points. After graduating in 2013, he continued his love for the game playing two years of Junior hockey as Captain of the Jersey Hitmen in Wayne, NJ. After completing his Junior hockey career, he committed to his first year of college at the University of New England where he played NCAA Division lll ice hockey. With academics coming first, he made a decision to transfer to and finish his academic experience at Central Connecticut State University playing in the ACHA. Coach Camp was the Captain of the Blue Devils hockey team during that time and graduated in May of 2019 receiving a Bachelor's Degree in Business Marketing and a minor in Sports Management. Coach Camp is extremely knowledgeable, has excellent communication skills, a great sense of humor, an intense love for the game, and is an excellent demonstrator of skating and hockey skills. Being fortunate that he played both NCAA and ACHA hockey in college, Coach Camp can help guide young players on the ice and help put them in the right direction for playing hockey at the next level. His passion for the game drives him to develop and advance the next generation of Jersey shore hockey players within our hockey club.

Coach Gage Grist - Coach Gage will join the 16U/18U Toms River Blackhawks Coaching Staff for the 2023/2024 season. He brings in-depth knowledge of the game and a passion for teaching players to push themselves to the next level. He started his coaching career with the Jersey Shore Whalers Elite as an Assistant Coach. Coach Gage started his playing career at the youth hockey level at the young age of 5, where he played for the Atlantic City Sharks for 11 seasons and attended two state championship games during his time there. In addition, he played for the Toms River Blackhawks during 14U and then later on played for the Flyers Youth U18AA where he won the State Championship during that season. Coach Gage attended Mainland Regional High school and played varsity hockey for three years there. Mainland Regional High School won the High School Championship in 2016 where Coach Gage won the game in a shootout. During his junior and senior year at Mainland he was nominated for the High School All Star Game. Coach Gage continued to pursue his passion for the game by starting his junior hockey career playing for Jersey Shore Whalers Junior Premier. In the following season, he played in the Junior Elite division for Jersey Whalers where he was the top scorer and was nominated for the USPHL All Star Game. One of Gage’s favorite hockey memories was being nominated to play against the Philadelphia Flyers alumni in support of autism. Coach Gage is originally from Linwood, New Jersey where he works full time for Chila Construction company as a carpenter. Gage is also a young entrepreneur who started his own business named Slapshot Construction LLC whose name incorporates his love for the game of hockey.