About Us

The Fox River Phoenix program philosophy was originally created and developed as part of different local Spring hockey program. After a number of successful seasons with fantastic feedback on the culture and opportunities we were trying to create, the program leadership made the decision to change venues prior to the Spring 2024 season with sights on long term stability and filling a gap in the local Spring programming schedule. Along with this venue change came a complete re-brand of the program. However, the philosophy under which we started and subsequently applied will remain unchanged.

Nearly all youth hockey players have a finite amount of time to enjoy the game of hockey and create new memories and experiences. While everyone loves to win, the most important aspect of the game is to ensure that everyone has fun. One of the greatest elements of Spring hockey is that, if done correctly, it can provide a great low-pressure hockey experience following an often-grueling regular season of hockey. At the same time, the kids get an opportunity to meet and play with some new members of their extended "hockey family" and just have fun playing the game and hanging out with friends, new and old alike.

Each season, rather than putting extra pressure on kids by assigning a "label" to teams regarding their skill level (i.e. AAA, AA, A, B, etc.), each individual team is evaluated from one year to the next and entered into the appropriate tournament level for that team's particular skill level in that given year. The goal is to create even matchups rather than finding an "easy" schedule to rack up wins. On the flip side, it is no fun for anyone to enter at a level that will result in blowout losses, regardless of what "label" people hope to identify as. Through constant communication with various tournament directors, we hope to get schedules that result in some great competitive hockey for the kids to just enjoy the game! It's not always perfect, but we do our best to consider the best interests of each team!