City College hosts Ice Hockey in Harlem Equipment Day, Sept. 20

Ice Hockey in Harlem’s (IHIH) all important Annual Equipment Day will be hosted by The City College of New York on Tuesday, Sept.  20, it was jointly announced by Nick Tagarelli, CCNY Class of 1975 and Hockey Alumni president, and Malik Garvin, IHIH program director.

The event will be held in CCNY’s Nat Holman Gym from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Members of the youth teams will be able to pick-up their necessary equipment in preparation for the upcoming season as several IHIH teams will begin skating in October. 

“We set out stations of equipment and our volunteer coaches help get everyone what they need to participate,” said Garvin. “It is a very important day for us since it signals the start of another hockey season, giving the opportunity to our neighborhood youth to be involved in our many programs.”

Equipment Day usually takes place at Lasker Rink in Central Park North.  However, since this venue is currently being renovated, all IHIH events, hockey practices and home games have been relocated.  

“Because of the immediate need by IHIH to find a convenient community location, we jumped right in to help,” said Tagarelli.  “Since the revival of the CCNY Hockey team began five years ago, our hockey alumni have assisted IHIH on this very special day. Our thanks to CCNY President Dr. Vincent Boudreau, and Steve Macias, CCNY Interim Athletic Director, for making this possible with the use of the Nat Holman Gym.”

CCNY Hockey Alumni from the glory days of the 70s have participated in many IHIH educational and lifestyle programs. CCNY continues to maintain the connection between the IHIH community youth and local families and CCNY, an avenue of higher learning.

Current CCNY players and CCNY hockey alumni will be present to assist youth players, as they have in the past.

“Thanks to everyone at CCNY for pitching in,” said Garvin.  “We have solved an important need and continue to support CCNY as a choice for our youth to continue their education.”

For more information, please contact: Tagarelli at (908) 208-4415 or Ntagarelli@gmail.com ; Malik Garvin, at (212) 722-0044 or MGarvin@icehockeyinharlem.org ; or Vinny Cuomo, Class of 1979, at (201) 452-9587 or ice-hockey@gtest.ccny.cuny.edu .

About CCNY Hockey
The purpose of the CCNY Beavers Hockey Teams is to promote diversity, govern and improve organized collegiate and youth hockey in the New York metropolitan area by authority of The City College of New York. To foster among the members, supporters and Men’s and Women’s teams a general cooperative spirit; to maintain and increase interest in sports, physical fitness and the game of hockey; to have and exercise a general care, supervision and direction over the playing interest of the teams and players. To promote “Education through Sports,” in our community so that student-athletes gain experience and learning, through speaking engagements and life lessons from under-graduate and alumni members to all youth groups under the CCNY banner.

About Ice Hockey in Harlem
Ice Hockey in Harlem (IHIH) began in the winter of 1987 with forty eager participants ranging in age from 9-12. All participants agreed to attend weekly classroom sessions and skate one night a week. In class, these IHIH pioneers were taught math, reading, and geography using hockey cities and statistics as teaching tools. With a cursory knowledge of the basics, the youngsters donned mismatched, secondhand equipment and wobbled onto the ice of Lasker Rink, an outdoor facility at the northern end of Central Park. Under the tutelage of founder's Dave Wilk, Todd Levy and former New York Ranger Pat Hickey and other volunteers, the students were soon skating, shooting, and passing as though they had been playing the game for years. After that rookie season, the program managed to raise enough money to send one player to a summer hockey camp in California. Today, with our comprehensive programs serving more youth than ever before, our mission remains constant: EDUCATION IS THE GOAL! IHIH envisions empowered and successful young leaders, students, and athletes who are resilient, confident, and committed to education and their community. IHIH aims to support and develop determined, resilient, and confident youth by offering high-quality ice hockey programming, as well as off-ice programming that exposes young people in Harlem to educational experiences that improve their academic engagement, grow and strengthen their character, and prepare them for their future.

About the City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Emsi puts at $1.9 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 16,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.