The next session in the latest series of free hockey clinics hosted by local enthusiast and entrepreneur Jeff Day is set for Presidents Day, February 17, from 4-5:30 p.m. at the Driscoll Rink in Fall River.

Monday's event, as has been the case since the series began three years ago, is geared at garnering interest in hockey from youngsters at the elementary school level in Bristol and Warren, but also up to eighth grade, as Day aims to reinvigorate the program of his alma mater, Mt. Hope High School.

Day, who graduated from MHHS in 1999 and later was an assistant coach of the hockey team there, has been sponsoring the "Junior Huskies" clinics for the last few winters. Besides two sessions specifically used as introductions to the sport, Day offers local kids ice time weekly at Driscoll on Fridays from 3-4 p.m. through the closing of the rink in March.

"I'd say every year we've had a really good response, a good turnout," said Day. "To our surprise there's been more elementary school kids involved then there were middle school kids so that's why we're really trying to make sure we have ice time that's available for them. I would say for the most part we averaging 15 to 25 kids per class depending on if it's school vacation. But we're really happy with the results. Obviously, we always want more, but year after year it gets bigger and bigger."

Day, who owns the Better Days Technology company in Bristol, emphasizes there are "no barriers" to participating in his clinics. Besides the ice being free, he has a collection on offer of used equipment that he's collected or has been donated over the years for any youngsters who don't have their own. Day also has an on-going collaboration with J&B Hockey & Sporting Goods in Fall River to provide discounts on the purchase of any new equipment when necessary.

"All of the money comes from the Bristol Warren hockey alumni," Day said of how the clinics are funded. "We have our annual golf tournament and that's where we raised the money. For the longest time, I'm talking like the better part of probably 10, 15 years, we just raised the money and had no real connection to the (Mt. Hope High hockey) program. The coaches really didn't utilize us and every once in a while whoever the athletic director was would ask for socks or bags or jackets for the team.

"But now that my sons are hockey age, I kind of forecasted what's going be coming in for the future and that's when I got a little bit more and more dedicated to where our funds actually went. So I asked the alumni association to make a conscious effort to not buy 'stuff' anymore. No more clothes. We're only buying ice time and we're only gonna be buying it for the middle school. We wanna really develop the program."

Day has taken his inspiration to remain part of Mt. Hope High hockey from a couple of sources. He was first drawn to coaching and continuing his association with the program upon the sudden and tragic passing of his friend and former teammate J.P. Medeiros Jr. over 20 years ago. More recently, his interest has been piqued as his sons get closer and closer to attending high school. Keegan is a sixth grader in the district and Gavin is in third grade.

Day continued, "I'd say since my boys became of a hockey age and then I saw the program starting to co-op with different towns and everything is really when I decided to jump into action to see if we could do something, get more kids involved because I don't want to see the program go away."

Participation in hockey at Mt. Hope has been on the decline for a time and to the point where the last few winters the Huskies willingly took on about a half-dozen players from East Providence High School, which ended its sponsorship of a program almost a decade ago.

This winter, however, it became apparent to district administrators and coaches that Mt. Hope itself, at present, wouldn't be able to be a sponsoring institution. Rather, the Huskies would be required to join a larger co-operative with Rogers, Middletown, Tiverton and East Providence, the "Hurricanes Co-Op."

There simply weren't enough skaters between the Huskies and Townies to continue just their collaboration. More importantly, neither had a capable goalie available in time for the start of the 2024-25 season.

And that's where Day wants the Junior Huskies hockey clinics come in, to be able to potentially soon fill voids that could exist or persist. As an example, he points to current Mt. Hope High freshman Jacob Lopes. Lopes is not only skating with the Hurricanes this winter after being introduced to the game a few years back at the clinics, but he recently also chose to help the team again fill a need in net by volunteering to become a goalie.

"The Lopes kid is our biggest success story," Day explained. "He came to us a couple years ago and he couldn't stand up, but we got him to where he could actually compete and then a couple weeks ago his family asked if we had any goalie equipment he could use. It's great to see how far he's come."

Day isn't done with seeing how far he can go in helping aspiring hockey players in the area, nor is he shy about expressing his ambitions for the Mt. Hope High hockey program or himself. In fact, in a handful of seasons, like when his oldest son is of high school age, he would like the team to once again be self-sustaining and with him at the reins.

"I'm going to be honest. Part of the reason why I'm doing all of this is to be the front runner for the head coach," Day said of if and/or when hockey is able to once again compete solely under the MHHS banner or as the lead of a co-op. "I do hope that's well-received. I've got almost 25 years of coaching behind me, so I hope people understand that's one of the reasons why I'm doing this."

For more information about the clinics or to sign-up Day can be reached via email at Jeff@betterdaystechnology.com or by phone 401-440-5483. Registration is also available at https://students.arbitersports.com/programs/junior-huskies-hockey.