The Whalers is a youth ice hockey organization for boys and girls from locations in Middlesex County and other surrounding towns in the Middletown & Cromwell, CT area. We offer Little Whalers Rookies Program (next step after Learn to Play) and competitive levels of play for children from four years of age through high school.

We are located at Champions Skating Center in Cromwell, CT.   We are members of the Connecticut Hockey Conference, CT Valley Midget Hockey League and USA HOCKEY. Our Tier II, III, and IV level Travel Teams play games with similar teams from other organizations around the state and occasionally travel to other locations throughout the region for tournament competition.

Join our Facebook group - Whalers Youth Hockey Association- to get the latest updates.

CALLING ALL FUTURE WHALERS!

Tryouts will be held as follows:

Mites (2015-2017):   week of March 6th

Squirts (2013-2014):  week of March 13th

PeeWees (2011-2012):  week of March 13th

Bantam (2009-201):  week of April 3rd

Midgets (Split Season- X and Terriers):  TBD

Midgets (Full Season):  TBD

Times and Registration Link Coming Soon!

CONNECTICUT CARIBOU SPRING HOCKEY

CHAMPIONS SKATING CENTER, CROMWELL

INCLUDES: 6 PRACTICES
2 TOURNAMENTS

BEGINS WEEK OF APRIL 17TH

PRICE: $650 (INCLUDES JERSEY)

Join our mailing list to receive all communications regarding Tryout Information or send an email to whalersinfo@whalersyouthhockey.org

  Coach Anthony LoBianco (aka Coach Lobo) has been hired as our new Hockey Director! 

Coach Lobo has been playing hockey since the age of 3.  He was involved in his hometown, Brick, New Jersey’s youth hockey program (Brick Hockey Club); his high school career was played for Brick Memorial High School where he was garnished with many titles, including All State 1st team Senior as well as the All-Time Leading Scorer. Coach Lobo then moved on to a Tier 1 AAA hockey program, playing for the New Jersey Junior Titans. Coach Lobo furthered his career playing for the Trenton Habs (IJHL/NSHL) for two seasons, and the Orangeville Americans (GMHL) for one season.  From there, Coach Lobo played at the professional level in the Federal Hockey League (FHL) for the Brewster Bulldogs from 2015-2016.   For the past 7 years, he has turned his attention to bringing his passion and experience with hockey to the ice to teach beginner, intermediate, and advanced skaters the skills and fundamentals of the game. 

Coach Lobo is already a familiar face in Cromwell.  He is currently a member of the 2022-23 Hartford Junior Wolfpack Coaching Staff– serving as Bantam 09 AAA Head Coach, PeeWee 2011 Assistant Coach and was the Head Coach of the ECHO U18 Tier 1 Split Season Team. 

Coach Lobo will officially begin his position as Whalers Hockey Director on January 2nd.  Over the next few weeks, Coach Lobo will meet with the Whalers Board of Directors and Coaching Staff.  You will also see him observing practices, greeting families, and will even take the ice to meet our players.  Beginning in the 2023-24 season, Coach Lobo will become Lead Instructor for the Little Whalers Rookie Program, our Skills Instructor, and will serve as Head Coach to some of our Whalers teams.   

We are very excited and fortunate to have Coach Lobo join the Whalers Organization and hope you will help us in welcoming him!

(photo credit: Chris Rutsch)

5-0 —oh yea!!!  

Our PeeWees went undefeated in the Defender Tournament this weekend!  

Keep it up team!!!

Our 14U Tier 2 wins Defender Tournament! 

Nice job, boys!!!

Has your child completed Learn to Play and ready for more -- but not quite ready for a travel team?

Little Whalers Rookie Program is the team to join!

For more information or to register, please email whalersinfo@whalersyouthhockey.org

Whalers PeeWee A ended the season this weekend in Woodstock, Vermont.   The team went undefeated to bring home the Pot O Gold Championship banner and trophy!   
 

Congratulations!!!

Squirt AA went 6-0 in the Tier III State Tournament.   Next stop: 3/18-3/20 Maine for Regionals
 

Congratulations to all our players and coaches on a terrific season! 

Whalers Youth Announce Long-Term Partnership with Champions Skating Center

Bobby Ferraris Named Coaching Director, Rob Belger named Skills Director

Champions Skating Center (“Champions”), Whalers Youth Hockey and Black Bear Sports Group are pleased to announce a long-term partnership between the rink and the youth hockey club with the shared goals of growing the youth club, enhancing youth hockey offerings within the club and at the rink, and offering more development opportunities for rink and club participants. This new partnership establishes the Whalers as a long-term home club at the Champions Skating Center along with the Hartford Jr. Wolfpack AAA.

Champions and the Whalers have also named Champions Skating Center / Hartford Jr. Wolfpack AAA Hockey Director, Bobby Ferraris as Coaching Director. Coach Ferraris brings an accomplished hockey pedigree to the arena and its clubs and programming. He spent 12 years coaching NCAA Division I hockey, most recently serving as the Associate Head Coach of Mercyhurst University before relocating to New York in 2015 to serve as Head Coach of the Boys Varsity Hockey team for the Trinity-Pawling School, where he will remain the Head Coach.  Coach Ferraris has established the Pride as a consistent contender in the Founders League, which is widely considered to be the premier prep school hockey league in the United States; this success included a championship in 2018. Coach Ferraris has also effectively developed his players and helped them earn college roster spots.  In 2021-2022, Trinity-Pawling featured freshmen alumni on three Division I rosters and seven Division III rosters.  In 2022-2023, another three Trinity-Pawling hockey alumni will be Division I freshmen at Army, Boston University, and Merrimack College. “I’m thrilled to have the Whalers join the Black Bear and Wolfpack family at the rink,” said Bobby Ferraris. 

Coach Rob Belger, Assistant Hockey Director at Champions Skating Center, will serve as the Skills Director. Coach Belger played juniors for the Hartford Wolfpack before moving on to play NCAA hockey for Nichols College. 

Cat Cirillo was named Director of Operations for the Whalers and will continue to oversee the administration and scheduling of the club.

Tryouts and team alignments for 2022-23 will be announced soon on the website! Go Whalers!

About Black Bear Sports Group, Inc.

Black Bear Sports Group, Inc. is a privately held company formed by Murry Gunty and Blackstreet Capital Holdings, LLC in 2015 that seeks investments in sports and entertainment facilities, teams, and youth sports events.  Black Bear arenas are clean, professionally managed, and offer world-class recreational programs.  Black Bear focuses on ice arenas in metropolitan areas with compelling demographics, markets with a National Hockey League club presence and arenas with existing youth hockey clubs.  Black Bear not only features the ability to acquire healthy and stable arenas, but also the expertise required to turn around mismanaged or under-performing facilities.  The largest owner/operator of ice rinks in the U.S., Black Bear’s footprint totals 30 facilities across the United States with 55 sheets of indoor ice, four indoor turf fields, 23 youth hockey clubs, three youth hockey leagues (Atlantic Hockey Federation, Atlantic Girls Hockey Federation and National Girls Hockey League), the nation’s largest adult hockey organization (Foundry Adult Hockey) and three Junior “A” hockey franchises with membership in the United States Hockey League, North American Hockey League and Eastern Hockey League.