Heseltine 2024 - Wrap-up and Thank You

Thanksgiving weekend, 1981, the Andover mite hockey team invited some neighboring towns to get together for an informal holiday competition. A few months later, an Andover resident named Scott Heseltine who grew up playing youth hockey in town was tragically killed in an auto accident. The following Thanksgiving, the tournament was held again, this time in memory of Scott. With a few interruptions, the Andover Hockey Association has hosted a mite tourney each Thanksgiving weekend since then. The original tournament featured a couple of teams playing on the Friday after Thanksgiving at the old, cold Smith Rink, with hot chocolate after the games.

This past weekend, AHA hosted 32 mite travel teams (and 8 house league teams) from around the Merrimack Valley, North Shore, and Greater Boston region for the 41st annual Heseltine Memorial Mite Tournament. Hundreds of players skated their hearts out, while parents, siblings, grandparents, and other family members and friends cheered. AHA raised thousands of dollars for charitable endeavors, including our own community based initiatives as well as the Scott Heseltine Memorial Scholarship at Austin Prep (where Scott attended high school), which is awarded annually to a deserving student from Lawrence (where Scott’s family had roots).

At “the Heseltine” this weekend, we had food trucks and tailgating well into the evening while hundreds of kids burned off (more) energy under perfect early winter New England skies. Generous bidders brought home autographed memorabilia featuring local sports legends, Mike Tyson, and of course, Taylor Swift. It was, as always, an epic weekend of fun, family, and community.

During this past weekend I had great conversations with members of the Andover hockey community past and present. I watched some really skilled players competing with as high of a level of intensity as is possible for an 8 year old. And while I spent several hours at the rink between Friday and Sunday, there were many people who were there far longer than me. In fact, there are several people who have been planning this event since before our season even began this summer.

This tournament could not have taken place but for the hard work of Rachel Squillace, AHA’s tournaments director. Rachel and her planning committee, consisting of Heseltine veterans Jacqui Ambrose, Michaela Balford, Lauren Davis, and Jen Montgomery, ran the event flawlessly. Special thanks are also in order to AHA’s mite coaches (led by Matt Quinlan, AHA’s Mite director) and board members (led by Fred Porter, VP of member relations and Girls U8 coach, and our fundraising co-directors, Derek Proctor and Mike Vecchione), all of whom donated significant time and resources to this cause.    

Many of the above names are repeated from last year, and I hope all will be involved again next year. However, as a 100% volunteer run community based non-profit, we are always in need of more help - and, importantly, we also want to identify the next generation of AHA leadership. If you will have a returning mite player, or currently have a player in the house league or learn to play and plan to participate in travel hockey next season, please get involved and help make next year's event bigger and better.

Thanksgiving traditionally marks a turning point in the hockey season. At the pro level, it is often said that is when the season truly begins (we shall see if that is the case for the Bruins this year). Our high school players are going through tryouts this week (some of whom were already on ice at 5:50am this morning). Many of our youth teams are gearing up for the excitement of holiday travel tournaments at destinations which will soon resemble winter wonderlands. Meanwhile the AHA machine keeps rolling along, with over 30 teams - approximately 700 players - and hundreds of volunteers ready to spend the winter on the ice together as a community. As we conclude Thanksgiving weekend, I am thankful that I have the privilege to serve this great organization as president. Further, I hope the rest of your seasons can match the fun and excitement that we experienced at the Heseltine tournament this weekend.

Finally, congratulations to this year's tournament champions:

AAA – Greater Lowell

AA – Masco

A – Greater Lowell

Sincerely,

Tim Bennett

AHA President