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OMGHA Elections--Meet the Candidates

By OMGHA, 04/17/18, 11:30PM CDT

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OMGHA Annual Meeting and Elections will be held on Wednesday, April 18th at 7pm at the Maple Grove Community  Center.    

 

Below are brief paragraphs about each candidate up for election:

 

Secretary:

Nicole Kustermann-- For the last two years, I have volunteered on the OMGHA Board of Directors as the Assistant Secretary.  I am an active supporter of youth athletics, having coached competitive youth softball for several years.  I am an attorney by day and a mother of two multi-sport athletes during the rest of my free time.  My son will be a 2nd year Squirt and my daughter will be a 2nd year U8 player with OMGHA next year.  I have several years of experience in organizational management, having served as long term Board member of a non-profit trade association where I held the roles of Secretary, Vice-President and President.  I have a great passion for association management and believe I can be an asset to the OMGHA Board. 

 

Treasurer:

Tim Jacobs—My name is Tim Jacobs, and I am interested in the treasurer position of the Osseo Maple Grove Hockey Association.  I believe that I have the technical skills and the passion for the development of these young kids to be a huge asset to the association.  I have held a career in public accounting for the last twenty-one years and a CPA for the last sixteen years.  In addition to being an accountant, I have developed a great love for teaching our youth.  I feel that kids today need the extracurricular activities to teach them many life lessons that are needed to be successful in the future.  In addition, as member of the Osseo Maple Grove community, I feel an obligation and a desire to share my strengths with the children in that community. My accounting background and my strong aspirations to provide quality activities for our children make me a perfect fit for the treasurer position.   

 

VP Traveling Boys:

Adam Reiter-- My name is Adam Reiter.  I have served as an OMGHA coach and OMGHA board member the past 7 seasons.  My most recent role was VP of traveling for the 2016-2018 seasons.  I am passionate about OMGHA, growing the game of hockey, and developing the youth of our association.  I have served on the board and coached our teams for the right reasons:  To develop the skill set of our hockey players, give back to our community, create a positive, encouraging and fun atmosphere for our kids to play hockey, and provide leadership to ensure our association flourishes.  Professionally, I am a Sr Director for Target leading a team of 2100 team members.  My business, leadership and team skill set translates well to serving on the OMGHA board making me a productive and effective member. 

 

 

Girls Traveling Director:

Lisa Albers-- I have served on the OMGHA board of directors for the last 5 years as the Girls House Director for 3 years and the U10 Director for the last 2 years.  I have worked with a great team of people to help grow girls hockey in OMGHA these last 5 years and I would like to continue on the board to help retain players and maintain a good quality experience for players of all abilities.  I have seen a lot of hockey in my time.  From being the only girl on my youth teams, playing college hockey and officiating at the NCAA and International levels I have seen girls and women’s hockey grow and develop right in front of me.  I love hockey and I love seeing the excitement of kids enjoying a great game!

 

Jeff Allen-- I have a wife and her name is Dani, we have been married for 17 years. We have 3 children, Peyton (He played at OMGHA and is currently a sophomore at MGHS) Paige (She currently plays with OMGHA as one of the U15A goalies and will be a freshman at MGHS) Presley (She currently plays at OMGHA and will be a 4th grader at Weaver Lake). We have had children in OMGHA for 8 years and that will continue for at least another 5 years. I am currently the girl’s goalie skills coordinator and I have been the interim U12 director for the past season. My goal is to continue the positive growth of our girls program and continue to push the board for better opportunities for the girls program.

 

Ace Coordinator:

Luke Johnson-- My name is Luke Johnson.  I have been a coach within OMGHA for 15 years from mites to high school.  My daughter Annika (U15) and son Grant (graduated last year) have enjoyed playing hockey within OMGHA over the years and I have enjoyed coaching throughout their career while giving back to the hockey community as a board member for the past 6 years.  I have witnessed the dedication, vision, and size of our association continue to grow over the time I have been involved and feel we have put together a great place for our kids to learn the great game of hockey and hockey has become a way of life in our community.


Over the past 5 years as the ACE Coordinator I have continued to work with our board members on ways to refine, enhance, and ultimately provide the knowledge, resources, and plan to live up to our Skill Development Mission Statement: OMGHA’s Skill Development Mission is to provide our young athletes with world class training instruction, instructors, and facilities, that allow our athletes to fulfill their potential, while making the game of hockey challenging, safe, and fun for each individual player. 

 

I have also been a proponent to providing our parents, coaches, and players with the tools necessary to be a positive participant in the OMGHA hockey community through the involvement of Positive Coach Alliance or “PCA”.  PCA has been a way to build a culture around our young athletes by providing positive reinforcement for why we want them to play sports in the first place and PCA has also has positioned all our participants to be leaders in their own way.  This has been an important part of building the OMG culture by making sure our parents, players, coaches, administrators, and volunteers all work towards respecting the game of hockey.    Thank you for your support!  

 

                            

Boys Traveling Director:

 

Brian La Fleur—Hello, my name is Brian La Fleur and I have two children in OMGHA.  My daughter Aleah will be a U8 next year and my son Landon will be a Pee Wee.  I’ve been part of the association for the last 5 years and it has provided great opportunities and experiences for my children.  I have a rich background in hockey where I played High School, College, and Professional.  The sport has provided great opportunities for me and I love to work with families and players to continue to promote the sport.  I would love the opportunity to work on the Board to help OMGHA continue to build the sport and achieve its mission. 

 

Mike Kernan-- I was the Bantam skills director over the past two seasons and have been actively involved as a parent and a coach at all levels for OMGHA over the past 7 years.  During this time, I have been a head coach or an assistant coach at the house and travel levels, I have been part of the on-ice instruction for the pre-season and in season skills sessions, and I have been involved with our goalie clinics/instruction with Pro-Hybrid.  Prior to coaching at OMGHA, I was an assistant coach on the St. Louis Park High School team.  I am very passionate about hockey and want to see the continued growth of the game and our association and foster that same passion in the kids that play for OMGHA

 

Jay Picconatto-- My name is Jay Picconatto.  I am applying for a position on the OMGHA board as a Boys Traveling Director. 

 

I have been part of OMGHA for the past 8 years and have 3 kids in the program – Beck (Bantam), Tommy (Squirt), Elena (U10).  I have coached all three of them over the past 7 years as both a head coach and an assistant coach in the association and across other spring & summer teams and camps.

 

As I plan to be part of the association for the next dozen years, I have a strong interest in helping make the program successful in all facets – player development, financially, etc.  I think my experience on and off the ice can bring a lot of value to the Board.

 

In terms of player development, I believe the main role for the association is to deepen our player’s enjoyment playing & love for the game of hockey.  We owe a commitment to properly develop all players for whatever their skill and desire will let them achieve.  We should not focus on the top kids at the expense of the newer players.  Nor should we limit the top kids by plans / decisions focused on the lower end.  This program needs to continue to have a balance and needs to continue to have a leadership that cares about the betterment of the full organization.   I hope you consider me for a position on the board.

 

Rich Dean-- I am interested in continuing my time on the OMGHA board. I am excited about where OMGHA is today and where we strive to get to. I want to be a board member as I believe I have a diverse experience around multiple sports and can add value to the discussion around ways to continue getting better as an overall association. I am passionate around the overall experience for the kids as well as the families. It is essential that as board members that we create a foundation that promotes a positive experience around skill development and overall experience.

 

Super Mite Director:

Nick Rice-- My name is Nick Rice, and I’m excited for the opportunity to be the next SuperMite director at OMGHA. My wife and I have lived in Maple Grove for 10 years, we have 2 sons Theo (First Grade/Supermite) and Peter (PreK/Mini Mite). I have been involved with hockey for most my life, starting as a player at age 4 through high school, which led to dominating adult hockey leagues around the Twin Cities metro area. Now I coach my kids. I’m passionate about sports, particularly youth sports, and creating an environment for kids to have fun, make friends, and develop as athletes.

 

In my professional life I sell software at Pegasystems, where I serve local accounts and work from my home office. Looking forward to meeting you!

 

 

Girls House Director:

Brian Grant-- Hi, my Name is Brian Grant, and I am running for the Girls House Director position.  I have three daughters playing in OMGHA and my last is in the house program next season.  My oldest will be a 2nd year U12, my middle daughter will be a 2nd Year U10 and the youngest will be a 2nd year U8.  I was born and raised in Maple Grove, and grew up playing hockey in OMGHA.  I started in Supermites as a 2nd grader and played all the way through my senior year in high school on the Jr. Gold A team.  If elected, I look forward to helping continue our strong house program, and continue to grow the girls program.  I will strive to make sure that OMGHA is a place that kids will come and fall in love with the game of hockey just as I did playing in the old bubble that sat were the East Arena sits today.  Thank you for your support.