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Coyotes Youth Hockey Hub Network

Class of 2013



 Griffin started playing hockey when he was 4 years old as a mini-mite at the Chandler rink. He had the opportunity to play with older brother for a few of those Mini-mite seasons. He played his first year of travel hockey for Coach Chuck Schott on the Mite A Polar Bears. Griffin played both as a goalie and defenseman on the team for half the season, but even though his goalie play was good, the team needed him as defenseman, and Jaxon seemed to have things under control back there between the pipes.

Griffin has had great experiences playing for a lot of excellent coaches in his young career, all of which have helped to develop not only his game on the ice, but how he handles himself off the ice. He has been to Nationals twice bringing home the Bronze medal as a Peewee AA. He has been awarded top defenseman for his team 3 times in his career. Griffin currently plays for the U16 AA Midget white team coached by Sean Hill and Mike Vukonich and continues to learn the game every day from these two coaches. We are extremely proud of Griffin not only for his hockey efforts, but for being great kid with a good heart who works extremely hard in school.  



 I started out as a mite at age 6.

I played 7 seasons with Jaxon Castor and Grif Ames.  Along the way I have won 2 state championships and have been on 11 tournament championship teams. 

I have taken two great trips to Nationals - one as a bantam and the highlight a Bronze medal as a Peewee. 

The family friendships will be a bond that last forever. 

Thanks to all the coaches who have influenced my life!



Jaxon Castor has had the good fortune of being a net minder with the Polar Bears and now Arizona Hockey Union Organization since he was 8-years old. 

As a ’97, Jaxon was coached by Chuck Schott through the 2004 -2006 Mite A seasons that included multiple tournament Championships, including Polar Bear MVP honors during the 2005/2006 season.

The 2006/2007, Squirt A’s – with Coach Greg Avant inspired Jaxon to take his goaltending to the next level.  The season exceeded expectations for the 1st year Squirts including Goalie of the Year & MVP honors.

The 2007 – 2009 Squirt A seasons paired coaches Mindy French & Avant, and this combination proved positive, as the 2nd year Squirts and 1st year Pee Wee’s continued their winning ways, including Goalie of the Year honors.

Coach Steve Bradley & Avant rang-in the first Arizona Hockey Union season, as these AA’s fought their way through the 2009/2010 season that concluded with a bronze medal at Nationals in Reston, VA.

As 1st year Bantam’s with Coach Avant at the helm, the AHU AA team had another successful seasons that included a 7-0 record against the rival Arizona Heat.

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, as former NHL’ers Sean Hill and Mike Vukonich led the ’97 AHU AA Bantam’s to five (5) tournament Championships, including the State Championship and rewarded with a trip to Nationals in Wayne, NJ.  Jaxon was honored as the Bantam AA Major MVP.

Jaxon has a lot to be thankful for, coming-up through the ranks of Polar Bear and Knights Hockey and having the opportunity to gain many great friendships with teammates, coaches and families. 

His goal is to continue playing hockey at the next level, and he will always have the memories of where it all started .

Thank you and Go Knights!



Chase, from an early age, was a challenge for coaches, who quickly found that their coaching ability was enhanced by having Chase on their team.  This was first discovered by Greg Avant on a house team (Go Tigers!) in Mites in 2004.  He then joined the Mite B team with Tim Hedquist, who quickly learned the lessons and graduated from Chase Hockey.  Mindy French, who took some time to learn the lessons Chase had to teach was with him for the Squirt B, Squirt A, and PeeWee A seasons.  Greg Avant moved up to the next level of training during 2 of the seasons with Mindy and furthered his development during the 2009-10 year with Steve Bradley and PeeWee AA.

Some new coaches were brought in to see if they could solve the Chase puzzle and increase their overall abilities, so Sean Hill and Bob Platt took him for Bantam A in 2010-11 (who knows where Bob would be if he hadn’t received the Chase Development Program).  Sean required further work and called in a friend to help him through during the next two years (Bantam AA and Midget AA) as Chase challenged both Sean and Mike Vukonich to bring their game to the next level.

As a squirt, Chase played in the USA Hockey 24 Hours of Hockey and was featured on the Jumbotron at a Coyotes Games finding out that they keep the pegs in the nets on that ice. 

The State Development program addressed some of their coaching needs by selecting Chase as an alternate in 2011 and was selected to help train the District Development coaches in 2012.  He helped a Canadian coach and a coach from California during a trip to Europe in 2012, they have yet to complete the full course.

Chase looks forward to helping improve the coaching at the college level in the future.



Jack started playing hockey when he was 7 years old.  His first team was the Phoenix Polar Bear Mite B team coached by Tim Hedquist.  In his first year, his team placed 2nd state championships.  In squirts, Jack played Squirt B, then Squirt A.  Mindy French coached both teams, and both teams won the SYHL Championship.  Jack played Peewee A before making his first AA team in 2009.  His AHU Polar Bears Peewee AA team, coached by Steve Bradley, made it all the way to the USA Hockey Nationals, before losing in the semi-finals and winning a bronze medal.

In Bantams, Jack played Bantam A with coach Greg Avant, and Bantam AA Minor with coach Jeff Shevalier.  This year Jack is once again playing for coach Greg on the Midget U16 Black team.  He is now 6 feet tall and 155 pounds and his parents can't believe how fast he has grown from a Mini Mite to a U16 player!  

His favorite memories of hockey are his being on his first travel team, winning back to back SYHL championships, and winning a bronze medal at Nationals, even though he broke his wrist.  Flying home with a medal made the cast worth it, he says! 



 Colton started playing hockey in 1927 and wasn’t very good.  In his second life, he started playing house hockey at the Chandler rink with Tim Hedquist, where he earned the knickname “Snowy” short for “Snow Angel”, due to the copious amount of time he spent on his back on the ice.  He then moved on to Mite B travel in 2005-2006 with Mindy French, and spent 2 more years with her and Greg Avant on Squirt A and Peewee A.  It was during this time that he also completely changed his game by adding skates that fit and wearing contacts.  He upped his scoring by being able to see the puck, and skating without worrying about bleeding toes.  Colton has always had the ability to make plays when no one thought it could be done, he has a very strong never say die attitude.  On to Peewee AA with Steve Bradley (and Greg Avant), then Bantam A with Greg Avant and Rod Trenholm.  He has spent the last two years (Bantam AA and Midget AA) with Sean Hill and Mike Vukonich.

He was selected captain of his Peewee AA team and was given top forward of the year during his Peewee A and AA year.  He was acknowledged at a Coyotes Games as one of the Top Players in the Valley.  Colton would like to play college hockey someday.



 Jordan started playing soccer, then baseball and found that outdoor sports were really hot and he got thirsty and tired.  So he attended the Learn-to-Skate program at the Chandler rink and found that indoor sports, particularly ice sports, were much cooler.  Curling wasn’t popular at that rink so he joined the Mite house program.  He then played with Bryan Cunningham in the Squirt house program before Tim Hedquist got him interested in the Travel Program.  He played 2 years with Mindy French and Greg Avant during Squirt A and PeeWee A years, winning the Coach’s Award during the Squirt A season.  He joined Greg Avant and Steve Bradley for PeeWee AA.  He has played with Sean Hill the last 3 years (Bantam A, Bantam AA, and Midget AA).   He again won the Coach’s Award during his Bantam AA season.

Jordan would like to go to play college hockey and has big plans in the medical field.