Daniel Toscano: Bringing Youth Hockey Back to the Neighborhood

Daniel Toscano, president of North End Youth Hockey, exudes enthusiasm when he talks about sports.

“Ice hockey is a great sport,” Daniel said. “Here in the North End, we have the TD Garden in our backyard and many of our professional hockey players live in the neighborhood.”

In particular, Daniel thinks of young people and how good it is for them to be athletic and see those who devote their careers to sports.

“The Bruins are shown to be great role models to our children in the neighborhood,” he said. “In turn, our kids have developed an excitement for the game of hockey.”

Daniel has lived in the North End his entire life and vividly remembers playing youth sports here when he was growing up. He wants kids in the neighborhood to have the same opportunity.

“Our goal is to bring youth hockey back to the neighborhood,” Daniel said about North End Youth Hockey.

He encourages girls and boys, ages five-12, to sign up for the North End Youth Hockey’s “Introduction to Hockey” program.

“This was our first year of the program,” Daniel said. “It started on Dec.15 and was a 12-week program running through March 9.”

The program, which took place at the Steriti Skating Rink on Commercial Street, ran from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. on Saturday mornings.

Daniel explained that the program included “two hours of ice time where the kids learned fundamental skills focusing on skating forward, backwards, stick handling and shooting.”

“We received a tremendous amount of positive feedback throughout the 12-week program from parents and kids,” Daniel said.

He is currently turning his attention to the second year.

“It’s our goal to make next year’s program better and to expand it to not just introduction but also to include competitive travel teams,” Daniel said.

 “We anticipate registration for next year’s ‘Introduction to Hockey’ program will start in the spring of 2013 for the fall season,” Daniel said. “Full equipment and basic skating skills are required.

For additional information on the hockey program, email dtoscanolaw@gmail.com