Good afternoon Bulldog Families, I'm hoping that the "Try-out Tour" is not stressful to you, as everyone navigates the try-out season. I want to take a few minutes to share a few items with you and if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact any of the Bulldog staff members.

The Bulldog's will be holding their 2021-22 Travel Season tryouts starting tonight for the U8 and for the rest of the divisions, they will take place next week. All try-outs will take place at the Ice Factory, Kissimmee which is the home rink of the FL Bulldogs.

Each year, I am always looking for ways to improve the program and I am excited to share with you the partnership agreement between DME Swamp Rabbits and the FL Bulldogs. Over the last several weeks, Rabbits Hockey Director Eric Perrin and myself have been sharing ideas on how to better serve the Central Florida hockey community. We have agreed to work together this year and offer AA tournament teams at all the levels that we feel are going to be able to compete at AA tournaments. Our goal is to field AA tournament teams at the U10, U12, U14 and U16 levels.

We are also going to create several weekend training sessions to allow the more experienced players an opportunity to train alongside other more experienced players to offer another layer of player development. We are not only going to focus on the more experienced players, but for all players within the two programs.

In my thirteen years of coaching in Central FL, there has never been a working relationship between organizations that allowed the kids to truly develop at both the "A" and "AA" level while staying in their local program until now. This new working agreement will offer a tournament style AA program for this year, but our goal is to continue building on the relationship for years to come and maybe offer full season AA teams for the Central Florida hockey families.

This new venture will allow the most professional coaching staff that understands "Long Term Player Development" to join forces along with the top level players in Central FL. The Bulldogs coaching staff along with myself are extremely excited about this opportunity and we are looking forward to working with the Swamp Rabbits and Eric Perrin.

As you head in to the try-out season, be careful when a program demands that you sign ASAP or they will give your spot away. A program that believes in what they offer will understand when a player wants to go on their try-out tour to see what program are offering. The Bulldogs will never pressure you in to signing a commitment letter until you are fully comfortable with what we offer. We believe in our developmental program and we are committed to the "Long Term Development'" of these players and we have the track record that proves it.

I look forward to seeing you at the Bulldog try-outs and if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Shawn: daoust5001@aol.com / 516-848-7624
Kevin Chafe: Chafe76@yahoo.com / 386-569-7095
Bart Paine: drtyttle@msn.com / 321-749-0930
Rick Haas: rickmhaas@gmail.com / 516-967-6805

Best always,

Shawn Ray
Head Coach FL Alliance
516-848-7624