The Michigan Ice Hawks Youth Hockey Association has reached an affiliate agreement to be the development arm of the Motor City Monarchs Tier III team, effective April 1.   

As part of that agreement, the Monarchs will become the Motor City Hawks for the 2015-16 season in its inaugural year playing in the United States Premier Hockey League as part of a 20-team Junior A Midwest Division. This follows an incredibly successful expansion season for the Monarchs in the Midwest Junior Hockey League.

“Having the Monarchs join the Ice Hawks completes our organization and has virtually extended the hockey life of our players locally," said Ice Hawks' president and founder Myke Nevin. "It will raise the level of play and inspire our teams to work harder. The Monarchs success this year has everyone around here talking and now our kids can have an attainable dream of potentially playing junior hockey and our younger kids will have a team full of players they can look up to.”

The Monarchs recently concluded a “beyond expectations” season as a first-year team in the MWJHL, where they finished second during the regular season before losing in the league finals last weekend to the three-time champion Traverse City Hounds. No team had ever reached that level in its first year in the MWJHL. Next season as the Motor City Hawks, the team will continue play at Fraser Hockeyland, moving into the Ice Hawks/Coke rink, which will undergo another off-season of physical, ice and technological improvements - a process that began last summer. 

The rink will be dubbed “The Motor City Madhouse” next season. 

“What this effectively does is align us with one of the best and largest youth hockey associations in the state and give us the opportunity to utilize the Ice Hawks’ player development platform,” said Monarchs general manager Mark Gilman, who will retain ownership of the newly-branded Motor City Hawks team along with Fresh Ice Hockey principles, head coach Jason McCrimmon and realtor Patti Gilman. “Our success has been built on player development and team chemistry. The Ice Hawks youth organization is a perfect match for us going forward and we are excited about being a marquee addition to what they’ve already successfully built.”

The Ice Hawks Youth Hockey Association will have 23 teams heading into the new season, from mini-mite to 18U boys teams, as well as four girls teams.  All teams will skate out of their rink in Fraser with some additional skates and games held again next season at Liggett Arena in Grosse Pointe.

The Hawks (Monarchs) will host their first tryouts for the 2015-16 season on April 15 and 22 at 7:10 p.m. at Fraser Hockeyland. 

For more information, contact Jason McCrimmon at 313-506-0132 or Jason@FreshIceHockey.com.