Now Entering MHL Territory!
Practices are once a week and games are typically played on Sunday afternoons. All practices and games are held at the MHL rink, which is located at 310 Thrift Road, Madison VA, behind the American Legion Hall.
Our regular season is approximately 10 weeks long and includes play offs and a championship games.
History of MHL
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Madison Hockey League was formed in 1995 with 45 players on five teams in one age bracket (8 to 15 year olds).
Initially, games were played on asphalt at the old Madison County tennis courts. In the Fall of each year, the tennis nets would be removed and the holes for the net posts plugged. The “boards” were chicken wire on three sides and the cinder block retaining wall on the fourth side. The players bench was the top of the retaining wall and coaches would have to lift the younger players up to sit on the wall. In the Spring, we would re-install the tennis nets.
In 1997, we designed and built our own dasher boards. We built this at the high school and proceeded to have a summer league that year. This was a semi portable structure. We would set it up each fall at the tennis courts and take it down and store it in summer.
The 1999 season saw the addition of lights which allowed for weeknight practices and Friday night games. The year 2000 saw the addition of our first remote-controlled scoreboard.
The Instructional league was added in 2002 which gave us 3 more teams and 19 more players.
The current dasher boards and netting were added in 2006 and in the next few years, new player benches, lights, equipment building, scorekeeper bench were added and “The Rinky Dink Café” concession stand was remodeled.
In addition to hockey games the league has offered many activities over the years including group outings to watch the Richmond Renegades professional hockey, trips to watch UVA ice hockey and ice skate afterward, have a float in the Madison Parade, skating parties, Iron Man tournaments, NHL style skills competitions, skills clinics and referee training. The league would conclude its season with a banquet and two special games: JR league players versus their parents and SR league players versus their coaches.
Around 2012 a brush fire damaged the rink. Volunteers rallied and turned the tragedy around. The rink was repaired, expanded and a sports court surface was installed.
-History contributed by Chris Artale, founder of MHL
Original MHL Logo