What do you do when your child's school doesn't offer a varsity hockey program?

You create one.

A group of parents and boosters got together to do just that.

In 2013 parents re-created the Mohawk Valley Raiders, a varsity hockey team based out of Proctor High School that welcomes players from schools that don't have a program.

Assistant Coach Mark Blocher says because kids from non-hockey schools didn't have the option to play for New Hartford, Clinton, or Rome Free Academy, and Proctor didn't have enough players to fill a roster, kids from area schools would be allowed to tryout and play Raiders hockey.

The team is made up of players from 12 area schools including Proctor, Camden, Frankfort-Schuyler, Holland Patent, Central Valley, Morrisville-Eaton, Notre Dame, Oneida, Oriskany, Sauquoit, VVS, and Waterville.

The Mohawk Valley Raiders aren't funded through any schools, meaning that the program relies on fundraising to be able to field a team.

This is Assistant Coach Mark Blocher:

The Raiders play home games at Kennedy Arena in Division 1, which means they take on teams like RFA, Syracuse, West Genesee and their biggest rival to this point - Liverpool.

The team was honored on Wednesday night by the Utica Common Council for their recent charity work over the Holidays where they got together to hand out toys to children at Christopher Columbus Elementary School.

For information on how to get involved with the Raiders - be it playing, coaching or fundraising, visit the Mohawk Valley Raiders website.

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