KCYHA invites all players from Carriage Club, Saints, Stars, St Joe and Jr Mavs organizations that are interested in playing AA level Squirt, Peewee, Bantam travel hockey to tryouts being held at the Independence Community Center on the dates and times listed below. Tryout fee is $50 per player, please register online using the below link by July 3, 2021.

Ryan Gault will move up from the squirts to Head Coach of the Bantam AA travel team and alongside him will be Jim Krueger returning as Associate Head Coach. Jim took over the bantams in October as Head Coach to lead the team to a Midwest Bantam League Championship. Gault’s squirt team had a great season winning a number of tournament banners. Both coaches did a great job last season developing their teams and individual players.

John Scott Dickson returns as Head Coach of the Pee Wee travel AA program. Dickson’s teams won a number of tournament Championships banners but the most important part of his team was the individual improvement of all the players.

Matt Stephenson joins the AA travel coaching staff as the Squirt Head Coach.  Matt has been coaching for a number of years in the Kansas City area and will bring his pro playing and coaching experience to the squirt team.  Assistant coaches will be named at a later date.

Here is a list of just a few quality tournaments that squirts-pee wee and bantams participated in last season. Also, teams played a number of friendlies with teams from Omaha, Des Moines and teams from St Louis that play in the Central States League. We look to continue to find quality tournaments and friendlies for the upcoming 2021-2022 season.

Flats and Scruggs Tournament Nashville TN

Gopher State Tournament-Minnesota  

Fargo International Tournament- Fargo ND

Luck of the Irish-St Louis

Omaha Invitational- Omaha NE

KC Showcase - Independence Mo.

Big Bear Firebird Tournament- St Louis Mo

SQUIRT, PEEWEE, BANTAM DATES and TIMES
At Independence Community Ice, Independence, MO

Tuesday July 6, 2021
Squirts: 5:45pm - 6:45pm
Peewees: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Bantams: 8:15pm - 9:15pm

Wednesday July 7, 2021
Squirts: 5:45pm - 6:45pm
Peewees: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Bantams: 8:15pm - 9:15pm

Mavs AA Travel Coaches & Travel Director Announced

We are pleased to announce the following coaching appointments for the 2021-2022 KC Mavs AA Travel Program. The Bantam AA Head Coach is Ryan Galt and Associate Head Coach Jim Kruger, Pee Wee AA Head Coach John Scott Dickson, Mavs Squirt AA Head Coach Matt Stephenson.  All coaches have vast knowledge of developing players on and off the ice along with a pro playing experience which helps in understanding the development of the players overall game.  Assistant coaches will be added in the near future.

After a very successful 2020-2021 travel season the coaching staffs are excited and eager for tryouts and looking forward to working with their teams and developing their players.  Tryout dates will be posted shortly.

Also, we announce that John Scott Dickson will be the KC Mavs AA Travel Director. Dickson brings a wealth of hockey knowledge from his playing and coaching days with the KC Mavs and will continue to focus his efforts on developing a solid AA travel program for the KCYHA.

RYAN GALT- 2021-2022 Head Coach Mavs Bantam AA
Coaching Experience:
1 Year Mavs Squirt AA Development Head Coach
5 years- Lead Skills Development –Mavs X Hockey- Omaha
3 Years-Head Coach Squirt Mav X AAA- Omaha
1 Year Assistant Coach-Omaha AAA U13
Lead Skill Instructor/Owner- Pure Edge Hockey Academy Kansas City
Playing Experience:
2020-ECHL Kansas City Mavericks
4 Years University of Nebraska-Omaha, Assistant Captain
3 years USHL with Des Moines/ Captain of Bloomington
2 years Russell Stover Kansas City
Youth Hockey-Omaha Jr. Mavericks

Jim Krueger 2021-2022 Associate Head Coach Bantam AA
Coach Kruger has been a mainstay in Kansas City, coaching travel hockey since he moved here in the summer of 2008, coaching the bantam age group in all but one of those seasons.

In those years, the teams he has coached have won Midwest League Titles in 2021 & 2011, Missouri State Titles (Blue Note Cup Championships) in 2012, 2013 and 2017 and also took the Mavs Bantam team to a 2nd place finish in 2019 at the National Finals in South Bend IN.  In July 2017 he was awarded the Blue KC- Coaches with Character Award in a on field presentation before the KC Royals game.

JOHN SCOTT DICKSON-Pee Wee AA
Coaching Experience:
1 Year Mavs Pee Wee AA Development Head Coach
4 years ECHL- KC Mavericks-Head Coach/Director of Hockey Operations
1 year ECHL- KC Mavericks Assistant coach
Playing Experience:
8 years ECHL-KC Mavericks-Idaho Steelheads-Atlanta Gladiators-Alaska Aces
5 Years OHL Major Junior- Windsor Spitfires
5 Years-University Of New Brunswick

Matt Stephenson- Squirt AA Head Coach
Coaching Experience:
3 years at AHL/ECHL Player Coach
2 Years at Midget AA Hockey in Kansas City
1 year at 8-U and Squirt
Playing Experience:
4 years pro Dallas Stars AHL Iowa Stars and Texas Stars
3 Years Missouri Mavericks and Idaho Steelheads
2 Years in Sheffield Steelers- England Pro Hockey League
4 Years St Cloud State-WCHA