LZMW Hockey Families and players,

The State of Illinois has issued new guidance concerning COVID mitigations, effective Friday, November 20th. We realize that this is a disappointment to our hockey club and community. However, it is hard to deny the alarming amount of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths throughout the state and country.

The State of Illinois has released Tier 3 Resurgence Mitigations

https://covid19-illinoisgov.cs32.force.com/coronavirus/s/restore-illinois-mitigation-plan

These mitigations, as stated in the above document, impacts LZMW and its upcoming practices starting Nov 20th:

Mitigations affecting us are as follows:

Organized group recreational activities (sports, indoor sports and activity facilities, etc.)

• Pause all indoor group sporting and recreational activities including youth and adult recreational sports, individual training may remain (with facility reservation)
• Includes park districts and travel leagues
• Outdoor sports and recreation allowed
• Participant groups and practices outdoors limited to 10 persons or less with social distancing
• Face coverings required for all activities at all times
• Locker rooms should be closed

During this "pause", all LZMW sanctioned activities will be postponed, until additional updates are made available by our State and Local Government.

We will keep everyone apprised as to when we can resume.

Thank you, Be Safe, Happy Holidays!

LZMW Hockey Board

LZMW Hockey is very excited to announce several new additions to our coaching staff for this fall that will significantly enhance the quality, intensity and vision of our high school hockey program.

James Brooks will be joining LZMW Hockey as our Coaching-Director and Varsity Head Coach.  James is very familiar with our club and our league, the Illinois High School Hockey League-North Central Division, after serving as Head Coach-Varsity Hockey with St. Patrick’s High School in Chicago.  For the past four seasons James led their program, both on and off the ice, and was focused on instilling a hockey culture into St. Patrick’s High School Athletics.

James grew up on Chicago’s northwest side and has an extensive hockey background.  As a teenager James played high school hockey with Loyola Academy and also played with the Chicago Blues in the CSDHL before attending Robert Morris College to study Business Management and play Division II Hockey in the ACHA.  Before going pro James did an international stint with Hammerby IF of Sweden’s J20 Super-Elite League which then led to playing his first pro hockey with Sweden’s 2nd Division for Karlskoga HC.  James would later return to the USA and represent several teams while playing in the AAHA/AAHL and FHL/FPHL.

As Coaching-Director, James will be directing all LZMW Hockey coaches and will be responsible for developing all aspects of player-development.  He will manage all team rosters, develop all practice plans, develop off-ice conditioning programs, manage player recruitment and serve as our Varsity Head Coach.  This will ensure greater synergy between our Junior Varsity and Varsity programs.  James will bring to our high school athletes the same high-intensity, discipline and sportsmanship that clearly contributed to his own hockey success.

Joining James and our returning Junior Varsity Head Coach, Matt Gurklis, will be two new coaching assistants Matt Lundgren and Ryan Geils.  Lundgren is an alumnus of Mount Carmel High School where he was a 3-time All-Star before going on to play Division II Hockey at Robert Morris and DePaul.  Ryan grew up playing for the Chicago Blues and represented Team Chicago in international competitions in Norway, Sweden and Germany before helping the Hinsdale Central Ice Devils play in back to back High School Championships. Lundgren and Ryan both assisted James over the past four seasons and will also bring high levels of intensity, enthusiasm and vision to LZMW Hockey.

Please join the LZMW Board of Directors in welcoming our new coaches!

LZMW is a combined High School organization representing  Lake Zurich, Mundelein and Wauconda school districts.  We are part of the Illinois High School Hockey League - North Central Division  

Our mission is to promote, and develop High School Hockey in the communities of Lake Zurich, Mundelein and Wauconda through core values including sportsmanship, integrity and the pursuit of excellence through competition and teamwork. It is our goal to develop our players, both as athletes and individuals. We strive to compete with any high school and midget program in the state.

LZMW Hockey is a 501(c)(3) corporation under the governance of USA Hockey and AHAI and is responsible for its own revenues and expenditures. 

The Fall/Winter season runs from August through March.  We target an average of two practices and two games a week per team as well as 2-3 tournaments. In the Spring and Summer LZMW runs sessions including spring league games and scrimmages with an emphasis on practice and skills.