The Colorado Select Board of Directors is pleased to announce that our new Director of Hockey Operations and Player Development is Jesse Davis. Jesse brings a diverse portfolio of hockey experience to the association, including over 19 seasons of high-level coaching and hockey operations success. He has experience in junior hockey, coaching the Fargo Force USHL, Motor City Machine, & Texas Tornado NAHL. He also has years of experience in youth hockey, working at all levels from beginners to high school/prep school hockey, and both boys and girls AA/AAA hockey in Detroit, Chicago, and Colorado, He has coached over 30 NHL draft picks, along with over 120 men’s and women’s DI college commitments.

Over the past several seasons Jesse has worked with the Colorado Select Girls Hockey Association. (CSGHA) in many capacities; serving as a skating and skills instructor, helping run the Select Futures and Try Hockey for Free events, and as one of the head coaches for the Spring Development Program since its inception. He is very excited to expand his role with the association and take over as Director, saying “The Colorado Select Girls Hockey Association has a long-standing history of success developing female athletes that have gone on to college hockey and Olympic Gold. I am truly honored to be a part of such a reputable program. We look to continue that success year after year, at all levels, for every player involved.”.

Originally from Detroit MI, Jesse started playing hockey at the age of 3 and would go on to play two years of junior hockey in the NAHL and six years of professional hockey in the CoHL, UHL, ECHL, and ACHL. After his playing career ended, he moved into coaching youth hockey in the Chicago and Detroit areas. He worked with boys and girls teams at both the AA and AAA levels for organizations such as the Chicago Fury, Detroit Compuware, Detroit Little Caesar’s, and St Clair Shores Saints.

In 2014 Jesse moved to Colorado where he took on the position of Head Coach and General Manager of the Breckenridge Bucks junior hockey team. He quickly fell in love with Colorado and since moving on from Junior hockey, he has been focused on youth hockey. He has worked with several Colorado youth hockey associations including, the Summit Youth Hockey program, Foothills Flyers Hockey Association (FHA), Team Colorado, and of course Colorado Select. Jesse is also the Director and Head Instructor for Rocky Mountain Hockey School (RMHS) where he has had a chance to work with hundreds of youth players of all different levels and ages from the US, Canada, and Europe.

Jesse owns Hockey Smart LLC, a company formed in 2006, which provides consulting, training, coaching, and mentorship to hockey players.

Other hockey related activities he is involved in include:

• USA Hockey Development Camps
• Assisting youth associations on their development plans and coaching objectives
• Guest speaker for coaching seminars
• Park City Invitational (PCI)
• Mile High Mites

Accomplishments include:

• 19 years Coaching experience
• 5 years USHL, 5 years NAHL, 5 years Midget AAA, 2 years Tier III Junior
• 20 years as a Hockey Instructor & Skating Instructor
• 15 years Evaluator and Coach for USA Hockey Select Camps
• Playing experience: 2 years Junior NAHL, 6 years Pro

The Board is very excited to have Jesse moving into the Director role and we know that with his experience and familiarity with Select he will continue the growth of the association and the development of our athletes. Please take a chance when you see him at the rink to congratulate him and welcome him as the new Director. We will be hosting a meet and greet in conjunction with our annual membership meeting on Saturday, May 4th. The meeting will be from 5:00pm - 6:30pm in the Eagle Mountain room at the Ridge, with the meet and greet following immediately after in the Penalty Box at the Edge until 8:00pm. The annual meeting is a great way to hear about our plans for next year, so please join us.

Jesse can be reached at jessedavis@csgha.com or 248.730.7700.

The Select 14AA team is currently collecting warm socks to be donated to a local shelter.  The shelter, called Sox Place, is a daytime drop-in center for street youth. These range in ages from 12 to 30 and belong to the youth sub-culture known as “street kids.” Many have been abandoned by parents/guardians, some are victims of the foster care system, and most have been tossed aside by society. Most are just trying to survive! A hot meal and a safe place is provided Tuesday through Saturday. There are activities such as movies, video games, foosball, pool and ping pong to entertain the youth during their time at Sox Place. Staff and volunteers spend their time interacting with the youth and building friendships in order to provide healthy and constructive relationships.

Doyle Robinson started connecting with the youth who were hanging out on the 16th St. Mall in Downtown Denver in 1999. Discovering their need for clean, dry socks, Doyle used this very basic need to reach the street youth gathered on 16th Mall, eventually earning him the street name, ‘Sox.’ Following God’s leading, Sox Place was opened by Doyle and is son Jordan in May of 2002. It was established out of a desire to provide a safe place for street youth to go during the day where they could truly be accepted and loved. There was no other organization or ministry filling this need during the day. Sox Place continues today with the same heart, reaching more than 80 youth a day with dedicated staff and volunteers.

There are "Sox Boxes" located at the Edge Ice Arena for the donation of warm socks.  These socks will be given to Sox Place to distribute to the youth that are served by Sox Place.  If you would like more information or would like to learn how you can get involved with Sox Place you can visit their website at soxplace.com.