ICEHOGS, HILLMAN STUDENTS CAP OFF "STICK TO READING" PROGRAM

Rockford, Ill.- Several members of the Rockford IceHogs jumped off the ice and into a school gym for a game of floor hockey with the winning students from IceHogs’ forward Brandon Bollig’s “Stick To Reading “ program at Hillman Elementary School.

A Hockey Players 4 Kids (HP4K) member, Bollig partnered with Hillman to organize a reading program for third, fourth and fifth graders at the Rockford elementary school. The seven-weeklong competition concluded today, rewarding 19 students for outstanding achievement in the reading program, including two grand-prize winners.

The grand-prize winners were Brayan Gomez and Lionea Loper. Other students recognized were Jean Jimenez, Esmeralde Almanza, Kiara Edmonson, Anteaus Miller, Nina McIntosh, Jana Mohamed, Leonardo Posadas, Kiya Heslop, Carolina Juarez-Garcia, Jennifer Hernandez, Alexis Santana, Taysia Jordan, Octavio Robles, Jose Hernandez, Scott Morris, Nakariah Fort and Jorge Hernandez.

Gomez and Loper received tickets to an upcoming IceHogs game, and will go on a behind-the-scenes tour of the BMO Harris Bank Center. They will also have the chance to meet members of this year’s IceHogs team following the game.

IceHogs skaters Ben Smith, Ryan Stanton, Jeremy Morin, Ben Youds, Brandon Svendsen, and Simon Danis-Pepin joined Bollig to participate in the floor hockey game.

The program began on Jan. 4 with students accumulating points for both the amount of books read as well as the length of the books. Students who finished with the highest point total got to participate in the floor hockey game in front of their classmates.

HP4K is a non-profit organization founded by professional hockey player Dustin Sproat. The organization consists of over 50 professional hockey players in the National Hockey League, American Hockey League, ECHL, Central Hockey League and more.

For more information regarding HP4K, visit hp4k.org.

Next Home Game: Saturday, Feb. 25 vs. Milwaukee Admirals. Game time is slated for 7:05 p.m. Rockford returns home to face the Admirals at the BMO Harris Bank Center. The first 1,500 fans to the game will receive an IceHogs Sock Monkey courtesy of BMO Harris Bank.

Don’t forget to follow the IceHogs on Twitter (@goicehogs) and Facebook.