Sharks History
History of the Meramec Youth Hockey Association
1970 - Meramec Youth Hockey Club was founded by Mr. Harry Bayens who was an ice hockey coach at the infamous Winterland Rink on St. Charles Rock Road. The original blue and green colors used by Meramec Youth Hockey Club were from the Vancouver Canucks who were an NHL expansion team that same year. No ice was available in South County, so the club skated the first season in St. Charles and 9 teams were formed that were declared at the A and B levels. Coaches were far and few between, so Mr. Bayens coached all 9 teams.
1971 - The club's second year saw a move to Arnold into the old Kozeny Wagner building, which was converted into an ice rink. The club grew to 14 teams and played in the Arnold Ice Rink for 2 seasons until this building was converted into a concert hall called the Concert South Facility.
1973 - With the closing of The Arnold Ice Rink, the Meramec Youth Hockey Club moved to Ballwin, yes Ballwin, where the Meramec Youth Hockey Club ran the rink as well as the club. The old West County Flyers shared the rink with the Sharks and other teams that skated at Ballwin were The Rainbow Rockets, The Blues, and The Billikens. It was also 1973 when the Meramec Youth Hockey Club took more league championships than any other club in St Louis
1974 - The club moved again to the new Kennedy Recreation Complex (South County) located on 6050 Wells Road.
1980s - In the late 1980's the club was so pressed for ice, the Meramec Youth Hockey Club skated at 4:30am with 3 teams at the same time on each sheet of ice. It was very difficult to try and develop an interesting practice plan using just one-third of the ice and if it was your teams turn to have the neutral zone as your practice ice, there were no goals. The club skated quite often outdoors at Cahokia, Webster Groves, Kirkwood (neither Webster Groves nor Kirkwood were indoors back then), Florissant Civic Center, Granite City, and Shaw Park.
2003 - Through all the changes, the club continued to grow strong, remain competitive, and by 2003, featured the largest Learn To Play program in the St Louis area. In the Fall of 2003, the Meramec Youth Hockey Club began a new chapter with the opening of their own ice facility called The Shark Tank located in the All American Sports Complex in South County
2009 – The club topped 500 players in 2009 - with over 350 skaters and 24 teams participating in the 2009 Travel and House Fall programs, and 150 new Sharks putting on the skates for the first time in the Learn To Play program. In addition, the club added 4 on 4 and Select programs in the Spring
2010 – In June of 2010, the Sharks moved to the FSI Shark Tank, located at 6297 Lemay Ferry Road. With the opening of this new facility, the Sharks began offering year round programs. The Summer of 2010 included the inaugural cross-ice 3 on 3 league, weekly skills clinics, weeklong camps, and lots of Stick n Puck sessions. In addition to the on-ice benefits of the new rink, the FSI Shark Tank is home to the Schutz n Scores hockey store featuring exclusive Shark gear.
If you are interested in learning more about The Meramec Youth Hockey Club or what it would take to become a Shark, contact the Club Registrar by any of the below methods or contact any of the members of The Board of Directors.
Meramec Hockey Club
6297 Lemay Ferry Road
St. Louis, MO 63129
or email the Club Registrar at: registration@meramecsharks.com