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+ CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE COMPLETE LIST OF NATIONAL CHAMPIONS AND RUNNERS-UP. "[NATIONALS ARE] A LOT OF WORK," SCHELL SAYS, "BUT AS LONG AS YOU ARE WORKING WITH PEOPLE YOU CAN TRUST IT'S NOT THAT DIFFICULT. " —BOB SCHELL, USA HOCKEY NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HOST Hockey has awarded Amherst Youth Hockey the opportunity to host a National Championship every year since 2006. This is the first time they've been able to bring in all four Tier I tournaments. It's a team effort that sets Amherst on a short list to host an event of this magni- tude, and every year they figure out how they can do it just a little bit better. "[Nationals are] a lot of work," Schell says, "but as long as you are working with people you can trust it's not that difficult. It's not rocket science. It's a hockey tour- nament." Visit Buffalo Niagara estimated this year that players and their families took up 6,000 hotel room nights, and the tour- nament had an economic impact of nearly $2.2 million. Amherst Youth Hockey Association. Schell estimates that by the time the final figures are tabulated the event will pull in between $50,000 and $60,000 for the organization. "It's a nice little fund-raiser, but it's an the purchase as part of its overall com- mitment to the American Development Model. "This is why we get 165 people out here to volunteer their time to raise money for the organization so we can do something like that, which is the right thing to do," says Schell. "We want to put back into the facil- ity and the organization to create better youth hockey in Amherst. You can see it, and we have more people in the organiza- tion now than we ever had." And that's why Schell's awful lot of work to make that money," says Norm Spiegel, chairman of the National Championship tournament committee. "The profits go back into the youth program, whether it's to buy more ice or reducing fees or whatever you want to use it for. We've never had any issues as to where that money is used. It's always been for good." "Anything with positive econom- ic impact in this town is really good," says Schell, who was named Buffalo's Ambassador of the Year in 2011. "Buffalo is not what it used to be. We used to be a city of 650,000 or 700,000 people. We lost half the population. We're on the rebound, and hockey is a large part of that." The economic impact can be felt in a number of ways. There are the obvious benefits, such as money spent on room nights, rental cars and restaurants, but the impact ripples through the local economy in the form of an increased need for goods and services. "It's not just what are people spending to get here and what are they spending in the restaurants," says Harvey, whose group uses a formula to figure out the direct and indirect impact on the local economy. "There are more people work- ing because there are more people here in town. "Every business, especially within a five- mile radius, is really feeling this. It's huge." It's also a huge moneymaker for the The fruits of Amherst's labors can be found tucked in the back corner of the Northtown Center. It is a set of high-tech durable boards that are used for the association's cross-ice hockey program. While the expense of such an invest- ment, approximately $20,000, could potentially be out of reach for many associations, thanks to the profit made by hosting Nationals, Amherst made already ringing from dedicated youth hockey parents and local business leaders wondering when youth Nationals will be back again. phone is "People take time off work and mark the dates of the USA Hockey Nationals on their calendar," Schell says. "You want to give your volunteers some time off to enjoy the spring with their families, but there are a whole lot of people who, if we had the opportunity to do this every year, would be standing in line to volunteer." N Teams from across the country have made themselves right at home in the Buffalo area as Amherst Youth Hockey has hosted a USA Hockey National Championship event every year since 2006. USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM JUNE/JULY.2012 21