Barracuda in the Community: October
Nov 5, 2015
The San Jose Barracuda are looking forward to being extremely involved in the community and now that the inaugural season is officially underway, some of the Barracuda players have already made a few stops around San Jose!
In the Barracuda’s first ever community appearance, a couple of members of the team made a visit to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. library in downtown San Jose to participate in the 10th annual Read for the Record event.
At the library’s main event, Barracuda defensemen Gus Young and Joakim Ryan read “Not Norman: A Goldfish Story” to group of 125 adults and children as part of the world’s largest shared reading experience. The visit started with Young and Ryan leading the group in a warm up song and exercise which was then followed by story time. One of the highlights of Read for the Record was that each child received a copy of the book that was being read throughout the day. After the Barracuda defensemen read the story, the players took a few questions from the audience about what it is like being a professional hockey player. The visit concluded with an autograph signing for all those in attendance.
The following week, San Jose Barracuda players took turns helping out some local youth hockey teams while they held practice at Sharks Ice San Jose. A number of Jr. Sharks house league teams (squirt and pee wee) were joined by different players who assisted in running drills with the youth hockey players. Among the players in attendance were Dylan DeMelo, Bryan Lerg, John McCarthy and Mirco Mueller. Members of the Barracuda coaching staff also were in attendance as Roy Sommer, Ryan Mougenel and Charlie Townsend helped run practice for the Jr. Sharks 18AAA and 16AAA National teams.
Barracuda rookie forwards Nikita Jevpalovs and Nikolay Goldobin took part in a 3-on-3 tournament with the Jr. Sharks Girls 16AAA team. This was no ordinary tournament as each team of three was dressed up in themed Halloween costumes. Jevpalovs and Goldobin joined the fun by dressing up and playing against the tournament champions.
To close out October, Jevpalovs along with goaltender Aaron Dell, defenseman Julius Bergman and defenseman Patrick McNally stopped by Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center to help children in the pediatric wing celebrate Halloween. The Barracuda players helped hand out candy to the children around the hospital and even participated in games and activities.
The Barracuda crew on hand also decorated some pumpkins with the kids at the hospital along with some other arts and crafts projects like coloring cutouts of witches and other fun Halloween characters. Dell, Jevpalovs, McNally and Bergman also visited a few patients in their rooms and delivered some Barracuda goodies!
If you would like to learn more information about the Barracuda and our efforts in the community, please visit our Community Relations page or email Joey Goldstein!