The ASPIRE Great Minnesota Shootout Presented by Bauer is a hockey skills challenge that was created to provide a fun, season-long competition that raises funds to support the Herb Brooks Foundation and local youth hockey associations. The competition will run throughout the 2014-2015 Minnesota youth hockey season, concluding with a youth championship on March 7 at the Let’s Play Hockey Expo in St. Paul at the River Centre during the Minnesota State High School Boys Hockey Tournament and an adult championship on March 21 at the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Tournament in Minneapolis at the Target Center.

This competition is open to the public with seven divisions: Mites, Squirts, Peewees, Bantams, High School/Junior Gold, Girls Open, and Adult Open. Leaderboards for each division with the top 50 players in each will be updated throughout the season and posted on two Web sites: www.greatMNshootout.com and YHH which are both powered by Minnesota-based SPORT NGIN. At the end of the season, the top 50 players in each division will be invited to participate in the championships (disclosed above).

For a $5.00 contribution to the Herb Brooks Foundation and the hosting local hockey association or school, participants compete in a “shootout” game that involves shooting pucks at a regulation-size, interactive hockey goal with nine panels inside that are back-lit. Each participant is electronically timed to determine how quickly they can hit all nine panels. The objective of the game is to record the lowest time or score possible. Each participant receives a bottle of ASPIRE natural sports drinks with an opportunity to win prizes including ASPIRE water bottles and hats, BAUER mini-sticks and pucks, ASPIRE t-shirts and Swanny necklaces, NCHC Frozen Faceoff tickets, and grand prizes that include custom-fitted BAUER hockey skates and hockey sticks. There are no limits to an individual’s participation.

WHEN

The 2014-2015 ASPIRE Great MN Shootout begins with the start of the Minnesota youth hockey season and culminates with championships on March 7 (youth) and March 21 (adult). A partial schedule of events is listed below. An updated schedule will be posted at www.greatMNshootout.com.