Help us send Best Wishes to AHU Mite to Midget alumni, Luke Yubeta, now signed with the Boston Jr. Rangers in the EHL!  Here is a little about Luke's history.

Luke practically grew up at the rinks around the valley watching his cousin play travel hockey.  He was only 8 weeks old the first time he went to a game at Chandler Polar Ice.  His love for hockey grew as he did and at age 4 he participated in the Kids First program and finally got to put on the gear and take the ice.  After completing the kid's first program Luke went right into mini mites at Chandler for a few seasons and then advanced to mites.  Luke played his first year of mites in the Chandler Polar Ice house league with Coach Jason Thibeault and then his second year on the Chandler Blackhawks team with Coach Jeremy Walters.  Coach Walters will always be one of Luke’s favorite coaches.  He taught him lots and was the one to first have Luke play defense which became Luke’s position till midgets.  After his time with Coach Walter’s Luke tried out for the AZ Heat travel team out of the Gilbert rink as was selected to join the team (2010-2011) playing for Coaches Kevin Noonan and Eddie Ammar. 

Following that season Luke was invited to become a part of an 8-year journey with the newly formed AHU Knights under Coach Jason Evahnenko.  Luke started playing for Jason during the 2011-2012 season as the Squirt B Knights.  Luke has two favorite memories from the squirt season.  The first was traveling to Fargo, ND for the Fargo Squirt invitational tournament where he traded well over 100 pins with other players. The second is playing the Flagstaff Northstars in the Thanksgiving Shootout where he ended up scoring the game-winning goal in an 11 player shootout to secure the championship banner.

For the 2012-2013 season Luke skipped his second year squirts to advance to peewees with Coach Evahnenko and his Knights hockey family.  Luke’s favorite memory form this season was the team securing three Championship banners including the Labor Day tournament, AHU Thanksgiving Shootout and the Coyote Cup Holiday Festival.  The 2013-2014 second year peewee season the team played at the elite level and faced many challenges playing at the higher level of competition. 

One of Luke’s all-time favorite memories with the AHU Knights and Coach Evahnenko was last season playing Bantam Tier II, winning state and advancing to the National Tournament in Charlotte, NC.    Arizona Hockey Union and the amazing coaches and teammates Luke has had have mentored and shaped him into the amazing young man he is today.