Vail Yeti will wrap up another winning season with home finale

The Vail Yeti is set to wrap up another successful season this weekend following two matchups against the Phoenix Desert Dogs on Friday and Saturday.

The Yeti is now in its second season of ownership under Kyle Forte, who took the team over in October of 2022. Forte made a few changes and set a few goals for the team and was able to execute on those ambitions yet again this season.

Chief among Forte’s priorities is to put on a good show for locals and pack Dobson Ice Arena full of fans for all the Yeti’s home games. Forte said he was pleased with the fan turnouts yet again this season. The Vail arena can comfortably fit about 1,200 people, and with $10 tickets and free entry for kids, Forte said he reached that capacity on many occasions this season. The Yeti has a record of 14-4-1 at home this season.

The games have been averaging more than 100 kids in attendance each week, many of whom participate in the “chuck-a-puck” contest after the second period of each game. The chuck-a-puck challenges fans to throw foam hockey pucks into the arena to hit targets placed on the ice, with the closest to the targets winning gift certificates from various sponsors.

All proceeds raised from the chuck-a-puck benefit local charities in Eagle County, and after setting a $40,000 fundraising goal for those charities, Forte said he met that goal with several games remaining this year and expects to exceed it by several thousand before the season is through. Charities include Vail International Hockey, Skating Club of Vail, Steadman Philllppon Research Institute, Vail Mountaineers, Run for ALS, Vail Veterans, Girl Scouts, Battle Mountain Huskies, Small Champions and CASA of the Continental Divide.

Support Local Journalism

Donate

New recruits

Another major goal set by Forte was to continue to keep the team competitive by recruiting young players into Vail, a challenging proposition since those players also require jobs and housing once they get here.

In helping new players reach the valley, many times Forte already had jobs lined up for them once they got here.

In December, Forte helped forward Brendan Schultz get a job as a sales rep for Quality Brands of the Rockies, the beverage distributor that provides beer for the Yeti’s games. Schultz said he’s known Forte for most of his hockey career, going back to when Forte was a coach for the Janesville Jets in Wisconsin and he played for the Springfield Junior Blues in Illinois in the North American Hockey League.

“I’ve played in front of 4,000 to 8,000 people, and Dobson gets way louder,” he said.

Ryan Higgins also knew Forte from his time coaching in the Midwest.

“He coached me 10 years ago in Cincinnati, Ohio; the first-ever team that he coached was my U-16 team,” Higgins said.

When Higgins was in college at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, Forte reached out again to tell him about the Yeti. Higgins ended up getting a master’s degree in coaching education and Forte told him he’d be a good fit for the program at the Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy, where Forte is in charge of the hockey program.

Higgins is now an academy coach at the school and also helps Forte with the Vail Mountaineers youth hockey team, which Forte also runs. Between his work with the Mountaineers, the hockey program at Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy, and playing for the Yeti, Higgins’ life is primarily based around hockey, which is how he likes it.

Join the 17,000 readers who get the news from us daily.

Sign up for daily or weekly newsletters at VailDaily.com/newsletter

“It’s been an awesome experience,” said Higgins, who is 24 years old. “I’m the youngest of four in my family, my brother is 10 years old than me, so I’m used to being the younger one, and being a part of this team, it’s cool to have older guys who continue to be a part of the team and enjoy the full experience.”

And when it comes to the hockey side, “it’s like an all-star men’s league,” Higgins said. “We have guys who played all levels — D-I, pro, D-III, D-I-club — so it’s unique that we get to bring all of our skills, and all that we’ve learned throughout our years, and feed off one another.”

‘A hockey town’

Nate Sepeda said the Yeti’s league reminds him of the junior hockey league, which is what a lot of players who go on to play college or pro will play after high school but before college.

“Junior hockey is a really big thing in Canada and a lot of the northern states … playing up in Canada, playing in a small town, everyone in town is there and the people in town know who you are, it’s kind of like that,” Sepeda said.

Sepeda was working for Vail Resorts in Broomfield and looking for a way to get out to the mountains, and when Forte approached him about playing for the Vail Yeti, he jumped on the opportunity and transferred to Avon, where he works as Vail Resorts’ retail distribution center supervisor.

Sepeda played hockey in the D-I-club league while going to school at CU in Boulder, where he met Ben Hull, who went on to become a defender on the Vail Yeti. Hull told Sepeda about the Yeti and Sepeda started angling to become a part of the team.

“When I was going to school at CU Boulder, I fell in love with snowboarding, and really wanted to move up to the mountains at some point,” he said. “So to be able to move up to the mountains and snowboard a lot, and continue to play hockey at a competitive level, it’s been a really great fit.”

Join the 17,000 readers who get the news from us daily.

Sign up for daily or weekly newsletters at VailDaily.com/newsletter

Left wing Dom Panetta is one of the more veteran players on the Yeti. He came to town five seasons ago and has become a regular scorer, known for his “snot wipe” celebration after a goal.

Panetta said it’s been great to see Forte’s dedication to hockey across all levels of play, not just the Yeti.

“I moved up here for hockey, and it seems like I’m always meeting youth players and hockey parents and we’re getting a lot more kids at the games and more interactions with them,” he said. “Just walking through the village, if you’re wearing a Yeti hat people will stop you and say ‘I’m going to the game tonight, I can’t wait,’ it’s been really great to see … we’ve got a little bit of a hockey town here.”

The Vail Yeti will wrap up its season at home this weekend with two games against the Phoenix Desert Dogs starting at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $10 if purchased in advance at vailyetihockey.com/schedule, or $15 at the door at Dobson Ice Arena