The Beloit Youth Hockey Association (BYHA) is a Southern Wisconsin/Northern Illinois youth hockey club that is a tax exempt, non-profit, family oriented organization in which every child who is a member can learn-to-skate.
BYHA’s objective is to teach; skating skills and the fundamentals of the game, team effort, and good sportsmanship.
The Beloit Youth Hockey Association, Inc. (BYHA) was founded by Jerry Edwards in 1969 and the interested parents of children at Todd Elementary School. Taking the name of the “Todd Tuffies” they practiced at the city lagoon and became the beginning of what is known today as BYHA. When the weather was uncooperative for outdoor ice, the teams would travel to the Wagon Wheel Ice Palace (formerly in Rockton, IL). When the Ice Palace closed it’s doors, BYHA then purchased ice from other local rinks in both Rockford and Janesville. Then BYHA soon found that scheduling ice time against other local teams was difficult and expensive, so in 1982 they decided to build their own hockey facility.
With estimated costs of $100,000 being too expensive for the city budget, BYHA members decided to take on the effort themselves raising over $140,000 they purchased a Zamboni ice resurfacing machine, boards with glass, a scoreboard, and large canvas panels to cover the walls of the facilty at Telfer Park. BYHA members and parents volunteered over 2,000 hours for the construction of their own rink; a place for Beloit youth to play hockey, Edwards Ice Arena.
BYHA utilizes the rink at Edwards Ice Arena for about 32-35 hours each week!
