Meet the Team
- Staff Bios
- Neil Ruffini
- Kirsten Triska
- Lauren Spatenka
- Kristen Adamczyk
- Jack Venuto
- Kona the FluffMonster
- Ambassadors
- Alexis Poppleton
Staff Bios
Warehouse Athletes
I wanted to create an organization and following that players young and old can identify with. Hockey is a very small world once you get involved and is a great way to teach youth players life lessons like hard work, trust, leadership and what it means to be part of a team. These are all characteristics of successful people in every facet of life. This is my way of reinforcing these fundamental values through sport specific training.
Neil Ruffini
Coach Neil played Tier 1 AAA hockey for Detroit Little Caesars, Detroit Compuware and Detroit HoneyBaked. As a teenager he was drafted by the Sault Saint Marie Greyhounds Major Junior Ontario Hockey League in the 2004 draft. After that attended Proctor Academy in the New England Prep Hockey Association and competed in the Finals and Semi Finals in each of those years. Upon graduating from Proctor, had the opportunity to play four years of Division I hockey at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, graduating 2011. In his junior year he tallied a team high 9 goals and helped UAH to qualify for the NCAA Division 1 Regional tournament.
Coaching Credentials
Coaching Career:
Neil Ruffini coached the squirt AAA Atlanta Fire for two seasons before moving to Denver. Since moving to Denver, Ruffini coached for AYHL and was the head coach for an Arapahoe Warriors U8 beginner, Arapahoe Warriors Squirt A team, Arapahoe Warriors Peewee AA throughout two seasons. After coaching for AYHL moved on to be the Head Coach of the Cherry Creek High School JV team and an assistant coach for the Tier 1 Team Colorado U16s.
For the 2020-21 & 2021-22 Seasons, Coach Neil was on the Cherry Creek JV coaching staff and the Skills Director for the Cherry Creek Hockey Organization.
Coach Neil has also been a skating skills coach for Aces Academy and a shooting instructor for Ignite Elite Hockey Training Camps for Popovic Hockey Academy.
Kirsten Triska
Kirsten Triska is an ISSA certified personal trainer. As a youth soccer player she played for Real Colorado’s National team in the ECNL division. She played soccer since she was 8 playing on recreational teams before going competitive at age 11. Kirsten earned a degree in Exercise Health Science. Coach Kirsten will be handling the group Off-Ice sessions along with the strength & conditioning virtual training programs offered through Warehouse Athletes.
Lauren Spatenka
A native of Owatonna, MN, Lauren Spatenka played at the high school and AAA levels in Minnesota. She graduated from Crown College in St. Bonifacius, MN (2017) and received her MA in Sport and Performance Psychology from the University of Denver in 2019, serving as the Vice President of Operations for the Center for Performance Excellence, working with athletes in hockey, gymnastics, basketball, soccer, and ballet. Upon graduating, Lauren started Aspen Mental Performance and specializes in working with teams and individual hockey and figure skating athletes to help them reach their full potential in sport and life. She is entering her third year working with the Varsity and JV teams at Cherry Creek Hockey and her first year working with Team Colorado AAA. (aspenmentalperformance@gmail.com)
Kristen Adamczyk
Kristen Adamczyk is a figure skating coach at South Suburban Ice Arena and the Family Sports Center.
Kristen’s skating career took her around the country to train with some of the best coaches in the world. Barbara Kossowska, Zdzislaw Pienkowski, Paula Wagner and Debbie Storey. In 1996 when Kristen and her family moved to Colorado Springs to train at the Broadmoor World Arena, that her skating career took off. Under the training of Kathy Casey and Janet Champion, Kristen represented the Broadmoor Skating Club and became a Regional and Sectional Champion, National Competitor, International Medalist, and Novice and Junior Team USA Member.
Jack Venuto
+Jack played youth hockey with the Colorado Rampage and Colorado Thunderbirds.
+Jack Venuto has coached for Cherry Creek HS Hockey organization for the past 3 years including an assistant Coach for our V-Prep T2 / CHSAA JV in the 2019-2020 season.
+State and National Champion Cherry Creek Bruin Captain Alumni who focuses on defensive players development.
Kona
Rescued the day before quarantine by Coach Neil & Coach Kirsten! I live with them until i get my own place that has a big back yard with a river running through it and plenty of birds & rabbits to chase.
I love napping in my favorite places all over the house and going on long walks. Meeting new people is my favorite thing to do because everyone pets me and tells me i'm cute.