HASBROUCK HEIGHTS, NJ – Since 2008, Pro Hockey News has been partnered with the animated cartoon series, Asphalt Avengers and its creator, Chris Riley.
School-aged kids are bombarded with hundreds of enticements to stray from healthy life choices or from a life objective. There are too few engagements to reorient children back to their life-path. Urban, rural or frontier environs share the same burden of nurturing kids.
Riley has a unique message and vehicle to deliver that engagement; the Asphalt Avengers.
New Jersey-based River Edge Productions has created the animation concept starring future Hall of Famer goalie Martin Brodeur (in Episode 1). It is geared toward the 7-11-year old demographic who play sports.
The principle, Creator of Asphalt Avengers, and executive producer is Chris Riley, whose credits include producer at ESPN, TSN, Leafs TV, and Fox Sports.
The Asphalt Avengers is a labor of love for Riley who sees the animated production as a means to get kids engaged in self-awareness and self-discovery.
“The Asphalt Avengers are all about reaching kids in a real situation,” Riley said. “We want to get them engaged in healthy activities from an emotional and physical perspective.”
Riley is speaking not only to the animation series but also his involvement in floorball in the New York City metropolitan area. He and the Asphalt Avengers have partnered with Generation Floorball to build rinks in the metro area to get kids active and give the animation a platform to build off its own messages.
The partnership’s message grows from how to get kids to become engaged in physical activity to overcome a myriad public health and behavioral health issues that face school-aged kids every day.
Martin Brodeuer stars in episode 1 of Asphalt Avengers
In addition to Brodeur, Riley has attracted interest from a wide range of NHLers including Dave Perron and Pascal Dupuis from the Penguins.
“We have a real problem in this country,” Riley said. “We are in danger of losing our kids to so many alternatives that lead them to becoming hooked on video games and the latest phone apps.”
He is not the only one who sees the importance of the Asphalt Avengers. There is interest in the project across a wide variety of business domains and several federal agencies. The trick remains turning that potential energy into kinetic energy and getting resources committed to the project.
Imagine the problems facing children and youth today and how this animation can reshape the message for their consumption. Cyber-bullying claims many lives of young people because they have no message that can provide them a way out. How many suicides have we all seen in recent years where young students have been pushed to their extremes and are left, in their minds, with no options?
“We started off as a small production focused on the series and now we have a grassroots effort from across the metro area,” Riley said. “But we also have seen interest increase among NHL players and that gives us the energy to keep the Asphalt Avengers moving forward.”
“The series is about playing hockey and we have now grown into the floorball arena but it is more about the physical activity and getting kids moving,” Riley stressed this week.
Recently published, peer-reviewed research has demonstrated the utility of physical education and physical activity in the school environment and beyond can have a positive impact on bullying. http://
In the Asphalt Avengers, there is a vehicle to be exploited around which a messages of direction and concern that be crafted and delivered to an audience in need of positive influences.
We at Pro Hockey News are proud to be a supporter of the Asphalt Avengers.
Contact Chris Riley at chrisriley@optonline.net
Follow on Facebook and Twitter @AsphaltAvenger
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