COVER STORY
Florida Hockey Teams Advance
to USA National Championships
By Reba LaRose
at AdventHealth Center Ice. Three of the Florida teams earned their tickets
and are traveling out of state to fight for a chance at the national title in
April.
The Girls’ 14U team was undefeated in the championships, dominating
teams from North Carolina, Virginia, and the Tampa Bay Area. The 16U
team had the pride of being another undefeated Florida girls’ team in the
Southeastern District Championship, where they competed against girls’
teams from Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia. The Tier I 14U youth
(boys) team breezed through their round robin games as well and showed
great strength in the championship and will be joining their “sister” teams
on the road to the nationals.
With district championships under their belts, each of the Alliance teams
will head to the Northeast to challenge some of the best teams around the
country in the biggest show of the season. The Tier I 14U Alliance goes to
Pittsburgh where they will face teams from Pennsylvania, Missouri and
Michigan in their round robin games.
The Tier II Girls 14U and 16U teams are headed for the coast in Amherst,
New York. The 14U’s will battle teams from Alaska, Michigan and New
York, while the 16U team will face-off against teams from Wisconsin,
Michigan and Pennsylvania
Tampa Scorpions
No strangers to high-level competition, the Tampa Scorpions Tier II Youth
14U and 16U teams will travel west for the National Championship to South
Bend, Indiana and Plano, Texas, respectively.
March leads to April which means – USA Hockey National
Championships. Three Florida youth hockey programs will be
traveling to Indiana, Texas, California, and New York state to compete
against some of the top teams from all around the United States. The
Florida Alliance, Tampa Scorpions, and the Florida Jr. Panthers will
represent the Sunshine State in the largest youth hockey showcase
of talent and sportsmanship of the season.
In addition, two high school teams, North Broward Prep and Steinbrenner
will represent Florida at the High School Nationals in Ohio.
Dozens of teams hailing from Michigan, Illinois, California, Alaska and other
Tier I and II programs throughout the U.S. fought all season long to earn a
chance of returning home as champions. Jeff Novotny, board member of the
Statewide Amateur Hockey of Florida (SAHOF), is glad to see such a strong
representation of Florida teams at the USA Hockey National Championship.
“I think it’s important to show folks that we are sending a diversity
of the teams from all over the state; it’s not just the same one or two
teams,” Novotny said.
“We have teams at numerous levels that are competing on the big stage
against teams from all over the U.S. It’s great to see them achieve those
goals, and great for the kids to get the experience to play at high levels of
a team sport that they love playing,” he said.
SAHOF is the USA Hockey affiliate for amateur ice hockey in Florida, and
also oversees the Statewide Florida Hockey League (SFHL) which many
talented youth teams compete so passionately in.
Players on all of these advancing teams have worked their hardest geared
up on the ice and training week in and week out to come together as
outstanding teams. Here’s a look at the teams that earned a spot on the
national stage.
Florida Alliance
In March, six of the Florida Alliance hockey teams, representing players
from one end of the state to the other, competed in the three-day USA
Hockey Southeastern District Championship to battle for a ticket to the
National Championship. This year the District games were held in Florida
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