Both teams advanced from the SAHOF AA Championships held at
AdventHealth Center Ice in Wesley Chapel. The 14U Scorpions will kick
off their championship run against talented teams from Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, and Michigan. The 16U group will take the ice against teams
from Ohio, Illinois, and Pennsylvania during the first week of April at the
Children’s Health StarCenter.
Florida Jr. Panthers
The Coral Springs 18U Tier II Youth team also captured the SAHOF AA
championship and will take on players representing Pennsylvania, New York,
and Illinois hockey programs. The Jr. Panthers competed at Solar4America
Ice in San Jose, California.
High School champs – North Broward Prep and Steinbrenner
A week before the SAHOF Championships, the best high school teams in
the state competed at the Panthers Ice Den in Coral Springs to see which
would advance to their own National Championships that will be held in
Cleveland. North Broward Prep and Steinbrenner won their respective
divisions in the tournament co-hosted by our NHL teams – Florida Panthers
and Tampa Bay Lightning. The Broward Prep team is a “pure” Division I
team with players only from that school. The Steinbrenner is a Division II or
“combined” team with players zoned from Steinbrenner, Sickles and Alonzo
High School districts in Hillsborough County.
Florida Hockey Market on the Rise
Throughout my conversation with Jeff Novotny in March, he emphasized the
importance of taking advantage of the Florida youth hockey market. “Florida
is one of those sometime seen as ‘untapped markets’ from a national
perspective,” he said. “When you have states like Minnesota and Michigan,
they have so many rinks and many are owned by local municipalities, so
they are operated more like a typical normal baseball field or a soccer field
down here run by the community , or city athletic league.”
Although Florida is an up and coming site for hockey, in some areas, growth
can be stifled a bit due to the limited opportunities for a publicly-funded
ice rink to open its doors. Almost all of the rinks in Florida are privately
owned facilities with the exception of the Skatium in Fort Myers, according
to Novotny. This can pose as a struggle as rinks need to remain profitable
to keep the doors open, while also wanting to expand competitive hockey
programs and promote grass roots growth efforts if their ice schedules are
already packed 7 days a week.
Thankfully, there are some Florida natives and out-of-state transplants
alike who have the ability, the passion, and the vision to operate ice hockey
facilities throughout the state that support youth and adult ice hockey
programs. Novotny, and the team at SAHOF strive to continue the growth
trend of all types of hockey programs, from 6U to 18/19U to sled hockey to
girls’ hockey to adult recreational leagues.
“The goal of any state program is to turn as many folks into the sport
as possible because there’s a reason why so many play it. It makes
people say, ‘Hey, we should open a rink here.’ Or, ‘we should start a
program there!’,” Novotny said.
Each year, SAHOF and SFHL promote hockey to wider and larger audiences
throughout Florida. The recent influx of youth hockey participation in Florida
can be attributed largely to the USA Women’s Olympic team that trained in
Wesley Chapel in preparation for the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang,
as well as the Tampa Bay Lightning’s ongoing success including this record
breaking season in the NHL.
The Lightning and the Florida Panthers both have strong initiatives to
support the growth of the sport as it ultimately means more potential fans
for their teams.
Let’s admit, we’ve all been inspired by our favorite athletes and sports
teams to push ourselves to become great players in a sport we love. For
many years now, Floridians have been exposed to hockey fever, and each
season, more and more new players join the ranks of local hockey teams.
“Our goal is always to promote growth to have more players at younger
ages getting into the sport. They learn valuable life skills, so its important
to find opportunities to teach them to skate, develop them to play, retain
them in the programs, train their skills, keep them active, and teach them
team concepts” Novotny said.
“This year will be another opportunity for kids to pick up the game that
they wouldn’t have otherwise done so if they are following the success
of a professional team in their backyard.” Once new players are exposed
to the sport, the goal then becomes to really get them linked to their local
programs. Ensuring that there are enough rinks in a variety of areas
throughout Florida is one of the keys to increasing player retention and
getting more people involved in hockey.
As the post season comes to a close for many youth travel programs,
Florida teams are looking forward to expanding in the coming years. Hockey
players and supporters across the state, with Novotny and myself included,
are eager to see what the future of Florida hockey holds.
Congratulations to all Florida hockey teams on another fantastic
season!